Delicious Dinner in Ditropos

Last night (Monday) we had a great dinner out in the country, at Mourtero (near Ditropos on the south side of the island), where our hosts from 2006 live in a kalivia they are doing up (we stayed in their house – called Cypress House - in Skopelos Town). Kalivias are cute little two-level goat farmers’ huts (OK, what’s a two-level goat farmer you ask?); the goatherd would have lived upstairs in the low-ceilinged single-room dwelling, while the goats would be safely locked up at night in the winter in the even-lower-ceilinged downstairs bit. (This paragraph is being sponsored by the hyphen).

These days they are being done up and freshly whitewashed (mostly by British people, by the look of it), improved with electricity and running water, stone verandahs, swimming pools and modern plumbing to bathroom and kitchen and being rented out in the summer. No goats downstairs. Surrounded by small parcels of land, these lovely little country houses have fruit trees, olive groves and peace and quiet away from the bustle of town.

Robert and his partner Stephen have done up one kalivia and rented it out and are now doing a second one next door and living in it as they renovate. We met two Australians who are in Cypress House this year and a woman visiting from Dorset, and had a splendid meal comprising mostly produce from the boys’ garden. We talked about the possibility of house exchanges and minding their rental business for them sometime if they need to return to the UK. One way or another, we reckon this won’t be our last trip to Skopelos.