This is Tzokeika

Welcome to Tzokeika (pronounced Jo-kay-ka) or Tzokeika San Basilios to give it its full Greco-Italian name. Conceived, designed and built by Vasilis Tzokas and family, all the houses in the settlement are traditional in style, based on medieval architecture similar to that found at Mystras near Sparti, with hand-cut stone walls, but also having reinforced concrete platforms and frameworks to protect them from earthquake damage. The houses in these photographs, in the central area of the settlement, all belong to the family and are show houses with additional features that potential buyers might want to include in their builds. (If you want to see more photographs go to http://www.greek-houses.gr) All the bought houses are situated in the wider surrounding area and further up the hill. The central area and the houses were put to spectacular use last summer when Vasilis' son Thanasis married Serena. As you can see, the meadow area in the middle was lawned over and was used to host all the tables for the meal. There's also a small concreted area where a jazz band performed and everyone could dance the night away to a variety of musical styles provided by a disco. The whole area was illuminated by coloured lights strung around the olive trees. Prior to all this the couple were married in a traditional Orthodox ceremony in their little private church. It was a wonderful atmospheric evening which was just as well since all the residents had watched the lawn area being constantly watered for about three months over the summer while we were frequently without; very frustrating!

Now if you were interested in having a house built in this area I would recommend Tzokas Architects to you. Not that their houses are perfect; none of them seem to be around here, but they are one of the better builders. There are many horror stories about houses here. Most of them are about how they cope with winter weather. Because winter is so short, the builders don't seem to bother too much about whether the houses leak when it rains or how warm they are. Insulation seems to be a minimum to meet regulations rather than a feature and the houses seem to be designed to let water out rather than stop water getting in. I suspect the so-called traditional builds are worse than modern houses with traditional styling, although the latter are not immune to problems. Originally stone houses were built of thick stone walls with mud mortar and when it rained water seeped in, but drained down to the ground before getting inside. With cement mortar, if it gets in, water tends to follow tiny tracks right through to the interior. The only answer is to coat the walls with waterproofing solution, but this needs to be done every year to combat gaps occurring due to earth tremors. Because the sea is close, the air in winter is always damp. If your house catches the sun adequately this dries most of it, but there will always be some rooms that need some heating to dry them. Also, at night time in winter, it can get quite cold, so you would think good insulation would be included as a feature, especially as everyone is aware of global warming. But no; sometimes I think most Greeks don't believe global warming is real, or else it has nothing to do with them, and yet they can see the climate changing. In a country where the dumping of rubbish anywhere and everywhere is endemic, a high level of environmental conciousness is a lot to expect. It doesn't help that the country lacks financial resources at the moment and that the environment wasn't the appropriate priority in the past. Things are changing; I think the government is trying and there are local community groups fighting for change, even here in the Mani.

There are about 20 permanent residents at Tzokeika with a few others in other Tzokas houses in the surrounding area plus as many again who come regularly for short or longer stays in the other houses. Vasilis and his wife also regularly stay in their house here. The expanded population usually occurs in the spring, summer and autumn periods, but some come for winter breaks as well and have experienced the full force of a Greek winter. A week or so back, as well as the normal wind, rain, thunder and lightning, we had hail the size of marbles; now that was very noisy on our open beamed roof. At one point we were worried that it might break a tile or two, but it didn't. Afterwards there were piles of ice in the gardens and on the beach! All the residents get on well and are very supportive of one another. We have found that community support is quite strong, both amongst immigrants/ex-pats and within the local Greek population. So, as well as within our little community, we are gathering many new friends in the wider area. Obviously getting to know non-English speaking people is more difficult (my Greek is only very basic and I know no German), but English is spoken by many. Despite an initial reluctance on our part to be over-involved in the ex-pat community (desiring integration into Greek life), getting to know those who've done it before us and learning from them is essential. Besides in the winter, particularly, 'foreigners' are the majority of the population here. There are some well developed community organisations. The main ex-pat one is Parea Sti Mani (Friends in the Mani) with a good web site; www.parea-sti-mani.com . Closely associated with them is a local Greek environmental, mountain rescue and fire fighting group called GAIA. They provide volunteer services to supplement official organisations and are doing a great job.

Since we've been here I've done a number of drawings for Vasilis, mainly of herbs to be associated with each of his own houses. He's had keyring fobs made for four of them and has said he will want more. He has also talked of me illustrating a calendar for Tzokeika. These will probably be pen and wash illustrations. I've done some others you've probably seen already, but if not, here are some of them: