Sunset

 Poros at dusk.  Photos taken by another granddaughter.

This is taken from the car ferry.  Looking towards the main town.

And from  their balcony looking over the strait to the hills of the mainland

And here she is.  Or isn't.  

This child does not like having her photo taken.  Obviously

Thanks Natali. See, I didn't put your photo on the blog!

Or not your face anyway

😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

Monastery Views

There is one Monastery on the island, Zoodochos Pigis.  The name means 'Life giving spring'.  Google says that its a medieval monastery (1773) and has a few rare icons.  There's only one monk there usually with some of his family and a few hangers-on.

I know that from the entrance, up quite a few steps, there is a great view of the bay below and the mountains on the mainland opposite.  Women cannot enter wearing men's clothing, wrap around skirts provided in the entranceway.  If you enter wearing trews, or shorts for  men, and the monk is around then you'll get told off. 

There's a spring down below whose waters are supposed to have cured Archbishop Jacovos 11 of lithiasis, gall stones or kidney stones.  He decided to build the Monastery where this miracle took place.  And Hey Presto, here it still is today.  One of Poros's few sites/sights to see

The steps to the church and cloister

One of the many cypress trees,  

Cypress trees always grow (are planted) around churches and graveyards

View from the top

Monastery Beach (what else would it be called)

There's an organised beach down there and a fish taverna.  All rents go to the Monastery.  It has acres of land around it, mostly forest but also olive trees.  

Woman in men's attire wearing wrap around skirt

And down below on the roadside is a cafe with chairs under the spreading chestnut tree and a cool breeze coming down the ravine even in mid-summer

The 'life-giving' spring

Just a trickle now but you can fill a bottle and give it a try.  It's good to drink.  All the water served by the cafe comes from there

Our good friend Meleti and his coffee-carrier

Meleti makes the cheesecake, pies and a variety of snacks by himself.  Well worth trying

He's a good friend and a jolly wee man who will make your day a happy one.  He's often helped by his wife and children, all equally cheerful

Loos are up the road in the forest.  Pleasantly clean

Meleti and his wife Nektaria always have a show of flowers and plants in pots.  Soon there will be big bushes of basil

Now, doesn't that look pleasant.

The chairs aren't terribly comfortable but are ok for an hour of book reading, talking and ouzo drinking

Spring Colour

 

A fig tree with a trim of spring flowers.  Mainly daisies

I have just found out why every year figs appear and then drop early.  In March, April the trees are full of small figs, smaller than a walnut and suddenly they all drop and it looks as though you've lost your crop for the year.  These are the male fruit and once they're gone the females appear to swell and ripen .  They will be ready for picking  in July and August

The wild poppies are in full bloom right now.  But this is not the year of the poppy.  Usually the fields are full of them and they blanket the olive groves.  This year there are just small clumps here and there.  

Loquat. Or mousmoula in Greek

Every year  I see this tree full of fruit which nobody picks.

It's down a steep bank in the garden of a house whose owners only come for a few weeks in the summer.  Such a pity.  The terrain is too rough for me to try and get down there

This is the inside of the loquat.  There are 4 or 5 stones in there and they are easy to plant.  The trees grow quickly . 

The grapevines haven't been strimmed yet

These balls of seeds are huge.  Much bigger than a tennis ball.  I've never seen such large ones

Rest Stops

Spring coming on summer.  These wooden benches have, over the last few years, been placed by the council all over the island.  I wish they'd put more, especially up here in the wop-wops.  I have one up near me where I rest sometimes on my walks 

Benches with a view

Here's the view

Vagionia Bay

This is my local bench

The view is of the valley below but also of the sea in the distance and on a clear day the island of Aegina.  The mountain in the background is on the mainland.

Church squares are meeting places for locals in the evening

Often the old priest, Papa Panarytos, will be there too,

chatting and soaking up the last of the days sunshine

A bench with shade

Perfect to sit and reflect out of the heat of the summer sun

There are often fishermen here with their long rods, two or three of them at a short distance, waiting for the tug of a line

The best bench of all

A few kilometres out of town

In winter you can hear the silence

In summer there are big luxury yachts with long ropes tieing them to the rocks below

The yachts have peace and quiet during the day and at night are just a short launch ride from tavernas and cafeterias

The little island is called Daskalio, Teacher's Island.  It is vaguely in the shape of a heart and has a small church on it.  It's popular with foreigners wanting to get married on a Greek island.

The priest, bride and groom and guests are taken over by water taxi with flags flying and greek music blaring.

Spring Fever

This weekend was the 'catholic' easter (as they say here).  One more week till the Greek easter.  The weather is warm and sunny with a few showers.  Summer is coming fast.  The painting and refurbishing of tavernas and cafes has come to an end and most of them are up and running.

There are a few foreign tourists around and this week, Holy Week for the Greeks, there will be flood of visitors from Athens and other parts of the country all coming to participate in the traditional Greek island Easter celebrations. 

Those visitors with summer houses are thinking about their own painting and clean-up over their holidays.  This week walls and steps will be white washed, gardens weeded and replanted, grills and BBQs sanded down and spruced up so they're ready for the Easter Sunday (April 16th) spit roasting of the sacrificial lamb and it's innards.

Even our own neighbourhood out in the backcountry is starting to come to life.  The absentee owners of the three empty houses around us have appeared and will be looking for labourers to strim their driveways, thigh high in winter growth.  

We also are in the getting-ready-for-easter mode.  K has booked our Albanian lad for Monday to put up the shade netting over one balcony and pull the last weeds.  He himself is sanding down the long spits for the grill and checking that the machines that turn the spit are greased and ready for action.  

On Saturday we went down to the garden shop.

The owner is our neighbour across the valley.  He has a loud booming voice which can be heard quite clearly at our house.  He and all his family were at the shop running to complete all the orders.  Even the 6 month baby was there being babysitted by his slightly older sister.

The place was humming.

 

I had a look at the flowers but I think I'll wait a few weeks till it's a bit warmer.  There were lots of herbs, lavender, thyme, oregano, mint but no summer vegetable plants yet.  The only ones I saw were strawberries.  I'm not a strawberry person.

There were 2 sorts of lavender.  I was tempted by these pots.  The lavender flowers are so big and bright.  However I already have a well established lavender.  It's flowers are smaller and more lilac but still with a powerful aroma.

They have a lot of garden pottery decorations.  I'm always tempted by those but I have loads in the garden already.

Measuring out the dark green shade cloth

Really nice pots with an olive branch design.  We have so many good pottery pots.  Don't need another

A garden or roadside shrine

My favourite.

A sort of Billy Goat Gruff gnome.

He will come home with me one day

 K bought the shade cloth, a bag of whitewash, a few bags of soil, a gardenia and a box of charcoal to fire the easter grill. 

Snow!

 Yes, it snows in Greece and sometimes on Poros.  We are in the middle of storm Diomedes (a hero of the Trojan war) and temperatures are sliding.   

There is a lot of snow further north, the ski centres are all open and they were filled with happy ski-ers over Christmas and New Year, some of our family included.  

Greek mountain ski resort of Kalavrita

 Just 3 hours away from Poros

The happy family just about to invade the slopes

They were all snow boarding this time round

After ski drinks shack.  Heated raki and honey, rakomelo... 

for the adults

Then they all dug into 'amazing sandwiches with burgers or pork chops'

Can't forget the food!

She wanted a warm hat.  I knitted one.

Note the ears please!

Happy family after-photo

They had three terrific days in the snow

On the very last day grandaughter broke her wrist.  Naturally on a ski field the orthopedic care was first class.  The wrist was soon bound up and it was time to come home anyway

We looked after the family dogs.  This is Molly with her new BF

Greek Island..February

On a sunny winter's day in paradise...

A small fishing boat cuts its way through the bay, heading back to harbour to sell its catch

Poros from the far end of the harbour, looking back to the main town and clock tower

The first floors have balconys for hanging out the clothes, sitting and pondering

However

On street level washing is hung out to dry on a rack on the pavement

On a warm day sitting outside on the sidewalk with a cup of coffee and watching the boats sail through the passage is a simple winter pleasure

Boats are parked side by side with cars along the end of the habour, keeping them safe from winter storms

The house in the sea

It has been built on a small causeway, jutting out into the sea

A lot of rising damp I imagine in the winter

This island guarding one end of Poros harbour has the ruins of a Venetian stronghold.  Sheep graze on its slopes but it is forbidden to step foot on the island,  There are antiquities  which have not yet been excavated

Waterfront sights

A waterfront hotel.   An island eyesore.

The hotel has been closed for many years as you can tell from its state.   It now has a demolition order on it.

The hotel is owned by various descendants of a rich ship owner,

most of whom are no longer rich enough to restore this dinosaur

From prime real estate to an eyesore.  From these now quakey balconies there is a sweeping view of harbour activity and the mountains beyond

This once elegant building was a danger to the public.  For years pieces of wall fell onto  the road.  Then , possibly through an EU grant, the walls were stabilised but that is as far as the repairs went.

I wonder what it is like inside.  The furnishings are probably antiques, the curtains in ribbons, but still aristocratic, a piece of local history

The EU gives a grant to reconstruct the old neo-classical stone buildings but the owner still has to put his hand into a pocket which has more holes than money.  There are strict rules to follow naturally.  All the older town around Poros harbour is supposed to follow certain guidelines.  Roofs should be tiled, shutters made from wood and not metal.  Not all houses follow the rules but generally it is a charming picture of island homes which appears before you as you arrive on Poros. 

Nearby the two run-down buildings is the beautifully restored building call the 'Syngrou', once a primary school and now used for exhibitions and talks.

Villa Galini

Once the meeting place of authors, artists and the elite of days gone by

A typical island house

Made of white washed stone, tiled roof, usually covered in bougainvillia with a balcony full of  fragrant basil plants in old oil cans