Four churches, a monastry and a beach

Tuesday 12th December 

Yesterday late afternoon, I went and fed the cats and bought a couple of food items from the shop. This amazing sunset was with us for only a short while, it’s like a volcano erupting I think. I have taken a similar photo but the mountain came out very dark. This time, it’s better. As I walked past Vasileas’s place the lights were on. There was the shadow of someone who I thought I recognised, so I went in for a closer look. Sure enough two of my friends from the Medical Centre were there, but no Vasileas or his son, who run the place. These two have a key and he lets them use it. If they are in a typical Serifos property, and I know they live here, in Hora, it’s probably a bit small, so this place is a boon. One of them was making a Cocoa drink for them both. Were they in this place very early Sunday  morning when I wandered past ? Yes they were, and they left it much later on! Good for them, to let their hair down. 

This morning I had a phone call with my friend who lives and works in Singapore. He is from Hong Kong as it happens and his son is in London doing his Masters. Living in Singapore they don’t see much snow, and certainly not the sub zero temperatures over there at the moment! It’s always great to talk to him, we both worked for the same IT  company but we don’t really talk about that. We share a lot of common interests and that is fertile ground for us to chat about! I even learnt today, he had been learning the guitar many years ago!

I had to finish that call a bit early because I saw I had a call from the Medical Centre. Could I pop down for my covid booster injection in thirty minutes? How Greek! Yes I can. I quickly fed the cats, and drove down to the Centre. While waiting for my injection, I saw this life saving ring on the wall, I could make out the word Serifos on it, in Greek. I must ask next time, what boat it came from. I saw their adopted cat, I think someone said it was called Medico or something like that. They weren’t going to give me the injection because my UK ones were not on their system, but they relented. I need to go to the KEP and try and get that done. 

I then drove to Livadi, with a few jobs to do. I tried to get a reusable drinks container for my coffees, no joy on that front. I did see one, but it looked very flimsy and was a bit small for my Fred-do Cappuccino! I went into the Post Office and got a letter from my friend in the UK, who I used to provide a Taxi service for and their dog. I finally got the cat food in bulk, ordered by my friend for the stray cats, got my repeat prescription and  popped into Grans and bought lunch and a coffee. I had both on the concrete apron, doing some Greek. I then set off to a beach, I went to first time I was here called Platys Giailos. I did not explore it well last time, just laying on the beach and I had a salad in the nearby  taverna. It’s a lovely drive from Livadi there, you follow the East coast road. The first church I saw, was just a short walk away from the village Kentarchos ( Kallitsos ), it’s called Aghios Konstantinos. It wasn’t easy to get a photo.

In its garden were these huge geraniums. I mean really big, not the perennial ones, we get in the UK but the ones that are not frost tolerant. No frosts here so they just keep growing! At least a metre high and round. The next church was very different and was accessed  via a track. The track kept going down, so I followed it past the church. Eventually it stopped and it wasn’t clear wether you went to the left and right. Turns out the path does stop there, according to my map. I went back to the church and it was being painted out. There were two guys there and for once, I managed to tell them I was English and could only speak a little Greek. The church had a lovely wooden ceiling which was being varnished. It also had a big vine growing in the courtyard. It’s Panagia Skopiani.

Next stop by the turning off to the beach. At the top of the road was yet another church, this one Aghios Minas.

From here there is a good view of the Taxi Arches monastery. From the road, it shows off a  plain white wall but from the back and side, you see a dome and more interesting details. I zoomed in for this shot, so it might be a bit blurry, better photo to come another day.

Next stop the beach. To get there, is a very long winding path, which you end up having to stop on, before you get to the beach. On the way I saw a garden with huge broccoli with some very magnificent florets on. There were turkeys, goats and chickens on the way. I got to the beach, but walked around it to a peninsular beyond it. The rocks were amazing, greys, with big streaks of light brown mixed in. The shapes were fantastic, also most like saw teeth. But they were easy to walk on, with my new boots. The sea was crashing onto the rocks down below. I lay down on a rock formation looking down on the sea, and did some Greek. There was a flat rock platform further down to the sea, it was perfectly flat, it looked man made, but I don’t think it was. You would not build a harbour out there in the open sea. Someone had built two tall cairns on the rocks, I don’t know why, you can’t get lost on this promontory. I took lots of photos, I can’t put them all here, the rest are in the usual place here. 

Before I left the area, there was one last church to visit. Unfortunately the footpath was fenced off. So I had to drive up there instead. As I got out of the car, this guy came out of his house, so I said hello. This church is Aghii Apostoli. It has a unusual roof.

Inside it had a marble altar which again I think is unusual. I then drove home via Panagia which is one of my favourite drives on the island. With the window down, you can get a sense of what it is like riding on a motorcycle, but much safer! Tomorrow I am meeting the person who the catsitter worked for, we are doing a walk together. Hopefully I won’t have any side effects from the booster, I am ok at present!