Our stay in the small hill town of Zitsa was simply magical. Our WarmShowers hosts Kostas and Anna warmly welcomed us into their home and made us feel like old friends. After arriving, cleaning up and relaxing for a while, Kostas and his mother showed us around the family’s bakery, which produces fine breads, cookies, and pastries but even more than that serves as a hub for the close community.
Neighbors, young and old, kept streaming in and out, picking up pastries in preparation for Sunday events or just saying hello. We tried delicious spinach filled pies, chewy bialy type breads filled with feta and sprinkled with sesame seeds, and an exceptional confection prepared for a memorial service the following day made with boiled wheat kernels, ground walnuts, raisins, aromatic spices and intricately decorated with sugar and cinnamon crosses. After filling up, we took their dog Tsarlie (pronounced “Charlie” and a ferocious hunter of pinecones) for a walk through the village, visiting Anna’s book shop, watching young kids playing basketball, teenagers sitting in the park (sweetly and self consciously asking us who we were and what we were doing with the town baker’s dog) and a group of old men drinking beer and intently watching a soccer match at an outdoor cafe.
We were immediately in love with the relaxed, slow paced and warm feeling of the place. Later, Kostas took us by his family’s small sheep farm to drop off an evening meal to the Albanian sheep herder who tends to the 140 sheep. Standing under a bright and almost full moon, we watched the flock move across an open field, listening to the melodic sound of their bells clanging as Kostas described the conversations he had as a young man while tending to the sheep with his father on similar moonlit summer evenings. Well past 10:00 PM, we sat down for dinner at Kostas’ brother’s small restaurant overlooking the village, and enjoyed a lovely dinner of fresh tomato and cucumber salad, tzatziki, pizza and bread. When the discussion turned to the economic crisis here, Kostas was thoughtful about the trade offs of globalization (including frustration that the definition of “fresh milk,” a premium product here, had just been changed at the behest of Brussels from 3 to 8 days, a benefit for big producers who want to ship cheaper milk from Holland and Germany but a potential death sentence for small local farms like his family’s) but spoke most eloquently about how village life goes on, sustained by more than money. We finally fell asleep well past midnight, to the sound of crickets and to thoughts of simple village life.
We awoke well rested, said goodbye (and were given a beautiful loaf of sourdough for the road) and continued our ride south, through the lakeside town of Ioannina and into the dry and beautiful hills.
Though we have just scratched the very surface, both of us have felt a strong affinity for this warm and beautiful country. If we don’t come back to Seattle, you’ll know where to find us!
smallchainringbigworld 
I wondered if this might happen — finding a place or feeling that makes you think, “I could live here.” It’s a really lovely, compelling change of tone in your blog. You found something that makes you think hard about where else you might be in the world, even how you might be in the world. Kate and I felt similarly at times during our trip through Montana and Idaho — smaller communities, slower pace, more connection. Something to think about. Buy a Greek bakery rather than a Czech nightclub? Love, ric
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I like your thought about “how you might be in the world” since much of the magic we perceive about other places is about our frame of mind when we experience them. How can we keep that sense of discovery and wonder in our daily life?
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So while Ric was thinking about your connection to small towns, I was thinking about what you would eat if you were a glutard — seriously, I think the only common thread of each and every post is the pastries (which you always make sound amazing!!). Also, if, tragically, you aren’t able to make it to Thessaloniki on your ride down to Athens, I request that at least you honor the spirit of my spirited pitch by bathing naked in a public fountain. Pretty please? Love from Dakar.
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Put your money where your mouth is. I double-Dakar dare you to bath naked in Senegal. Actually, I thought immediately of you when I first saw Le Monument de la Renaissance Africaine.
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Consider your request honored, sir. (Sir, by the way, means cheese in Croatian, which kind of makes sense in a “big cheese” sort of way, but I digress. 🙂
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I like Ric’s idea of buying a Czech night club. There are really great small communities in the Czech Republic as well. Trust me there are. And as Gabe discovered albeit briefly, fantastic pastries as well that are part of daily life. Just stop at Little Prague Bakery next time you’re in West Seattle to see how far that tradition can be be exported. The reality is, there are very many beautiful places in the world where “we could live.” Importance is to travel, set your sails free, be inspired, and encounter them. Travel on!
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Little Prague Bakery!?! We must schedule a field trip later this fall.
Great thoughts Martin!
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Riches come in many forms.
And OMG Allegra has a dress in her pack?
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I’ve also got a down jacket stashed away for the return trip via Iceland!
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Right Mary? And a pair of fancy leather sandals. 🙂
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I have nothing of any greater substance to contribute to this post than what has already been astutely offered by everyone else already. I will simply say that I want to sit at your new cafe-bookshop-bakery-bike-store in some small town, eating and reading and enjoying your newly formed community while Allegra flurries casually about tending to patrons in her nice dresses while Gabe offers much too small towels to Ric and Orin as they step nakedly out of the adjacent town square fountain when we all come to visit soon.
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🙂
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Looking good!!!
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