Among the orange groves
Our eyes meet momentarily as Simos pauses for a rest by the cast-iron stove. He seems content, but then the sun shines through the citrus trees and dapples his velvety grey face. He lets out a disgruntled meow and saunters outside into the shade. The family’s sleepy British Shorthair seems done with the day.
My day, however, is just beginning. It’s 11am in the sleepy village of Kampos, on the island of Chios, and I’m starting to feel hungry. At present, I’m the only guest at Perleas Mansion, a 17th-century property on the wider Perleas Estate that’s been a guest house since 1992. And today, lunch is being prepared in the kitchen of the private quarters, which is separate from the main building and looks out onto 17 acres of citrus trees.
Our chef is the mansion’s owner, 57-year-old Vangelis Xydas, who’s just returned from the supermarket with a promising looking bag of ingredients. He puts on Kosmos Radio, which instantly fills the room with the joyful plinks of the bouzouki, a Greek stringed instrument, and gets to work. Vangelis’s kitchen is small and traditional in its design — the large stones making up the walls are exposed, the ceiling hangs low with mahogany beams. It’s furnished with vintage cabinets, chairs and tables that Vangelis himself has
