Mani rocks… (and rolls!)
It’s the place where my fathers’ part of the family comes from and a place where I lived for a just little time when I was a kid. I can’t say though that I was all that attached to it myself. I’m a “big city boy” most of the time however, I had the chance to make some friends down there and get emotionally attached to the place over the years. Still, I never felt like “home” or something similar. That is until now.
After my father passed away, I never visited the place again for almost 7 or 8 years. I was very young though and I couldn’t drive, but I also didn’t have the urge to visit which was far more important. I can’t say that I get along perfectly with all of my relatives, the generation gap seems way bigger down there, but that’s another story. The fact is that we finally managed to finish a half-built home we had there, a house my father started building over 20 years ago so, during the last 4-5 years I started visiting the place more often than ever.
I can clearly describe the place as “awesome”! It has everything I ever wanted in a ‘second home’. Mountains, sea, breathtaking scenery, roads leading to unexplored and hidden places, delicious local cuisine, countless ancient Greek monuments and archeological sites and very few people (for me that’s a plus, because it means solitude and peace of mind).
I can clearly describe the place as “awesome”! It has everything I ever wanted in a ‘second home’. Mountains, sea, breathtaking scenery, roads leading to unexplored and hidden places, delicious local cuisine, countless ancient Greek monuments and archeological sites and very few people (for me that’s a plus, because it means solitude and peace of mind).
The truth is that I could never imagine myself living in a small village for ever, away from the city, simply because I’m sort of a “music-junkie”, I go where the music is and everything music-related is in the city. I’ve come to terms with my choice, but I definitely couldn’t leave this unique and wild beauty of Mani unnoticed and unmentioned.
Easy times at hard places. Mani is a place where not even roaches survive, every animal hear is hungry. (No really I’ve never seen any roaches around…)
P.S. – Having a second home near the sea is a super plus for me and especially nowadays. I can say that I feel extremely lucky about that.
