Oh, My Aching Feet

Winter is definitely upon us. We've just done our first walk to Gennadi and back since last March, something we never even attempt during the season because, a) it's too hot and, b) it takes too long and we don't have the time.

There and back from our front gate is about six and a half miles, or ten and a half kilometres. Today was perfect for such a walk, with the temperature hovering around 22-23ºC and a light breeze blowing. According to the forecasts, it'll be the last clear day for four or five days, with rain expected over the weekend. 

As the Greeks would say, "makari," which means basically, "I wish."

So, here are a few photos taken during our trek today...

The "Lab", the trendiest Café in Gennadi

Asklipio Kastro is clearly visible on the ridge.

No, you're not mistaken, it is November 15th. 

The atmosphere is especially clear today, with very low humidity.

And here are a couple more from a few days ago...

Cats hanging out in Malona.

The guard cat of an orange grove, also in Malona. Try getting past him eh?

And lastly, our very own patio, with the table being set for lunch with honoured guests Keith and Vicki this Sunday lunchtime past.

Y'know, I'm as much a sucker for a pretty little Greek village like the next person, but when it comes to where to live, I have to say that there could be nowhere more suited to my likes and loves (our likes and loves in fact, since there are two of us, after all) than where we actually live. We're both wildlife and country freaks and we both so love the wildness of much of the beach between Kiotari and Gennadi.

OK, yes, there have been a couple of hotels built in the past couple of years, but they still only occupy a fraction of the beautiful expanse of wild beach that we can stroll along when we have the time. Plus, in winter, which officially begins at the beginning of November, they're all closed down anyway. And when we venture out of our front door and head upwards behind the house, we are immediately amongst a mix of untamed forest and tended olive groves, where the only company we keep as we walk are deer, goats, birds of prey and smaller birds like black redstarts, robins, blackbirds, Sardinian warblers (their passports must be up to date), thrushes, blue and great tits, warblers and wheatears. There are crested larks and gnarly, prehistoric-looking lizards, as well as the more sleek-looking bright green ones too, which scurry across the path before us or sun themselves on the rocks.

My wife said to me as we walked along the beach road back from having eaten a spanakopita and drunk a couple of iced coffees in Gennadi square, she said "Do you ever think to yourself, 'is this real?' - as in, 'can you grasp that we do actually live here?'"

I replied that, yes, I do 'pinch myself' regularly. Through all those years when we used to come to Greece for holidays, and would be quite depressed about having to catch a plane home again, I couldn't have dreamt that one day I'd wake up every morning to this. Yes, life here can be very frustrating, it can test one's resolve to the limits on occasion, yet the environment would take some beating. The sense of wellbeing one gets from a long walk on a totally clear day, when the sea is inky blue and the sky impossibly azure, and the air is as clear of pollution as most anywhere on the planet, when people passing wave and shout "Ya sas!" or "Kalimera!", when often the only sounds are those produced by creation and nothing manmade assaults the eardrums, on times like this I'm thoroughly content to be where I am and able to walk amongst it all.

The best things in life are truly free, and lots of them are to be had here, in Kiotari, on a November day.