I had a super meal last night at the very eclectic looking taverna that I spotted when I wandered around the town earlier yesterday . I nearly didn’t as the heavens opened just before I went out. But the rain relented and I got there and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The interior was just as colourful as the exterior.
I had some water on the floor of my bathroom last night, I mopped it up, but after getting up today the problem was a lot worse! Anyway I have been moved to a different room as they don’t seem able to fix it. Lack of plumbers here too maybe.. After having my breakfast I wandered into the town to hire a car and get some lunch to take with me. As it’s the slow season I nearly had to give up, but luckily I found one place open. I must admit I wasn’t overly optimistic on what I might find on the island. I decided not to go to the beach resorts, look at other things, small villages and so on. But it did not take long to realise that this is a very nice island, a true hidden gem. All over the island I kept seeing these small buildings. I don’t know wether they are small barns, and I am sure I have seen them on other islands too.
What I discovered was a succession of small villages. Some weee very small, but most of them had several buildings in a bad state of repair. Very often when I got out of the car, I would be mugged by several cats. I imagine that young people are now either working in the resorts on this or other islands and one by one these buildings are being left empty. This is a great shame as these villages are proper communities, the ones that are resorts are more or less closed in the slow season. I noticed a few places where there was lots or marble stacked up in yards, but I never came across any quarries.
There is an ancient village which was built on top of a mountain. There isn’t much left of it, but you can see the outlines of buildings and a few walls remain. Given that it was blowing a gale and very cold it was a freezing experience, I didn’t linger but it was worth a look. Several times along todays journey I saw goats, sheep, lambs and kids all chancing their luck crossing the road in front of me. At one point I saw a sheep, I thought it had been hit, but it was laying in the road munching some foliage by the kerbside.
The thing I was pleased to see when I got out of the car were a lot of footpaths marked with the splash of red and white paint. There clearly are some nice walks to do, in better weather. To give you an idea on how cold it was I saw some icicles on the way today. I stopped to take a photo to show my friends on Sifnos, they were up eight centimetres long! The other thing I loved is there are loads of mountains. Each one is very different from its neighbours.
On the way back after stopping at a small resort at the tip of the island, I drove back along the Southern coast road. Tomorrow as I have the car until my ferry arrives at three, I will go up that road and explore some of the bays that were signposted. This was the resort on the tip, named Panormou.
The final photo is a rock formation, I saw several of these on the side of a mountain too, but they were smaller. It’s almost like a mushroom.
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