Kórinthos, Napoleon Tzafis

We walked around Kórinthos and found it an interesting little town, but as we have found all over Europe, the ancient ruins are more interesting than the more modern part of town, where people live and shop these days. We stopped in an appliance store and looked at a variety of kitchen gadgets. We like to see what is available for the residents to purchase, so we get an idea of their standard/style of living. For us the department stores, hardware stores, grocery stores, etc., are "living museums." This store had a GE Refrigerator, the exact same model (except it was 220 volt) that we bought at Sears in California a few months earlier. This model had an ice-maker, and it may have been only the second ice-maker we saw in all of Europe. The price was more than twice what we had paid.

The store owner’s name was Napoleon Tzafis. He could speak excellent English, and was very interested in talking to us about a variety of subjects. He was happy to look inside our camper, and said he would like to buy it from us when we are done with it. Of course, we will be in Germany when we are finished with the RV, and he will still be in Greece, so no sale!

A little later we came back to his store and asked if he knew where we could buy a special 12 V bulb, needed for a lamp installed in the RV. He said, "Follow me, and I'll find the lamp for you." A moment later here comes Napoleon, dressed in suit and tie and a "newsboy cap," (that looks like what is pictured on Google, but maybe in Kórinthos it's called a "Greek Fisherman's Cap") riding on his little motor bike. We followed him here and there to about a half dozen different stores, but no one had the proper bulb. He was very nice, helpful man, very interested in us and our mode of travel. (In Athens, a few days later, we bought a better light fixture, and had no more problem.)