Already before the summer holidays, I decided to dedicate a large part of the summer to an experience abroad. How to define this experience, let alone find it, was another story. Nevertheless, as I found out later, I was lucky, because I remembered that in the UP FTŠ sTOUdio Turistica programme, I found the opportunity to work in a camp on the remote Greek island of Leros with a very interesting employer. Later I realised that "very interesting" was not enough to accurately describe my new employer. But let's go nice and slow from the beginning.
As soon as I decided to take this route, I already had airline tickets booked. My journey to Greece began on July 30 with a transfer to Vienna, from where I flew to the island of Kos (one of the main 12 islands of the Dodecanese archipelago near the Turkish border, next to Leros), where I spent my first night. The next day, it was only a ferry ride, and I was on Leros. My excitement only grew, and it was with the same enthusiasm that I drove across the island to my place of work. I met Panos, the owner of the camp, on the terrace and when I saw him, he was not in the mood, as he had problems with current guests. However, the atmosphere had cooled down a bit, so after the introductions I was already helping to prepare our first dinner together, which was extremely tasty. Then came the first night, which, like all the others, I spent in a tent – an infinity-star hotel.
On the first day, I started working according to Panos' instructions. I cleaned the floors in the showers and toilets, took out the trash, and watered his vegetables. Then I went to the nearby town of Lakki (which was built by the Italians during the 2nd century AD and is therefore a special blend of Greek and Italian architectural style) for shopping (bed linen, mosquito spray, etc.) and for a salty Greek spinach pie called spanakopita. After I returned, we started preparing a new feast: aubergine stuffed with vegetables. Just to be clear, every ingredient was picked from Panos' bountiful garden before that. I learned many things about his food preparation and his cooking, which he perfected during his travels around the world.
The next day was very important, as I finally got a tent that fit my size (I had to return the first one to new guests, the second one was too small, and I tore the third one up a bit). This was the fourth tent I set up, so I became a real expert at setting it up. The new tasks that awaited me that day were cleaning the bar counter or reception with lemons to remove stains, in addition, I helped remove the guts of the fish and the scales on them, which were hard as nails, to prepare the fish for the dinners of the guests at the camp. Panos explained to me why his fish are the way they are. He catches them alone on the open sea or gets them from his fishing friends. I also found that Panos decides for himself who he will (not) serve his food to, because for him, eating is a sacred thing. Although I quickly mastered the technique of cleaning fish, I liked picking vegetables from the garden the most. The size and colourfulness of the crops (despite the dry climate in Greece) can be seen in the photo.
In the evening, we cooked the cleaned fish on the fire and served it on a plate lined with the leaves from Panos' vines and additional ingredients and side dishes (home-grown potatoes, home wine, olive oil, garlic and other spices). It was incredibly delicious!
After finishing the day's morning tasks, there was sometimes time to explore the island, so I liked to walk a few minutes away from the campsite to the ruins of the ancient fortress at the top of the lookout, which today is dominated by a typical Greek church with an outdoor bell and a fluttering blue-and-white flag. I also visited the nearby military museum of the Second World War, which is located in an old bunker.
I visited the facility in the company of two other Slovenian guests at the camp, a professor of philosophy and his wife, who kindly invited me along and gave me a lot of information about Greece and its history, which they have been exploring on their travels for many years. And to top it all off, I got free entry to the museum (most museums in Europe are free to visit for students). In the complex, we also met other guests from the camp, and together we were trying to determine which artefacts Panos drew from the depths of the sea for this museum.
On the way back, we made a quick visit to the abandoned Italian barracks and the former refugee camp, as I was already waiting for tasks on the property. A new, heavily guarded camp, which from a distance looks like a large factory, is currently located on the hill above the old camp centre. Before returning, I had a croissant from a nearby patisserie that was as big as my entire forearm, but the price didn't match the size of the croissant. Back at the campsite, I had the opportunity to listen to one of my boss's remarkable life stories, about his serious accident when he was run over by a boat while diving in a nearby bay, breaking several ribs and amputating his arm. Fortunately, they were able to sew his arm back together after he dove for it at the very bottom of the bay! A few years after the accident, the only visible effects of the injury are on his nerves, as he is unable to move his ring and pinkie fingers. You almost can't believe your ears when you hear this story. For dinner that day, we had yesterday's stuffed aubergines, which, in his opinion, are better if a few days have passed since their preparation.
During my time living and working in the camp, I heard many of Panos' stories, from how he has lived in all corners of the world because of his diving career, to the visible effects diving has had on him and the complexity of repairing oil rigs at depths of more than 200 metres. First, each diver is tested at the surface to see if he can withstand the pressure, if he is operational at such depths and what his vital signs are while working deep below the surface.
Somewhere in the middle of my stay at the camp, I took the afternoon off and walked from the town of Lakki to the place where I originally disembarked on the island, at Agia Marina. On the way to the town I stopped at Pandeli beach, which, unlike the others, is full of tourists and also has one of the best restaurants on the island - El Greco (of course, the owners know Panos well) and the Harris bar (they also know him here) above the beach, which is located in the first of the five windmills that once ground wheat, barley, etc., and are now one of the most photographed attractions in Greece.
Despite the heat and the steep climb, I continued my walk to the medieval castle, where I enjoyed the view of the hills of Leros and the nearby island of Kalymnos.
The only thing that followed was the descent to Agia Marina, which was not easy, because despite the beautifully visible traditional white edged stairs, I got lost and found myself on some local's terrace. One step left, one step forward, one step right, and I was at the shore where I disembarked earlier.
This was followed by lunch in the city and later a fish dinner at Panos, where, in addition to fish specialities, I also served homemade "wild" wine and tasted olive oil together with other guests.
In the following days, I had the task of picking already ripe and fallen figs and soaking them for less than an hour in a pot of seawater. The figs therefore lost their sweetness and unwanted parasites. Finally, I put them on the table in the sun and covered them with a net so that they dried for a few days. Panos told me that when they are all dried, he will put them in the oven for a few minutes and sprinkle them with sesame seeds and feed them along with some bay leaves (which repel insects) – this is his way of preparing them. Satisfied with my work, he offered me the opportunity to help him clean his old-fashioned Yamaha bike that his ex-partner had left him.
When it was not too hot, I used one of the mornings to climb to the nearby peak, which is also beautifully visible from the camp. After I finished my work, Panos took me to the foot of the hill with his second motorcycle (not the Yamaha). Although this peak was supposed to be just over 400m, the route was longer than I thought at first glance. It was a long climb, up long switchbacks and serpentine dirt roads. On one of the bends, I also came across a large herd of goats, which gave me free way to roam among them like a king. A little later, I came across a larger herd, and here these animals have already shown their stubborn goat character. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous, so I picked up the pace to get to the finish line as quickly as possible. At the top and just below, I enjoyed incredible views of southern Kalymnos and the blue sea with two sailboats sailing like hermits in the endless blue far below me.
There was also a chapel nearby, built into a living rock, which had solar cells on the roof. These and other sacral buildings of Greek Orthodox churches can be found all over the island, and I assume that this is the case throughout Greece. Due to my obligations in the valley, I ran most of the way back. I am no stranger to running, whether it's uphill or downhill. When Panos found out about this way of returning, he just said to me: "You are crazy!" But I was punctual, which means the most to me, because I don't like to be late. As a reward, I had his famous egg breakfast with him, served with several layers of bread, vegetables, bacon and spices, and drizzled with plenty of delicious olive oil. The pleasure of the excursion and breakfast was complemented by reading Partljič's book Ljudje iz Maribora (People from Maribor). In the evening, a relaxing ascent to a nearby church awaited me, where I watched the orange-coloured moon and thought about the time when I dreamed of discovering the world as a child. You can read what happened in the next few days in the second part.
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