Last day on Serifos

Tuesday July 5th - Mega Livadi and around and about

So as I have mentioned before, Mega Livadi is the area on Serifos where iron ore was extracted until as recently as 1960. I have been to this area before, but did not have much time to explore then. Nearby there is the White Tower and Cycope’s throne, both which are written about on this  blog.

So after picking up the car, I drove out West again, going along the road as I did yesterday, saw that our friends doing the unofficial roadworks, had dug out a slot across the road, a more substantial reel of new pipe by their side. I then took the road to Mega Livadi to follow the coast road. Before I got to Mega Livadi,  I turned off by Koutalas, I am sure I stopped here before on my last visit. It has a nice beach and the usual blue and white church. On many beaches on these islands are these trees, there are a bit like a fir or a conifer, not tall, but they grow in the sand, quite happily. The provide some much needed shade. The church’s metal gates slide lock was painted up, so would not work and in typical Greek style, the gate is held in place by a shoe lace! There was evidence here of the iron extraction on the island, some kind of horizontal gantry,  Mega Livadi has a similar one but more substantial. Also by the church was some more Thyme, in fact while walking today, there was a profusion of it. When I got back to my car it was being sandblasted by the wind, the bonnet has no gloss left on it, it’s been worn away by hours by beaches, blasted by sand borne by the winds. There is no point having big a nice car on these islands.

I then drove to another place, marked by a sign Mega Chorio. There isn’t much here except a church with a blue and red roof, seen on this blog. There is a finger of land, which I walked along, again more steelwork rusting away, and creaking in the wind. I walked past a series of beehives, they were active, but the number of bees hovering around the entrances and wizzing in and out was very small. This is unlike my friends beehive in the UK. I know a little bit about bees, so maybe the colony is not very big or  has swarmed. Most of them had what is called a super, where the honey is stored when the lower chamber becomes full. The super is then removed and the honey extracted. I carried on, the rocks having a very rusty iron colour to them. Here was lots more Thyme, one bush had a Swallowtail butterfly on it. I did briefly see two black goats. 

After a good walk, I headed back to the car and onto Mega Livadi. Before I went down to the beach, I walked along at a higher level, where some were rock bridges, iron structures, railway lines and wagons and that gantry all related to the iron ore extraction. I have to say this industrial heritage really interests me, but it’s sad that it’s all subject to a caustic environment, wind, sand and salt water. These items including the bridges made of rocks, can be seen to be suffering, and in a few years, they will start to disappear or at least become dangerous. Sadly Greece does not have the money to save them I imagine.

After going down the beach, I decided to have some lunch, a Greek salad would do nicely thank you, and a cold Greek coffee. There were two Tavernas, I went into the second, I am sure they were pleased to have my custom, they got a tip and it was very nice eating my lunch and looking out to sea, children and parents playing in the nice shallow sea. I dropped my phone on the sand, when I picked it up there was sand sticking to the tiny magnetic strips on the case. This confirms the iron composition of the area I think. 

I then had one more thing to see, which was the old mine administration building. Photos of it showed it to be in a delicate state, last time I was here it had scaffolding on the it. It hasn’t a  roof or floors. There is a sign indicating it’s being restored which was meant to be finished in 2020. But the front of the building, appears to be repointed now and there were men working on it. It could be a wonderful building if restored.

As I had plenty of time on the clock, I decided to take a tour of the island. I passed the White Tower and many of the villages, churches and other landmarks, that  I remember from last time I was here. I returned back to Livadi, topped up with Diesel and returned the car. I had a chat with the car hire guys, told them of my plans, they said they knew there was a big Dutch and French contingent on the island, who live here. That is definitely worth investigating! I then went into the Indigo bakery and met one of the guys who works at Opsis Real Estate, the company who unfortunately does not have the contract to find the landlord of my favoured property a  tenant. I briefly explained my concern, that I might be hanging on for the contract for a long time, and he said he would be happy to liaise  with the landlord on my behalf. It’s all about contacts.

So tomorrow I am off to Sifnos, I may not be updating this blog again, until my return to Serifos, hopefully in September at some point. I will be sorry to say  “au revoir” to this island, I came here liking the place, I leave, loving it. That’s what the sign says on the harbour front “I love Serifos 🐸 “