Welcome to Ithaca

After hammering through rainy Europe, crossing the alps in a snow storm and winding along Italian B-roads, we arrived on Ithaca in the final weeks of the 2021 season. It had apparently been an intense summer, with pent-up demand for travel bringing a rush of visitors, unheard-of traffic and crowded beaches and bars.

As if to make us feel at home, our first weekend saw 4 months’ of rain in 24 hours. Parked on Aetos we were away from any possible flooding but still the terraces were an inch deep in run-off. In the buffeting winds it was hard not to imagine (and have dreams about) the terrace collapsing and sending us sliding downhill. I jumped out of bed more than once to slam on an already fully tight handbrake. As it turned out, we got off lightly. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the local council been forced to smash down sea walls to help reduce floodwater in town. Friends had their homes completely wrecked. There was also talk that such heavy weather on the ripening olives would spoil the already thin harvest completely.

Before getting on to olives we had to sort out our living situation. I had done only the minimum amount of clearing to get the van down the lane to our grove when we arrived. We had then driven onto a terrace which we knew we couldn’t turn round on. Neither of us remotely wanted to reverse up the steep and overgrown lane so before a turning circle and clear way out were needed. We also had to find a source of water, as our 80L tank was running low. Sunny days digging, clearing and walling, after a week of driving, were exactly what we’d left the UK looking for.

About halfway through the second week we finally got ourselves sorted enough to start working on trees. With remote assistance from Dad, we pruned the first few heavily, anticipating a three or four-year wait for a return to full production. As we worked, the view down-slope opened up, with the bay of Molo and Mount Nirito coming in to view behind. Perfect reward.