A day in the mountains.

So last night I ventured out for something to eat. A lot of the places are still closed, but I found an Italian restaurant, celebrating its twentieth birthday that was open. They even had their own cat slouching on a sofa where guests are meant to be! But it was quiet, so I could leave him in peace. Eventually he wanted to be let out, I can’t see why, as it was blowing a gale! I had a lovely meal, on my way back near my room, I saw a little church in a garden, you could probably fit just one person in it. Sadly it’s in the corner of a garden, and impossible to photograph!

In the morning, after buying my lunch, I went to hire a car. I had been given a super map by the people who run my rooms. The roads in the town are quite busy but as soon as I got out of it, they were quiet. I was heading to Apollonas, crossing the island straight across. The alternative is to follow the coast road, I did that on the way back. The island is bigger than any I have been to before. As I crossed the various mountains, I experienced many different views.


The photo does not do the countryside justice. There is a perceptible presence I feel when going through these mountains. They are imposing and beautiful. Unfortunately a few have been used as a source of marble and look plundered as they have been. I did not see many goats or sheep, which is  surprising as the mountains are very green. This island is different from all the others, in that it has a lot of trees. When I was at the highest point, the temperature had dropped to four degrees. 


Sadly the views were often plagued by rubbish of all sorts, oil drums, cars, I even saw a bus! Maybe this is where they filmed the Italian Job? At one point, there was a little snow about, I had read they had a lot of snow the other day. Also on one part of the drive, I saw trees blackened by fire. They must have had a fire here, during last years record summer temperatures. I stopped at the village Koronida, which had a lovely church and tower.

I finally got to Apollonas, it was a lovely small resort and the sea was very rough. I ended up get splashed and tasting of salt again. 

Around the corner from the beach, the sea was boiling up all over the rocks, into a beautiful blue colour.


So I then drove back along the coast. The views were not so amazing on that route, but still good. The temperatures were responding as I was lower down, at one point they reached the giddy heights of sixteen degrees, but the wind was still strong, pulling the temperature down if you stepped out of the car. Just before I got back to Naxos town, I saw two churches high up on the mountains, and it would have been nice to walk up to them, but there was no path. Here is a photo of one, heaven knows, it must have been very difficult to build up there and for who or what? 




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