Every year, in the village of Aghia, they shear all the sheep on the same day, and then have a huge party to celebrate. Koralia’s father, Dimitri, had invited John, Eric and Christi to the party. He picked us up at 11:00.

Our first stop was in the town of Aghia. Koralia’s mother has a gift shop there, and Koralia’s grandmother lives above the shop. We quickly visited the shop, and then went upstairs to meet the grandmother. She is another incredibly sweet, generous person who loves to feed people. As soon as introductions were completed, we were served enormously large pieces of a dessert made with apricots, water and cornstarch. It was awesome.

Then came candied figs, fresh off the stove. Then bowls of homemade ice cream with locally produced goat milk. The ice cream was almond flavored and had a cherry sauce. It was so good.

Anyone who has ever eaten a meal with Eric knows he has a serious sweet tooth. The quantities of sweets that Eric can consume is truly mind boggling. So, needless to say, he quickly scarfed down every bite served to him. This pleased our hosts to no end. Nothing pleases Greek people more than feeding you.

As a side note”¦ Greeks constantly ask if you are hungry, then bring out food after you say no, then adamantly insist you eat huge quantities even though you aren’t hungry. At one point, John complained about how Greek people will never take no for an answer when it comes to eating. Eric and Christi totally laughed at him because in that arena, John is exactly the same as every other Greek person. Within 2 minutes of the complaint, John turned to us and said “Are you hungry? Should we get something to eat? Are you sure you don’t want something to eat?”

Back to the story”¦ After we finished the desserts, we hopped back in the car and followed another small, narrow road up a mountain. The views were stunning, overlooking acre upon acre of olive groves and other farmland. We passed lots of big piles of dark colored dirt. Dimitri explained that they make their own coal. They pile up pieces of wood trimmed off trees, cover with sea weed and dirt, and light a slow burning fire underneath the wood for 40 days. We never were clear on how they light or maintain the fire, but the mounds were smoldering, so we believed they were on fire. After 40 days, you have coal.

When we got to the farm, the narrow road was lined with cars as far as we could see up the mountain. There were a few dozen people milling around. We were escorted into a long shed. There were two rows of about a dozen sheep each, and each sheep’s head was secured into a stock so it couldn’t move. The sheep were all bleating unhappily. There were several men with clippers, each of them shaving a sheep. We were surprised at how fast they were with the clippers, despite the sheep’s ferverent squirming. Once the hair was all shaved off, the men let the sheep go and each one quickly ran off through a doorway, then the men moved to the next sheep in the line up.

We watched for a few minutes, and then went outside to see the pen. The sheep pen is huge and it is divided into two sections. The shaved sheep were separated from the unshaved. The shaving party must have just begun, because there were lots and lots of sheep waiting in the unshaven pen for their turn to go to the shed. We found out they would be shaving 500 sheep that day. There were also goats in the pen, and we saw pigs in a separate pen nearby.

We went over to the area where they were cooking for the upcoming feast. Some women were boiling meat in an enormous pot placed on top of a small fire on the ground. Some men were slow roasting huge slabs of meat the traditional way. The meat was placed in an oval a few feet away from a big fire in the center of the ring. It is the world’s first convection oven. Every few minutes, the slabs of meat were turned so that each side cooked evenly.

Inside another shed there were a group of women preparing appetizers, including dolmades, stuffed zucchini flowers and liver. We didn’t know zucchinis flowers were edible. They are stuffed with the same rice filling that they use in dolmades and stuffed tomatoes.

There were rows and rows of tables, each place set with plastic plates and silverware. A liter and a half water bottle filled with homemade wine was placed between every four people. We were told that the festivities included heavy drinking. It looked like it was going to be quite the party.

We met a lot of nice, welcoming people. They seemed to be happy to have us crash their party, but we decided not to stay. We were up late the night before and all itching for a nap, so Dimitri took us back to the hotel.

In the evening, we went to Rythmeno with John, Maria, Costas and Koralia. We checked out the marina facilities, located right in the center of town. This is the view of town from the marina.

From the marina, we walked along the waterfront and looked at the ancient buildings and port. The buildings along the waterfront are angled, with the bottom of the building sloping quite noticeably outward. They were built this way to better withstand crashing waves from the ocean. The walls are made of very thick stone blocks and are sturdy, with huge support beams. Some of the shops have put up drywall over the stone block walls on the interior, but many still have the original stone blocks exposed, which is charming. Many of the shop exteriors still have the pretty Venetian facades, which are also charming. It is hard to believe these old buildings are all still standing today. That is a testament to their construction. The breakwater walls and the port were created after these buildings were constructed. The port is equally as enchanting as the buildings, making an attractive little commercial port area.

Unfortunately, our camera battery died, so we weren’t able to take more photos of Rythmeno. We didn’t explore the town beyond the waterfront, deciding we needed to get to bed at a more reasonable hour tonight.