On a Lighter Note

Went back to work yesterday, doing the Butterfly Valley/Halki excursion. So I took a few shots, which I'll share with you here...

The Butterfly Train arrives at the top of the valley, near the tiny monastery...

The view as one approaches the entrance to the monastery at the top of the valley. Yesterday there was a lot of haze, making Turkey & Symi quite unclear, although still visible are the mountains over there. There is a link, by the way, to the website of the Butterfly Train in the post "In Training".

View from the courtyard of the monastery, where you can avail yourself of some light refreshment from the friendly woman who tends the small room which serves as a café.

Same spot as the above, only a different angle. The cafe is to the right, where you see those patio chairs, that's the wall.

After a frappé at the top, Heidi, my fellow rep, and I walked back down through the valley itself. At this time of the year the butterflies are everywhere, making the whole place seem magical, were it not for the succession of tourists parading up and down. You never know in what language to say "please, come through", or "thanks" when someone lets you pass, because there are just too many languages assaulting your eardrums!

Having finished work at the Lindos Princess, near Lardos, at around 7.00pm, I walked a while whilst waiting for my beloved to come and fetch me in the car. This is a study of an early evening olive grove in August, as the shadow of the hill opposite slowly chases the sunlight away.

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The next two photos should interest anyone who likes Greek culture and history. There's a man from Lardos, Panayiotis by name, who has embarked, rather commendably, on a one-man crusade to preserve the history and culture of his village. His own rather modest little village house has long been home to all kinds of artefacts and objects from Lardos' past, but during the past couple of years he's been labouring on his project, his dream, of opening a museum about the folklore of the area. He's been drumming up funds from wherever he can and this has included a few self-published books he's written about the history of his beloved home village. 

Panayiotis can often be seem hawking his books around in the area, anywhere where he can find tourists who may want to shell out a few Euros to learn a little more about the place they're visiting. Having read one of the books, I can't vouch for the quality of the English in them, but that seems only to add to their charm. They are full of old photos which Panayiotis has either always had, or has acquired, and it must be said that if to purchase one helps him finalise the museum so that he can open it to the public sooner rather than later, that's a good thing.

The photos below show the place as it looks now, after a couple of years of Panayiotis' blood, sweat and tears have already gone into it. He hopes to open by next season and we hope he does too. I must say he's done an excellent job of the exterior and even the signs are well designed and easy to read. 

If you'd like to know where it is, it's on the left hand side of the Lothiarika Road from Lardos to Pefkos, almost directly opposite the Mini-Golf on the junction with the Kiotari/Gennadi/Katavia Road.

I shall certainly keep a watchful eye on the place and as soon as it's open will do a report on it here on the blog.