THE GREEK REUNION OF THE KIELER OLD FARTS

In 1969 in the middle of my junior year of college, I left Florida State University to study at the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany.  I lived in Kiel for approximately a year.  During that year, friendships were formed that persist to this day.  Around twenty years ago, we started having (initially) bi-annual reunions, later transitioning to annual reunions (except during Covid years).  We are the “Kieler Old Farts.”  Over the years, we have met for reunions in Reno, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, New York, Kiel, Oslo, Stockholm, Italy (2x), and Greece (3x).  We’ve lost several members, reminding us that we will all eventually die.  This year, there are only five KOFs attending our reunion.

One of our members is former New Yorker David, a retired physician.  He and his wife relocated to Greece nine years ago.  David’s wife is of Greek heritage, which encouraged their interest in living in Greece.  They first lived on the island of Lesbos, but they didn’t want to be stuck on an island in case the ferries stopped running.  So they rented a house on the mainland for two years on the Peloponnese Peninsula, a scenic area about a four-hour drive from Athens, located south of the city of Kalamata.  After exploring the area, David bought a nice house in the fishing village of Agios Nikolaus (Saint Nicolas), a short walk from the Mediterranean beach, for the modest price of 250k Euros. 

The Peloponnese region is known locally as the Mani, referring to the region’s name and the local population. The Mani is increasingly the chosen destination for expats immigrating from Europe and the US.  The weather is generally moderate, though quite hot in summer, and is popular for swimming and sunbathing during hot weather.  The food is delicious.  Fresh fish are served in all the restaurants, provided by the local fishermen.  The Greek people are very friendly. I understand why David and his wife would choose to spend the last chapter of their lives here.

Having visited the Mani twice before, we didn’t need to explore the areas that we had previously visited.  However, David was able to lead us on tours of two very interesting new locations for us.

The first was the Mourtzinos Tower fortress built by the Mani as defensible lookouts against ocean pirates, marauding tribes, as well as the Nazi occupiers during World War II.   There are many similar towers located throughout the Mani. The Mourtzinos Tower was constructed on a hill surrounded by buildings, bounded by a stone wall.  There was a community well and spaces for growing crops.  There was also an ancient millstone for the crushing of olives to collect the oil.

The second location we visited was an ancient city named Messene.  It is located north of Kalamata, a city famous for its olives and olive oil exports, and a ninety-minute drive from our hotel in the Mani.  The ancient Messene city was built in the 3^rd century AD, following the success of the Messene people in repelling the neighboring Spartans.  The amphitheater (viewable in the photo gallery) had a capacity for around six thousand spectators.  One can only imagine the events that took place there…games, celebrations, ceremonies, executions, etc. 

Greece will likely be the only location for future Kieler Old Farts reunions.  Greece is very tourist-friendly and certainly less expensive than our previous meeting places in Italy, Germany, Sweden, and Norway. The Greek people are very friendly.  Except for Athens, the countryside does not feel crowded.  The landscapes are stunning.  The weather in summer can be very hot.  But that is the season when the Greek people flock to the seaside villages.  We schedule our KOF reunions for the Spring or Fall instead of the crowded summers and cold winters. 

Greek olive oil is among the world’s best.  Greek olive oil is exported to Italy to augment the Italian olive oil harvest.  The resulting blend is labeled “Italian Olive Oil,” which brings a higher profit than similar quality oils from Greece, Spain, Turkey, Tunisia, etc., which are all imported by Italy and blended with Italian olive oil to maximize its profits.  The Mani region of Greece is home to thousands and thousands of olive trees.  David has 26 olive trees on his one-acre property.   In a good season, those trees have yielded 32 liters of high-quality olive oil, which was enough for David to send us home to Reno with a liter of his special personal olive oil harvest.

On our departure day, we left early in the morning for the scenic four-hour drive from the Mani to Athens.  The one-hour drive from Agios Nikolaus to Kalamata is a spectacularly scenic winding road close to the coast and through the scenic mountain landscape.  The road from Kalamata to Athens is a wonderful four-lane expressway that was financed by the European Union in its bailout of the Greek high-debt economy following the 2008 recession.  Greece received eighteen billion Euros of aid between 2010-16, part of which was used to build the wonderful expressway which we traveled on.  The largest contributor to Greek aid was Germany.  Currently, the Greek economy is much improved, supported by an increase in tourism.  David told us that “Greek people don’t like to pay taxes.”  (Greeks are not the only ones…)  I read that Greece will be paying off its debt to the EU until 2060.