We had celebrations here then during the holidays, Christmas, Easter and other holidays. On St. Paraskevi’s day, St. John’s day… We would all go there, practically the entire village, like a pilgrimage, take our food with us, load it up on the donkeys, take nice rugs, the ladies would ride and we would go to…
– What was Glossa like in the past? – Glossa was a rich village. It produced wines, almonds, olives, prunes. Each house had its garden, with tomatoes, zucchini, beans… It was a very rich village. They knew about the vineyards, they knew the olives, and now we are left only with the olives. Glossa…
We had no radio or television back then. We had the town crier then. Do you know what that is? Traders would come here. They would sell pots and pitchers… And he would come out and cry: “Down in Loutraki, a boat came and brought pitchers and pots”.
– Did you have the World Cup? – World Cup? My dear, we had nothing here. A couple of times they had races, children like you, and they swam across. We had no World Cup. We had no television, we had no radio, we had no telephone. Where would we know about it? Now, when…
My father was the first potter in Skopelos. He made everything. My father would make the braziers. There were no heaters or stoves. They burned wood. And the brazier was made out of clay. And they would put coal in it, light it up and the children would sit around it. We were seven children,…
– Was there football? – I played, but I went to work when I was 10 years old. I dropped out of school… Are you in Third grade? I dropped out of Third grade and I went to work. I kneaded three bags of flour with my own hands. I made 100 kilos of…
– How did you fish? – They had no nylon, nylon lines. What do you call it? Don’t you call it nylon? The nylon line came to Skopelos in 1952, as it did in Athens. We fished with string. Longline, with fishing nets. Made of kapok. They called the ropes ‘manila’. They called it…
– What was the road like back then? – The road had no cars, it was narrow. There were a few roads where you could walk comfortably. – I mean, were they made of cement? Or sand? – Of dirt! And in some parts they would lay stones for the rain. They…
– What was the first day in school like? – The first day in school was very nice, when I was in school. I remember everything, why wouldn’t I? But when I went to school I had no shoes. I was barefoot. There was a lot of poverty. We were all the children, out…
