Hands off our Trees!

Monday 5 December

Dave needed some checkups so we went to Preveza to find out that his insides were all essentially okay.  Very good news.  Relaxing back in the camper in the evening, Dave got a call from Adonis, one of the brothers who own the Elite cafe, who is also a Forestry Official.  I only heard half the conversation, but it had my pulse racing.  After the call, Dave explained.  Apparently a man from one of the villages, Eglouvi, had been to the Forestry office complaining that someone had pruned one of his olive trees.  Adonis had gone to the land to check this out, and found Dave’s van (with his name and number on the side) on site.  The Man from Eglouvi laid claim to eight of the olive trees on our land.  Our land is in two parts, bought separately, and the trees are all on the northern half, where the camper van is, and the house will be.  So instead of 10 trees, it seems we only have 2!  This call completely spoiled our evening, as you can imagine. 

We have heard of other land buyers having a similar problem, and I recall asking the question at the notary’s office when we signed the contracts.   Adonis has offered to investigate further and suggested we bring our contracts to him in Elite one evening.  ‘I will help you,’ he said importantly.  Pleased to have him on our side.

We went to bed wondering if this was the result of being soft over the NE corner – have we given out the message that we’re a pushover?  Dave said at the time that he was most worried that conceding that corner might encourage other claimants.  It is an olive tree swindle?