Original subtitles

(upbeat music)

- From the bustling streets of Athens

and the historic port of Hydra,

to the beaches of Zakinthos and the villages of Kythera,

our journey over the coming weeks

spans many of the Ionian islands,

some well-known, others that few ever get to visit.

But before heading off,

you probably want to know a little bit about me.

My story starts as boy growing up

in the inner suburbs of Sydney.

Like a lot of Greeks early last century,

my parents moved overseas to find a better life abroad.

They arrived with very little and worked extremely hard

to give my sisters and I a loving upbringing.

They also made me believe that if I too worked hard enough,

I could achieve anything.

54 years later, I've built a successful business.

And that has enabled me to do things I once only dreamed of.

One of those dreams was to step foot

on all 227 inhabited Greek Islands,

and I'm going to take a big chunk out of that

in this first series.

It's amazing to think just how far we've gone

and how much we've seen over the weeks.

It feels as though it was only a few days ago

I was walking through the streets of Athens!

In the last episode I explored the island of Kefalonia.

It was made all the more special,

as I had the opportunity to spend some time

with a good friend of mine on his farm.

It gave me an insight into rural life,

in a place that retains much of its cultural heritage.

In this episode I'm starting on the island of Ithaka.

This is a stunning and rugged place

that's relatively free from the masses of tourists,

that can make a destination lose some of its charm.

From Ithaka, I'm then making my way to Lefkada.

It's a major hub that brings people from all around Greece,

however most visitors use it as a launch pad

to travel wider.

My plan is to show you

that it's incredible in its own right,

and well worth spending a few days here exploring the sites.

It all starts in Kioni, a picturesque port town,

built like an amphitheatre

with the stunning harbour as the stage.

You know, of all the Ionian islands,

Ithaka to me is probably one of the most rugged.

If you see behind me, the tectonic movement has moved it,

on its side.

Ithaka has no airport, no sandy beaches.

In fact, why would you come here?

It's exactly why you come here!

Ithaka is awesome.

There's only 3,100 in the population,

and it only gets between 20 and 40,000 tourists a year.

The walks are fantastic.

I feel when I come here, like I'm 30 years behind times.

It reminds me of when I was a little boy,

and I see architecture, I see people from those times.

It's just a step back in time, it's fantastic.

You should come!

Ithaka is a small island,

less than 100 square kilometres in size.

That said, if you talk to any of the 3,000 or so

people that live here,

they'll tell you it's a giant of the Ionian.

Obviously not so much in terms of size,

but for how much you'll discover here.

It has legend status,

thanks largely to it being the home of Odysseus,

from one of the greatest classic writings, Homer's Odyssey.

More on that later.

People have lived here since ancient times,

including the Romans, Normans, Turks and Venetians.

There was even a brief period

where the French governed the place.

The result is a diverse and rich history

with architecture to match.

Add into the mix, the natural beauty

and you've got a little gem

that punches well above its weight.

Ithaka is a mountainous island with a fertile interior.

The green slopes are covered in olive trees,

with some of the oldest known groves in the country.

The emerald blue water contrasts with the hillsides,

and white, sandy or pebbled beaches

are dotted around the coast.

The beauty of the island

is matched only by the depth of its history.

So, if you came here you'd need

either a really good guidebook, or to take part in a tour.

There's just so much to learn about the place,

that unless you've got some local knowledge,

you'll miss most of the story.

So, Denise, this is Ulysses' journey.

So where is Troy, where he started?

- It's right here, Asia Minor.

- [Peter] And where is Ithaka?

Right there! - Close!

Yes, just the other side of Greece.

- So, all he had to do was go from here to here,

but he did all of this...

- [Denise] Um hmm.

- No wonder it took him 10 years!

So, you've all watched the movie Troy,

where Brad Pitt plays Achilles,

and they build a wooden horse

to get inside the impregnable walls of Troy.

Well, it was Ulysses' idea to do this,

but that's only part of the story.

- [Denise] A lot of buildings, it was a complex.

Most probably the store house. - Look at this!

Look at that, that's amazing.

- [Denise] Yeah, the palace.

- Wow, his is, 3,000 years old.

- Yeah.

(speaking in foreign language)

Perfectly. - And this is 300 years old!

- Yeah, 200, 300.

- Yeah...

Wow, Denise the is obviously the,

the palace where Ulysses started and finished his odyssey.

- Of course.

This is his palace in Ithaka

where Penelope was waiting for him for 20 years.

It was a Trojan war, the oracle said that;

if he went to that war, he'd come back 20 years later

with no spoils of war, no companions, no nothing,

just a poor man, so he didn't want to go.

- Everybody wanted him-- - Everybody wanted him

and they were true

because the idea of the Trojan wars was his

and that's how they got Troy, so, they needed him with.

- [Peter] Once the Trojan war was over,

Ullyses set sail for home,

but the Gods wanted to punish him.

What should have been a relatively short trip

became an epic journey that saw him battling the elements,

a cyclops, witches, sirens and even seven years on an island

under the spell of Calypso.

It's one of the most well-known stories to have been penned

and has influenced generations of artists,

poets and writers since.

- The Archaeologists placed the Trojan war at 1200 B.C.

- So we're talking about three and a bit thousand years ago

and I know that we've found Troy,

we know Troy is there, we know that happened

and we know that the palace is here

and we've even got images of what the palace looks like

what we think it looks like,

and there's all this stuff in between.

Do you think that the story may have been

a few drinks and it may have extended a bit?

You know, witches, cyclops, whirlpools, giant calamaris

I think Greek's are good at stories.

So maybe Homer,

maybe Homer when he recited this to the community,

maybe it got dissipated a bit, don't you think?

- Well, I believe that he embellished some

and he was an artist, he had to put some

so it really sticks with you so you won't lose it

and it keeps you interested,

that's how you make the stories!

- That's what I like about him.

- But I think that there is a lot of truth in it,

and I also think that there are so called

instructions for the mariners that if you go out there

these are the perils you're gonna see

and that's how you're gonna deal with them.

- Denise, I can understand, looking at this right now,

why this was such an important destination for his Odyssey

and why this was the end of Ulysses' trip,

it's so beautiful.

Ithaka, there's something about it,

there's something about that peacefulness,

just the texture and the context of this island

and the sea and where it is, it's beautiful.

- I have people coming and looking at the view

and telling me "Here is where you lose yourself

"and here is where you find yourself,

"and when you have all this,

"why do you need to do anything else?"

- Yeah, you're right.

In western culture, most people grow up

learning a bit about Greek mythology,

the epic stories of vengeful gods and heroes

have been interpreted over and over again by academics

for centuries and rewritten by poets and authors

who put their own stamp on it.

Then there are the artists who have captured the tales

in paintings and dramatic statues

from Prometheus and his creation of man

to labours of Heracles, the son of Zeus.

Classic stories of Greek mythology

have influenced the world we live in today

and continue to be a source of inspiration and wonder.

(thoughtful music)

(upbeat music)

On the East Coast of Ithaka

is the beautiful fishing village of Frikes.

It's one of those tiny little ports you come across

that remain little known to passing tourists.

It sits at the end of a long narrow inlet,

and being removed from the world,

it's as though time has stood still here for many decades.

It's completely free from many of the modern trappings

that can burden and erode cultures.

One thing that remains

from the days where there was no refrigeration

is a seafood dish that not only tastes great

but is relatively simple to make.

It uses a type of fish called the barbounia

that's prolific in Greek waters

and a personal favourite of mine.

I understand this is a fish meal

that is based on preservation, so,

when you've cooked this and it's ready to go,

you basically can keep it for a few months.

Is that right?

- For a month or so, yeah.

- Fantastic!

So, what are we doing, you've put some olive oil in it.

- Now we have to wait like three days

until weeded before it takes the marinade.

- Ok.

So, what are we doing now?

- [Vasilis] Well, we put some black raisins inside.

- [Peter] Black raisins.

And after the black raisins you've got garlic, is it?

- [Vasilis] We've got garlic and some rosemary.

- [Peter] Are these barbounia?

- Yeah, barbounia.

- Which is red mullet isn't?

- Red mullet, yeah. - Red Mullet.

It's a famous fish in Greece, isn't it?

- Famouns and very tasty, it is my favourite one.

- [Peter] Garlic in now, and?

- [Vasilis] Some rosemary.

- Some rosemary.

Ah!

That smells fantastic, oh that smells great!

Now what are we doing with the vinegar,

what's going on there?

- Now we have to turn off the fire

and then we put the vinegar in.

- All of the vinegar?

- Not all of the vinegar, just a bit of it, just a bit.

The other half can go in the fish.

(laughs)

You have to know that before we fry the barbounia,

and we put some vinegar on top, like this.

- [Peter] Ah ok!

We put some salt and pepper inside the marinade?

- Just a bit, Just a bit.

And it's ready!

Now we leave it to cool.

- [Peter] For how long do you need to cool?

- [Vasilis] Ah, about a minute.

- I'll tell ya, the aroma

with the currents, the garlic and the rosemary,

those three put together,

with the olive oil and the vinegar.

Ah, I'll tell you what!

So, what happens now?

How long does it have to sit in there before you can eat it?

- [Vasilis] About three days.

- [Peter] And after that, how long does it keep?

- [Vasilis] About a month.

- A month! - Maybe more.

- [Peter] Put in a cool place?

- [Vasilis] Yeah in the freezer.

- Now, can I try it now?

- Yeah, of course!

- Can I try it, this looks good!

Let's see, this is a big test

'cause I'm going to give you the truth,

I'm not gonna tell you BS,

I tell you the truth if I like it or not.

I'll tell you what, the bee likes it, that's for sure!

(bright music)

That's great, mate!

And this is basically a recipe

that was cooked for sailors and that, was it?

- Yeah, people that were on the mainland

and weren't here on the island.

- And fisherman when the brought in too many fish?

- Yeah, yeah.

- And they had to keep some of the fish for later,

this is what they did.

- It was a way to preserve them.

- I'll tell you what, the raisins are beautiful!

And the Greek raisins are beautiful mate.

- Yeah, I know.

- Hey, thank you buddy! - Thank you.

- This is absolutely awesome.

- Thank you for coming.

- I'm gonna take this and sit down now

This is one recipe

I'm gonna have to get Chef Kyriakos to learn,

he's got some amazing dishes in his arsenal,

but there's no way this is gonna be the first

and last time I get to indulge in this.

After a long lunch by the water,

I needed a long walk to burn off a few calories.

One problem with travelling through Greece

is that the food is amazing and generally quite rich,

but finding an excuse for some exercise

is easy in a place like this.

The setting is spectacular with dramatic rock formations

created by the uplifting of the Earth's crust,

the coast has been battered by the elements

for millions of years leaving a jagged shore.

The interior has weathered away too,

with exposed granite boulders dotting the countryside,

some of the resulting creations look almost man made,

but alas, they're the handy work of mother nature,

no artist compares.

This Monolith, this creature,

it's like an obelisk, it's called araclyes.

Some think it's a manmade structure,

others think it's some sort of geological formation

that all the ground around it has eroded.

I certainly can't push it over!

Oh, I think it moved.

Shit, it moved!

Maybe I'm imagining things,

or I'm channelling my inner Heracles.

(cattle lowing)

I'm on the north-east coast of Ithaka

and although it has some wonderful walks,

some 70 kilometres of walks actually

and they're fixing them up all the time,

but the roads are actually a great drive as well.

You come along here and these escarpments in some areas,

don't look over here but just down here

and I don't think you can see it that well,

they're just so severe.

We have a phobia in my family for heights,

and I stand here now

and there's a little bit of shake in my right foot.

It's absolutely magnificent!

Continuing along the coastal road,

the scenery kept evolving with the only traffic

being of the bovine variety.

For a change, it wasn't a heard of goats stopping me,

instead it was cows and the amazing views.

I can only imagine how challenging it must be

for a farmer in these parts,

imagine trying to round up your cattle

on these rugged hills!

(techno music)

There are famous drives all around the world.

From the Amalfi coast in Italy,

to the ice filled parkway in Canada,

each has its own appeal.

Here in Greece there are loads of short trips

you can go on that, that in their own right,

rival some of the most scenic routes in the world.

What's more, in the less populous islands,

roads are often empty and you get the place to yourself.

Mind you, they can also be a little narrow

and occasionally, a bit run down.

But stick to the speed limit,

don't get too distracted by the scenery,

and you'll love the experience.

There's one thing I'll never get tired of,

and that's the stunning landscapes

in this part of the world.

No matter how much time I spend exploring these islands,

I'll never lose appreciation for how remarkable they are.

History and culture are great, but I think it's the raw,

natural beauty that I love the most.

(upbeat music)

Every island has a village

called Paliochora which in Greek means old town.

So, you want to learn about the history of a place?

The best place to start is often Paliochora

which is exactly where my next stop was.

Here I met Luca.

When he's not serving people as deputy mayor,

he's helping folks like me

get an understanding of Ithaka's history.

In his free time, he also acts as a body double

for Novak Djokovic, that last bit I just made up.

- We have at least 30 footpaths

and 70 kilometres of walking tracks,

clean mopped and ready to use.

- [Peter] Are you walking to Paliochora?

Are you ok?

We're not rolling its ok.

You're going to Paliochora.

- [Woman] Speak slowly please.

Sorry! - Because I don't know

very well. - Sorry, sorry.

Italiano?

- [Women] Si!

(speaking in foreign language)

- Paliochora is over there.

- [Women] Oh okay.

- You like Ithaki?

- Yeah, I don't know.

Now we go.

- Okay, no worries. - Thank you.

- You make good Ferraris,

you make great Ferrari's, thank you very much!

Excellent, excellent.

So, look we're on our way to Paliochora,

down here is the capital, isn't it?

- Yeah, the capital.

- Bathes? - Yes.

- Bathes. - Bathes.

- Bathes or Bathes? - Bathes.

- [Peter] It is the largest

deep-water port in the Mediterranean.

Is that true?

- It is the deepest natural port in the Mediterranean,

that's why it has attracted

so many yachts and boats during summer.

- Wow!

Well should we follow the Italians?

We'll go and have a look at what they're looking at eh?

Look at these terraces are everywhere.

They're everywhere, not just down there,

they're everywhere, the whole mountain is full of them.

- [Loukas] Even on the top of the mountain

- [Peter] Yeah, I know!

Here you have olive trees,

but the terrain is so rugged

I look at these olives here on this olive tree,

they actually pick these olives?

- [Loukas] Yeah.

They're still picking olives here

but although it's difficult, they carry them with donkeys.

- [Peter] With the donkeys?

- [Loukas] Yeah.

- That's a lot of work for olives isn't it?

Amazing!

- It's very hard work,

and the way that they're picking olives

here in Ithaka is very tiring.

- [Peter] Very tiring!

That's why you're thin!

You look like Djokovic, you know that?

I'm often amazed by ancient buildings,

but here my attention was drawn to something that today,

would require excavators

and a lot of man hours to construct.

Terraces, they're probably over 1,000 years old.

- For sure, yeah.

- So much work gone into these terraces

because Ithaki is just mountains, that's all it is,

and if they wanted to live

they needed to bench out these mountains

to be able to grow what they needed to grow.

And I know it takes a long time to build this

'cause my father talked to me

about my grandfather building a wall

maybe 40 or 50 metres long and it took him 13 years.

- Yeah, working very hard.

- Unbelievable, unbelievable.

And they're still standing 1,000 years later.

Wow!

Let's keep going, we're going to Paliochora.

(bright music)

Hiking up the mountain I got an even greater appreciation

for the work that would have gone into the terraces.

Much of the island is covered in them

and had they not been built,

they wouldn't have been able to cultivate

enough food to support the population.

This is Paliochora, right?

Right.

And this is the bell tower?

- [Loukas] Yeah, yes

- [Peter] And it's still standing after all the earthquakes?

- [Loukas] After 600 years.

- [Peter] What does that say to you

about Greek construction,

pretty good? - Yeah.

- [Peter] They make good builder's, don't they?

Eh? - Sure

- So, Loukas, this bell tower

and that little building there,

that's what's left of Paliochora,

a 600 year old village, what's happened?

Why did everybody leave?

- When the piracy stopped everybody moved close to the sea.

- Ah, so, this was just built for the pirates?

The pirates ended and they're gone.

Wow, well, not much to see up here.

Let's keep going, we should go

and have a round of tennis eh, what do you think?

- [Loukas] Yes, of course.

I've got my racket there. - Everybody's working out

their Djokovic, mate!

They all know.

They don't think you're the vice mayor,

they know who you are. - Let's go

- [Peter] Let's go, let's go and have a round of tennis.

(upbeat music)

Paliochora might not look like much today, but in its prime,

there would have been houses on the hillside

and a healthy community living here.

But with the threat of invasion subsiding,

and an increasing need to trade with the passing merchants,

the village was abandoned

and a new settlement built by the water.

As you can see by the view,

the town below is a busy little place,

and even with a backdrop like this,

the challenges of living in the hills

was just too much for people to remain.

At sea level, it's a very different picture.

The modern buildings, cars and bustling waterfront

are quite the contrast to the serenity of the mountain.

Don't get me wrong.

It's still a gorgeous and relatively peaceful place,

but it doesn't have quite the same atmosphere.

A statue of Odysseus looks over the port in Vathi.

It's rather ominous.

On the one side you have a proud image of him,

looking into the distance with a sense of wonder.

Then on the other, there's a not so handsome

and aged Odysseus, feverishly paddling back to Ithaka.

Let's hope my Odyssey doesn't go the same way as his.

Mind you, 10 years cruising the Ionian

doesn't sound that bad.

We've just left Ithaka

and we're headed to Lefkada over there.

This is Meganisi, which in Greek is; big island.

It's not that big, but that's a big cave!

That's called the papanikolis cave.

It's called the papanikolis cave because a Greek submarine

and man we're getting close, a Greek submarine

used to hide in here in World War 2 from the Italian Navy.

They'd go out, shoot them and come back.

We're going right in there, right now,

and man it's a bit scary!

Yianni what are you doing?

This is too close buddy.

Yianni is scaring the shit out of me here

(thoughtful music)

'cause there's shallow rocks everywhere here,

I don't know how they fit a bloody submarine in here!

Now that's a 30 metre vessel.

You can just imagine a submarine

of the same size coming through here.

It would actually be more precarious for them

because of the depth,

but they knew the depth, they knew everything,

and they used this as a regular hiding spot.

It's something you really don't want to miss

when you come here.

It's just monstrous!

Apparently, it's the second biggest cave in all of Greece.

I've seen a few caves, it's the biggest one I've seen.

Where's he going?

Where's he going!

(upbeat music)

Having left Ithaka, we made our way to Lefkada,

via a brief stop at Meganisi,

a journey of about 30 kilometres.

It was smooth cruising across a flat sea,

with plenty of scenery to enjoy along the way.

It's a glorious morning and we've just come into Lefkada

in the port of Nydri, and this is the square.

Behind me is Aristotle Onassis,

one of the richest men of the 20th century,

and to my right behind me are all of these day boats

and this is probably the central spot of Lefkada

where day boats take off to Kefalonia, to Meganissi,

and to all parts of the Ionian.

Here is where you come

if you want to start your sailing expedition.

There's a lot of floatilers that start here

because we're basically central Ionian.

To the south you have Kefalonia and Zakynthos,

Ithaki, and to the north you have Paksos and Corfu.

It's just a great place to come.

Looking forward to spending some time here.

The great man, Aristotle Onassis.

He's a legendary figure

that will forever hold a place in history.

You'll learn more about him in the next episode.

For now though, it's time to get to know Nydri.

I know I said Ithaka was where Odysseus came from,

but there's been a lot of research that claims

he was in fact from near here.

I'll leave that debate to the experts.

Nydri is a busy tourist hub,

but the permanent population is well and truly outnumbered

by the volume of outsiders that come here.

It might not be the prettiest of towns,

but as a place to base yourself for exploring the region,

you can't ask for much more.

About 15 minute's drive from Nydri is this place

and about 15 minute's walks from here are the waterfalls,

absolutely magnificent!

There's two stages, the shallow bit

and then there's a nice tall one.

I'm here early in the morning

because a lot of people come here through the day,

in actual fact, they come here for a coffee

before they go in and on their way out.

It may have only been a short hike,

but boy was it challenging.

Other than this bridge, I don't think there was

a flat piece of ground the entire way up.

The trail was rocky and uneven, thankfully though,

there was plenty of shade.

The stream also meant it was nice and cool,

and the scenery wasn't too bad either.

The only downside is that due to the lack of rain,

there wasn't nearly as much water

flowing through the valley as I'd seen in the past.

The water normally pumps through here.

The walk is well worth the reward at the end.

As amazing as this place is when the stream is in full flow,

even with just a trickle, it's still pretty special.

Oh man. (laughs)

Well, I finally got here

and it's not really a waterfall,

it's a bit like the Greek economy at the moment,

it's a water trickle.

But just like the Greeks, who won't go hungry,

the substance is there, it'll come back.

Maybe I should have been a poet or philosopher.

Nah, I'm definitely a builder.

I might come from a background in construction,

but I can still appreciate the beauty of nature.

Something as simple as a moss and fern covered waterfall

is mesmerising.

I could sit and enjoy this scene for hours.

It was pretty awesome to have the place to myself.

Just a short distance from this spot

are the busy beaches and port.

Here, it felt like I was a million miles from everyone.

Except for the cameraman and crew that follow me everywhere.

Woo!

Ah fine, 40 degrees, 45. (laughs)

It's a bit less than 17. (laughs)

Just here.

Over there it's warm, it's three or four degrees difference.

From a high vantage point,

you can get an appreciation for just how green

and relatively uninhabited the island is.

Most people live on the seaside,

so the interior is left for farming.

You can also see how many olive trees there are.

I don't think I've been to a place

with so many of them per capita!

Pretty much any vacant bit of space

has an olive tree planted in it.

The amazing thing is, they're all harvested by hand.

Where there aren't olives, there are grapes

and one other important crop,

that you probably didn't realise they grew in Greece.

I'm in the village of Egklouvi

and it's special for many reasons.

One, it's the highest village in all of Lefkada

for that reason it's three or four degrees cooler

than it is down in the port.

It's also really fresh, but more importantly,

it's still agriculturally sustainable

even though there's only 70 people living here

and there was 200 in the 50s,

they still produce wonderful grapes, and these things,

I've never seen them before

but I've been eating them all of my life, lentils.

They produce the best lentils in the world

and I'm looking forward to

spending some time in the country side

picking grapes and checking these things out.

(speaking in foreign language)

There are only a handful of people

that live here permanently.

In winter the numbers are even fewer,

most of the population are middle aged or older

because the youth are forced to head to bigger towns

or Athens in search of work and education.

It's a harsh reality of life in rural settlements

the world over.

One of the quirks of this place,

is that despite having such a small number of residents,

there are three cafes.

To share the love,

the locals visit a different one each day.

Walking through the empty streets I couldn't help but wonder

how much longer the town would be around.

(upbeat music)

(sheep bleating)

The sound of bells filling the mountain air

can mean only one thing, a herd of livestock.

In this case a mob of sheep and goats

were feeding on the hillside near the lentil fields.

I had made my way from the village of Egklouvi,

a couple of kilometres into the countryside,

to meet with a local farmer called Ilias.

He's been tilling the earth his entire life

and produces some of the best lentils in the world.

- This is (speaking in foreign language).

- And Faki is lentils in Greek?

- Yes.

- [Peter] When they're picked how high are these?

(Ilias speaking in foreign language)

So when were the last ones picked?

- [Ilias] We cut the lentils in July

- In July, and now it's the end of September,

where are they, where are the?

And this is the seedling is it?

- [Ilias] Yes, this is yeah, new.

- This is the seedling. - This is the new one, yeah.

Okay, this is the lentil and in this field here

this is all lentils, all faki?

- [Ilias] Yes, yes.

- How many kilogrammes or tonnes of lentils

will you get from this?

- We get about 100 (speaking in foreign language)

- And how many is that in this area for instance?

- All of this area, I'd say 100,000 kilos.

- So, 100 tonnes?

You'll get 100 tonnes of lentils from the mountains here?

- Yeah.

- Wow!

At the moment the fields look barren and dry.

That's because we're essentially

at the start of the growing season.

From now, the earthy hue gradually gives way

to a vibrant green, before once again

changing colour to a golden brown.

It takes three to fourth months before it's time to harvest,

and they rely on rainfall for the water supply.

So a hot, dry season can mean all their hard work

comes to no avail.

Thankfully, there's generally at least

a small amount of annual rain, so in a bad year,

they still get some sort of crop.

- This is the aloni

- Oh, this is the aloni, right.

Okay.

And what's this? - That's the vaultos.

- That's the vaultos.

So here is where they took the harvested lentils and they,

on this threshing floor they got the seed out

and in the vaultos, they use that for storage,

is that right?

- Storage, yes.

- Can we go inside?

- Yes> (speaking in foreign language)

- So, they throw it in like this, okay.

Where's he taking me?

I think they were very short people.

(speaking in foreign language)

Oh man it's cramped in here.

(speaking in foreign language)

- Yeah.

- This is a vault, or a vaultos as they call it.

Ilias has been telling me about the story,

there were 50 such vaults in this area,

each with their own aloni, its own threshing floor.

And it's here where they processed the lentils.

(speaking in foreign language)

So, this was actually not where they lived.

This was for the animals and for storage,

they lived in smaller ones than this

and they would store their processed lentils

all that to turn this into this.

And then the Venetians would come

and they would take 10% as their tax.

This was happening as early as 1600 A.D.,

so they've been doing it the same way

up until about 20 years ago, for about 500 years.

Amazing.

(speaking in foreign language)

(happy music)

In times gone by, the majority of Egklouvi Village

would leave the comfort of their homes

for the entire summer,

only to move a few kilometres away

to live in these tiny mountain vaults,

while harvesting their famous lentils.

Some steps in the process have obviously modernised,

but others remain rather simple,

and as they were centuries ago.

So to get from this to this, this is what they did,

and eventually they all came out.

You see, there, there, there

and they just open 'em up

and you'll be left with this.

There we go, look at the colour!

You can see why they're the best lentils in the world.

The lentils grown here would be shipped around the country

and traded in other corners of the world.

It's amazing to think that for generations,

this little island has been a breadbasket

for much of Greece.

The scale of this age old industry is huge,

but it was only when we got a view from the sky,

that we really got an appreciation for it.

The threshing beds sprawled all around

and I could visualise the townsfolk toiling away.

Speaking of toil, after so much walking and talk of lentils,

I was starving, so it was back to Mia Zoi

to see what Kyriako could whip up.

We've got a kilo of cleaned lentils.

Now, it's very important that they're cleaned

because they might have some rocks in them,

and you can tell the Greeks that clean their lentils,

they're the ones with straight teeth.

(speaking in foreign language)

Straight teeth, so he's cleaned his lentils,

there's no rocks in it, right.

And we have a kilo of tomato, as my wife says pasata,

it's crushed tomato

or I call it crushed tomato, right.

A kilo of that or you can actually crush the tomato yourself

without the peel, is that right?

(speaking in foreign language)

Some sugar, five pieces of garlic,

one onion, a carrot, three bay leafs and a bit of olive oil.

This is, I think, one of the easiest recipes to cook,

I love it, I could live on lentils.

My grandmother lived to 102 on lentils,

my father lived to 100 on lentils, it's awesome stuff.

Everybody here, the young people are 90!

They call 'em young, at 90!

So.

- So that's a bit ironic.

What he's saying is we're gonna put 'em

in some boiling water now, that's just to clean them,

although they're already clean,

they've got to clean them again.

Because these are small lentils,

you only need to boil them for around 30 minutes.

Larger ones need to be soaked for a few hours

before you start.

Once boiled, give them a quick rinse.

Kyriako is just covering the lentils,

just with a little bit of water.

- Two or three fingers

Onion goes in.

Ah yeah, tomato goes in.

Add all of the remaining ingredients at the same time,

except the olive oil,

that gets added near the end to thicken the soup.

In Greece they say olive oil helps you live longer.

You know what, even the camera man,

the camera man loves this stuff, he lives on this stuff!

Fantastic Kyriako, fantastic.

- I'm not giving you any of that,

I'm gonna keep some for myself.

- For such a simple and easy to make dish it tastes amazing.

I'm known for being a little hot headed at times,

and a day after lentils the hot air is coming

from every direction, if you know what I mean.

(bright music)

(upbeat music)

An early start saw us leaving port

and making our way along the white cliffs of Lefkada.

The island actually takes its name

from these limestone rock faces,

because the word lefko means pale or white, hence Lefkada.

Our journey was taking us to a well known lighthouse,

built in 1813 on the site of what was once

a temple to Apollo.

It became famous for a tragedy

that happened here over 2,000 years ago.

Locals have been telling the story for centuries,

and like a lot of tales from the past,

scholars think it's a myth.

We're on the southern most tip of Lefkada

and this is Cape Lefkis, and it's famous,

just below that lighthouse signifies the spot

where apparently Sappho, the poet from Lesbos,

leaped to her death for a lover.

It's the original lovers leap, or so the Lefkadans say,

'cause she was around 500 B.C.

Now I'm trying to check it on Google,

on my bullshit metre here, but unfortunately,

I don't have any reception in this part of Lefkada,

so I'll check it when I go back.

Whether it's true or not is yet to be proven,

but there is evidence from ancient times

to suggest that Cape Lefkas

was a site of human sacrifice and ritual leaps.

Apparently, the Romans ran with the story

and it became popular to jump here

after being rejected by a lover.

They say lunatics and criminals

were even thrown from the cliff to purify their souls.

Sounds a bit like burning witches at the stake

in the dark ages.

Regardless of the evidence, I'm Greek,

so I have to side with the locals.

So if you ask me, this is the original lovers leap,

except today, thankfully the only leaping being done

is by hang gliders and base jumpers,

two activities you'll never catch me doing!

There are plenty of great things about having a boat.

You can move around as you feel,

visit places only accessible from the sea,

but it's not always steady sailing.

You know boats are fantastic,

but the problem is you've got to understand

that they are a living organism,

something always goes wrong and if you get upset with it

then you'll never enjoy boats,

you've just got to live with it and move on,

and thankfully we have a great crew.

In this situation, one of those problems,

one of the links on our starboard anchor, you like that?

The left an, oh no, port anchor, thank you Sarah!

Port, no port left,

that's how you remember port, starboard.

So, our port anchor has a little bit of a problem here,

the chain has busted, and we've got to fix that,

we'll fix that onboard.

Captain, engineer, Sarah,

there's a whole process that's gonna happen now.

What's gonna happen Yannis?

You're gonna, you're holding that rope

so you're gonna hold that chain down, is that right?

- Yes, one metre down.

- One metre down.

- We go and attend it.

We take out totally the chain out from the anchor.

- Yes.

- We ground it somewhere that it is healthy,

the anchor, and we connect it again.

- Fantastic, let's see what happens, let's go.

- We will lose one metre of chain

This is the anchor.

- That's not a big deal,

but we've got how many metres of chain, 80 metres?

- 110. - 110 metres!

We've got plenty of chain, let's do it.

(speaking in foreign language)

- No, the other one, down.

(playful music)

- Oop, I'm just gonna move.

Now, the good thing about our boat

is we've got two of everything.

We've got two anchors, we've got two engines,

we've got two desalinators, we've got two stewardesses.

- [Man] Did you get.

- [Peter] It's all happening, I better...

- [Man] Is there an allen key, yeah?

- [Peter] He's got the allen keys here,

I've got the allen keys, I'll pass the allen keys.

- [Man] Yeah, I think so.

- Yianni is doing all the hard work,

the anchor is now hanging off the rope,

it's no longer hanging off the anchor chain anymore,

it's hanging off that little blue rope.

So, Rhett on top is gonna go

and cut the chain with a grinder

and we're gonna now wait until he's cut it

so that we can reattach the anchor.

See where it is, see the anchor's detached the rope?

Now, is this a Burleskone moment?

Ha!

About two miles northwest of cape Lefkas is Porto Katsiki.

Port goat, or goat beach.

These beautiful white limestone cliffs

are dotted right around the Ionian.

You see 'em at Zathynkos, at shipwreck bay,

this is exactly the same except there's no shipwreck

and you can get here with a car or a boat

and there's very few tourists.

These beaches are absolutely awesome

and I'm about to go for a swim, but cheers first.

Mm that's really nice.

This is one of those postcard locations

that holidaying in the Greek Islands

provides around almost every corner.

There are few parts of the world

so beautiful and freely accessible,

without hoards of tourists.

Yeah you might need to arrive early

to claim to a daybed, but stroll 50 metres up the beach

and you'll have a patch of pebbles to yourself.

The beauty of the islands is one of the things

I frequently think of when I'm back home,

but it's not what I miss the most.

What I long for is the sense of freedom, the isolation.

Being away from the noise of the city,

the need to check emails

and getting constantly called throughout the day.

Here, I choose when I want to be busy,

and when I just want to switch off,

and let the world pass by.

I like to think I have the same independence back home,

but it's never the case.

The work/life balance tends to get out of whack,

and the pendulum swings too far

towards the less enjoyable things.

Thankfully, I can take the time to correct it,

and any chance I get I'm on a plane

back to this heavenly place, to rest, relax and recharge.

(upbeat music)