Wine Making in Pelekas

Every autumn the Pelekas air is filled with the smell of grapes and wine. From early October, most families find a few days to crush the harvested grapes and begin the process that will provide them with at least a couple of litres of wine for each day of the year! Although some families have land that supports the cultivation of vines, many people buy commercially produced grapes that are shipped in from Crete or the Peloponese. Each year produces a different wine depending on the sugar level in the grapes, which in turn is dependent on that year's climatic conditions. We have it on good authority that this year's vintage is going to be a bit special and rather strong! To follow the whole wine making process in pictures click here.

Sponsorship

We are pleased to announce that for the next twelve months the Pelekas website will once again be sponsored by C-GV Travel.

Recycling Bins

New Car Park

Over recent years parking, especially in the peak summer season, has been a problem in Pelekas. A new two-level car park is currently under construction on a piece of land close to the village centre. It will be in use by the spring.

Christmas in Corfu in 1908

Another extract from "An Artist in Corfu" by Sophie Atkinson, published in 1911.

"On the vigil of a great winter festa the little town of Corfu is as lively as an ant heap, peasants and townspeople alike busy providing for the forthcoming holidays. The narrow streets are half blocked with stacks of fruit and vegetables, and overflowing stalls of all manner of provisions.
On the festa days proper hardly even a cavern in Fried-Fish Street is open, and any improvident stranger in the land must apparently live exclusively on coffee and mandolata. When one has seen the rapidly vanishing heaps of the latter delicious sweetmeat - a nougat of honey, almonds and white of egg - one can hardly believe that its manufacture at festa time accounts for a periodic scarcity of eggs on the island.
No great entertainment marks the festas. The streets are as deserted as London on bank holidays; empty but for the sound of church bells and drift of incense. The churches are all strewn with fresh leaves of daphne, and all day long people pass in to kiss the icons and relics about the lamp-lit screens.
Though Christmas is a two days' feast, with as solemn a sacrifice of turkey as in England, it is New Year which is the special festival of children, when gifts are given and excganged, and booths are full of simple toys and gaudy edibles dear to youth."

Cookery Corner

This section gives you the opportunity to re-create some of your favourite Corfiot taverna recipes at home. This time, Karidopitta - a honey cake with walnuts.

Ingredients

225 grms very fine sugar. Half cup honey. Juice of 1 lemon. 1 tsp ground cinnamon. 225 grms sifted flour. 1 tsp baking powder. 225 grms chopped walnuts. Quarter cup softened butter. 4 eggs, separated, at room temperature.

Instructions

In a small saucepan heat three-quarters of a cup of water and in this dissolve half the sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes, stirring regularly. Stir in the honey, lemon juice and half of the cinnamon and simmer, stirring for five minutes longer. Remove from the flame and let cool for half an hour. In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, half the nuts and the remaining cinnamon. In another bowl cream together the butter and remaining sugar until light in color. To this mixture add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well. Beat in the walnut mixture. In yet another bowl beat the egg whites stiff and gently fold these into the nut and flour mixture. Transfer to a well greased baking tin about 8" (20 cm) square, sprinkle the top with the remaining nuts and bake in an oven that has been preheated to 180 degrees Celsius until a wooden toothpick placed in the center comes out clean (about fifty minutes). Remove the cake from the oven and cut into square or diamond portions in the baking tin. Pour the cooled syrup over and let stand, covered, overnight. Serve at room temperature.

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Editorial

Sustainable tourism has several inter-related categories such as alternative tourism (nature and wildlife activities), ecotourism (promoting yet protecting natural areas from mass-tourism and development), and agrotourism (educational holidays in agriculture and culture to sustain rural population).
This concept of linking visitors with culture, nature and the environment in a harmonious way is not a new idea. A holiday spent exploring the countryside and quaint villages, learning about the production of local cuisine and crafts can be a refreshing and rewarding break from city life. The informed traveller can also be directly contributing to the sustainable tourism effort by supporting the communities working to preserve their local traditions.
How does sustainable tourism affect Pelekas? Much local accommodation is already in the hands of private owners rather than large companies and in low impact housing rather than eyesore architecture. There are groups who come to Pelekas for walking and painting holidays and plans are underway for a museum in Pelekas showcasing the history and culture of the village. Indeed, traditional culture is on display several times a year with public performances by local dancers and musicians, most notably at the annual Pelekas Festival in August.
Further afield Natura 2000 have four protected sites in Corfu. These sites are two wetlands, a salt marsh and a coastal zone. The objective is to successfully protect and manage these areas and then use the model for other areas under similar stress in other parts of Greece and the Mediterranean. The Greek branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature is studying the relationship between tourism and protected areas, conducting ecotourism pilot projects and offering training programs and printed guidelines to local communities. Greenpeace is collaborating with farming communities to promote organic farming alternatives, the practice of which is comparatively low in Greece, but steadily rising. (Interestingly there is now an organic greengrocers opposite Aqualand in Agios Ioannis!)
Finally a quick search on Google produced the following results: Corfu Car Hire - 742,000 pages; Corfu Water Park - 281,000 pages; Corfu Sustainable Tourism - 21,300 pages. Proof that the theory is easy to embrace yet difficult to implement.

Unfortunately the proposed new section where you can post reviews of your stay in Pelekas has not yet materialised. Look out for it some time in 2007!

AO Kerkyra

AO Kerkyra, the local Corfu team, made a surprisingly bright start on their return to top flight football. For a while they were challenging the "greats" - Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, AEK and PAOK - at the top of the league. Since then they have had a bit of a reality check and are now sitting in mid-table. You can follow their progress each week by clicking here.

Happy Christmas

As usual at this time of year everyone associated with Pelekas.com would like to wish you a Happy Holiday Season and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year. Hopefully we will see many of you again in the summer!