Perhaps some of you have noticed my absence from the blogosphere and your blogs the past week. Well, I had a very good reason; I visited my father’s birth-village in the mainland Greece.

My father was born and lived there until the age of 13, when he and his family moved to Athens to pursue a better life.

The view from my balcony.

Sklithro is situated in the mountain Mavrovouni between the mountains of Kissavos and Pilion in 440m/1,444 feet altitude. It combines mountain and sea. It was founded during the Ottoman occupation of Greece and it is situated in a place naturally protected from pirates. It is said that in the place where the village was built, there was a perennial tree of Alnus Glutinosa, which is called Sklithro in Greek. That is how it took its name. The village is surrounded by chestnut and walnut trees. It has one of the best varieties of chestnuts in Greece.

Chestnut tree

Although is a mountainous in only 20 minutes’ drive, you find yourself in a beautiful beach that stretches for no less than 11 klm/6.8 miles. It is true, 11 klm/6.8 miles of continuous beach.

We have a cottage in the village and we go whenever we can. This year we took some friends with us, so it was even better. The children had the time of their lives and we had the chance to unwind from work and everyday routine.

See how they bake handmade bread in a traditional oven here.

You can also see more here.

We ate beautiful food and we drank tsipouro a spirit that tastes similarly to ouzo and it is made there.

This is  cod fish with skordalia. Skordalia is made with garlic, bread or potato and olive oil.

A type of greens called vlita. In Greece we eat many varieties of greens such as these ones.