There is a belief that states that a picture is worth a thousand words. Could be true, I would not try to deny that fact, but I am more than sure that this picture of mine needs an explanation a story to complement it. What do we see? Blue sky with a few white clouds, Mediterranean vegetation (bushes and a pine tree) and mountains. A very nice landscape that could represent wild nature and the feeling that nobody lives around. But...
...what those wires are doing here? 😱
In case you haven't seen them in the previous photo, here they come once again. Beautifully visible wires that wipe out the idea this place have never had any touch with human beings.
After all, it is not a bad thing in itself as there are people who like to live in remote places, have electricity and still respect nature. Waking up every day to scenes like this must be great as if I enjoyed staying here for one day, how cool is it to stay here 365 days of a year? It feels like being in harmony with all the flora and fauna that surrounds you.
A few days ago a thought came to my mind, actually a question I asked myself. Could I live in the countryside? I already live in a small town, and many times it is just too "small" for the activities I would like to experience more often. Would I be able to sacrifice my profession and live a simpler life? It would for sure give me a much more relaxed pace of life, but what would compensate for the lack of teaching and piano playing for an audience?
It is a quite different lifestyle one can have without all the habits, practices and commodities that living in urban areas offers. Still, I would like to have electricity and freshwater supply. Also, being connected with the world would be somehow a must for me. I know that I would miss the presence of people and would like to talk to someone after some time. Maybe I would also need to work online, so having an internet connection would come in handy. It can be solved with an outdoor WiFi antenna.
This is how one can get some connection with the world. The mobile phone signal among these mountains is equal to zero, but at least the internet coverage is reaching this place.
We were invited to spend the day here, in this paradise. A day off, forgetting the everyday routine and tasks we would normally do on a regular Saturday. Unfortunately, it was a bit cold to take an afternoon nap in this hammock, but on warmer days it is just perfect. (tried it one summer afternoon - it was a very enjoyable siesta 😇)
It was better to be in the sun! We gathered there, like lizards, in front of the entrance to the house while the food was in the preparation phase. The house you see is actually not the kind of house you would imagine. This is just the front wall of it, it has a little solar at the top of two front rooms, but the rest of the rooms are under the ground. It is a half-cave house. The benefit of the rooms that are in the cave part is that they don't need too much heating, and they stay protected from the oscillations in atmospheric temperature. The drawback - a few years ago heavy rain filtered through the soil and made damage to one of the rooms. It stayed useless and no good solution is found at the moment to prevent the water from entering again.
But going back to the good and tasty things: food! I have to confess that it was exceptional. The fire was set, while the ingredients were marinated. Lamb and chicken meat, and for vegetarians asparagus, young garlic, corn, tomatoes and lettuce. (the last two ingredients went just for the salad in raw condition)
The fire gave warmth and when it calmed down, the meat and veggies were brought here and grilled.
The result? The result was consumed with a lot of pleasure. That can be considered as another benefit of living in the countryside, preparing food in the traditional way. It is just impossible to put fire in your apartment when you want to grill a bit of meat. Well, you can but I am sure that the neighbours would immediately call the firefighters 😂. Maybe you would also go to jail for that activity...or be sent to a madhouse! 😁
It was exciting to feel the vibe that a different place of living can give you for one day. I have lived for some years in a big city and I loved it, but mostly I have lived in towns of medium size or small ones. Being surrounded by nature is great though I would need at least a year of living in a place like this to be able to give the answer to my question from the beginning - would I be able to live in the countryside?
Would you switch your home and all the facilities you have in order to live surrounded just by nature? Is there something you would not like to sacrifice from the lifestyle you have right now?
