The second chapter of my Workaway experience in Greece follows on from my first in Palairos. I want to tell you about my experience living and working in Demati, a mountainous village near Ioannina, Greece.
Getting to Ioannina
Coaches are a great way to travel through Greece. There are planes, but then I miss out on the fun of seeing the country. I went from the capital city to the coast, and now to the mountains. From the bottom of the mainland to the top. It’s interesting to see the country along the way and notice the change of scenery.
Our coach left at 7am from Amfilochia and that was an hour away by car! Our host of the previous Workaway gave us a lift, so mine and Dane’s alarm was set for a healthy 4am. The nights do start to get cold in October, I can tell you. Through the morning fog of my brain, I remember looking out of the car window as we wound our way through the empty, pitch-black roads. It was a clear night, and the Orion constellation, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were brightly visible and followed us to our destination.
The transition from dusk to day began on the coach. The passengers were quiet, like us, and in silence, I watched the sunrise to find the fog had moved from my brain to outside. Noise seemed dampened even further as it blanketed us, but I could make out the scenery around me; green hills, villages dotted throughout, and the narrow roads that the coach driver navigated expertly. The roads would give way to motorways, then back again. From time to time I could feel the pressure mounting in my ears as the altitude changed. As the sights began to blur past me my attention changed to my Nintendo Switch, and whenever I looked up for a breath I was transported back and forth between the beauty of Greece rolling by, and Sanctuary, the chaotic world of Diablo III.
From Ioannina to Demati
At the time of travelling, in October, Ioannina was a COVID-19 hotspot, so we were very aware of our safety as we got closer to the city. It wasn’t just about us, but also the people that we would be staying with. I felt it was our duty to keep ourselves and them safe. We didn’t want to be the ones to bring CoVid to them.
We stepped off the coach on the outskirts of the city, and it wasn’t long before we were picked up by the Host’s wife, Thaleia. By this point, we didn’t know where we would be going exactly! We just knew it was likely to be a village nearby. It was a little adventure for us, but we quickly found our answer on this third leg of our journey – Demati.
Ioannina is a relatively big city in Greece, with a population of 65,000. Demati, however, is the smallest village I’ve ever been to. We were told by our host the population is around 200. Although we didn’t see past 15 in total whilst we were there! In 1991 the population was recorded as an impressive 41. So who knows how many people currently reside here now. Coming from London, a city of 8.9 million, it’s the other end of the spectrum!
So, we skirted the main city and enjoyed more hillside views as we ascended to our final stop in Demati. Yet more winding roads with steep turns. The small pub we passed marked the beginning of the village, a sign hanging on the door in Greek which let the eager 41 residents know that it would close at midnight due to the pandemic. It is only opened on the weekends. Demati is more isolated than our previous village of Palairos.
First impression of Demati
What a first impression! To stay in such a small village was different for me, but I was excited to embrace it and learn from it. Our host wasn’t there when we arrived, so his wife made us feel comfortable and at home. She jumped into mum mode when she saw the state of the house – she doesn’t stay there with the kids often at the moment – and despite us insisting on helping, she cleaned from top to bottom in record time as we unpacked.
We met the other Workawayer, a British man named Sam, who was raised in Greece. When Thaleia rushed back out of the door, it was just us three for the next couple of days before we would finally meet our host, Sotiris. It’s a little unusual to not meet the host straight away, but when we did we found that he was friendly and relaxed. We hit off a friendship straight away and he trusted us to work when he would leave for days at a time. Dane and I were eager to get to work, and the first few days allowed us to settle in and feel comfortable before we jumped into it.
The temperature change was something I noticed quite quickly… Long gone were the balmy days of wandering around Athens in shorts and a vest top; long gone were the hours spent sunbathing on the beach in Palairos. Here on the mountainside the sun only warmed me when I was physically doing something. Once the sun started to set the cold would creep in fast. Not having enough hindsight I didn’t bring my coat with me. How cold could Greece get in Autumn? Enough for a coat! My single jumper didn’t quite cut.
Staying in Demati
The view from the house was something special. To many who live in the countryside of countries, this scene must seem mundane by now, but for me, it was a vision; The ground slipped away down to a valley, and rising in front of us the mountain with another village nestled on it. At night the lights danced under the stars, only to be covered in a spectral sea of fog every single morning. It looked like we were above the clouds, but the altitude was only 694 meters. The green of the thick mountainous trees was everywhere I looked, with autumn reds and oranges sprinkled throughout. To see the colours gradually change was a treat.
On one of our days off, we went for a hike down to Arachthos Potamos river. The way down was easy, walking casually and talking, the sun warm and making it pleasant. That same sun was not pleasant to us on the walk back up! I made a mistake by wearing too-thin socks for my too-big hiking boots. My feet were sliding back and forth and made me clumsy as I stumbled on the uneven ground, and climbed over rocks. The blisters that were created were not fun at all. The feeling of dipping my aching feet into the freezing water of the river was blissful, and the cold numbness was welcome for a while.
An adventure
We found abandoned vehicles along the way and only saw a few cars drive past us on the main road. Large guard dogs would bark at us before we could even see them, and let loose to wander outside the gates of their domain. On the way back up it caused me to hurriedly cut across the grass and climb up the steep slope instead of walking past them on the road. I held tightly the branch that I had picked up along the way to use as a walking stick, trying to keep calm and reassure the others there was no need to worry. I hope their bark was worse than their bite!
As we walked along, wearing workout gear, hiking boots, a small bag of supplies on my back, and dodging scary dogs, I fancied that we were wandering through a post-apocalyptic world. On a mission to find a place to camp before night fell, or find a fresh source of water. I guess with the pandemic going on it wasn’t hard to imagine.
The animals of Demati
Some dogs would wander around the village, plodding along and occasionally accepting pets. Sometimes they would follow us as we walked through, but I strongly suspect they were just hoping for some food! We encountered one of them one day as we went exploring, up past the church and along the gravel roads. He strolled towards us, a big shaggy dog that looked like a golden retriever crossbreed. His tongue hung out of his mouth in the warmth. With some coaxing, he followed behind us and allowed us to stroke him before trotting off in front.
Cats are a common sight throughout the whole of Greece, and Demati was no different. One afternoon I found a kitten in the garden, maybe six months old, and she boldly came up to me and allowed me to stroke her. With a bit of sneaking, we got her up to our room where she curled up on Dane’s chest and purred for hours. With excited whispers, we called Sam up to our room and gave her to him as his eyes lit up, and were smuggled down into his room.
Workaway in Demati
Mountains aren’t usually the place people think of when farming, but Sotiris has a vision of creating a community that uses this to show that it can be done.
The main portion of his farm consisted of four large white greenhouses, and he grew several vegetables, from tomatoes to aubergines. It’s different, and I liked it. Working was tough at times, but that’s just because I’ve been so unfit lately. But I like to think of things as a challenge. So does Sotiris. One of those challenges was to dig trenches – one through the middle of a greenhouse, one in between them, and four smaller ones to allow the water to drain away. Great, a workout without thinking of it like a workout. Much more fun! Dane spurred ahead and was showing no signs of slowing as my face slowly reddened, and my arms began to feel like lead.
“Take your anger out on it!” He said as he swung the hoe down forcefully into the clay dirt.
I don’t have that much anger! Thanks for the tip though. But it showed just how effective of a workout that was – the next day I noticed that my right thigh, the leg I had favoured to steady myself with, looked like an inch or so had been shaved off from the sheer effort. Now I just had to balance out the left leg! I spent the rest of the work trying to favour my left leg instead. My logic didn’t quite work properly.
Different tasks
So my uneven thighs and I spent time on several different tasks – we picked all of the beans and shucked them; picked the last of the peppers and aubergines, then pulled up the plants and roots; planted onions; and cleared the trenches of weeds. We spent hours sitting at the kitchen table, popping the dried beans out of their shells and putting them in containers whilst listening to an audio of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
We ended up using some of the beans ourselves. Dane is a talented cook, so I don’t say no if he ever wants to cook the meals. Which is all of the time. After work, we would spend our time making bread, focaccia, fasolada, kokkinisto… So much feta, olive oil, and bread were consumed in those three weeks that I think we were well on our way to becoming Greek ourselves.
What I learned
Demati is certainly a different way of life that is not for everyone. Through practice, I learned tips on how to plant, grow, and pick vegetables. I learned not to cook the yellow aubergines because they’re bitter as hell (the taste lingered for hours, I don’t recommend it). Stick with the purple ones. There were wild mushrooms in the forest, but only some were edible. Sotiris had a handy little book to differentiate the different types, and which ones you could eat. It would have been helpful, only I can’t read Greek, so… it was completely useless to me. We left that to Sam to translate for us, and we cooked the good mushrooms.
I learned to live a quieter life, without having everything on my doorstep. Making food with less is a good skill to have, and it feels great to pick fresh vegetables and use them to make great dishes. I can only imagine how it would feel to successfully grow fruit and vegetables from beginning to end. It only makes me more determined to have a garden of my own. Learn little bits and pieces as you go through life, in whatever you do, so that you can apply it to how you want to live. These puzzle pieces will fit together to make an idea of what you want your life to be like.
Demati is a beautiful village. It’s quiet and picturesque, and with a car, there are a lot of things to do. You could spend days hiking and kayaking. There are also several Unesco world heritage sites nearby, the closest being Meteroa. There is also Vikos Gorge, listed as the world’s “deepest relative to its width” gorge. Take that, Grand Canyon.
A swift goodbye
We ended up leaving Demati in a hurry. At the end of October Ioannina entered a regional lockdown, and on the 7th of November the whole of Greece followed. Our flight was originally booked for the 13th of November, but we followed our gut and left on the 7th back to England. It was a good thing we did, otherwise, it might have been difficult for us. We caught a coach back to Athens – our now favourite mode of travel in this country – and spent one day in the city cramming our faces with our favourite Greek foods before our flight. I won’t forget the night we spent lying on the cold floor at the airport in a hurry. I will add marble floors to my new “things I hate list” for the next time I’m digging trenches.
