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Maggieīs Greek Mix -*Music from Taverna Aries* |
After these hectic 8 months tourist season itīs only natural to think that they should relax
a little, take some time off. But no, only a few days after closing they are starting to fix
everything needed to be repainted or rebuilt. Cleaning up everywhere, making sure it will look
nice for the next season. Sometimes even make place for even more guests, opening up
a wall or taking a bigger part of the backyard. One thing I can promise is that it will always
be something new when you come back next time.
At the end of the *offseason* in October there is also the Olive harvest to prepare.
Many are involved in picking the olives since almost every family owns a couple of trees.
Sometime they have many trees. This is a main part of the income for many families during
the winter. Olive oil and other olive products are a big industry all over Greece, not only in
Corfu. Have you ever been driving around the countryside in Corfu? Then you must have
seen all them big black netrolls under the Olivetrees. They use them to collect the oliveīs
as the olives slowly ripen and then drop. Every ten days or so during this period, a visit to
each grove is need to collect the fallen olives. If they are left any longer, they start to
shrivel and their oil becomes useless. Tuff work but very different from taking care of the
tourists. During December till early April, you could see this hard work going on
There is also a lot of hunting and fishing going on to help filling up the freezers for next
season. The male part of the Greek family I know take every chance to go hunting up in the
high mountains, mostly for rabbits. I guess itīs their way of taking time off.
A few years ago they won a weeks holiday on the mainland. You see all the pub owners and
restaurant owners are part of a local network putting together a price every year. Just
after everything is closed they have a big local event and a drawing. 2002 it was my friends
that won. They went skiing for the first time. The mother in the family told us all about it
and I could tell that it was an adventure for her. Itīs rare with snow in Corfu and they had
never before seen that much snow. She also loved being a guest for the first time.
I can only imagin how much that ment for her, being used to take care of thousends of
tourists every year.
Gouvia in the winter is like a ghostvillage. Not many locals live there so it is very quiet.
My friends have there house, with the taverna at the basement, in the middle of Gouvia so
they are still there. Only one of the supermarkets are open and just a few of the pubs as
well. There are a few of the Hotel-Apartments taking guests also over the winter. I know
Kalypso ( my favorite choise) does. Most of the winter tourists comes from UK, but there are
a few Scandianvians always staying over winter too. It must be very quiet and pieceful
without all the loud music, the heavy traffic and all tourists.
In mid february they all get busy again. Itīs time to get the potatoes planted in time to get
the first harvest in May.
Coming this far itīs almost spring again and the tourists starts coming more and more every
day. From early May most hotels and restaurantes are opened again and in June it starts to
get crowded. Can you belive they say that they miss that in the winter?
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If you noticed while visiting Corfu, in every backyard, on every
balcony, in every avaible free spot there is something growing. Everywhere you look people
are cultivating and planting. Most families are self founding with both potatoes and
vegetables. Ofcause it helps to have such a great klimat.
