Greece 2021

Saturday23October

In barely 4 hours of flight, here we are already on the tarmac of Athens Eleftherios Venizelos Airport. Time to pick up our rental car that we will keep for the next 4 weeks, we leave Athens to join our airBnB located in Nea Makri near the city of Marathon.

The small port of Nea Makri.

Sausages, onions and tomato on a pita bread for our first Greek dinner!

Sunday24October

Sunrise over the Aegean Sea from our small balcony.

On the other side, we can see the island of Euboea where we will be this afternoon. This arm of the sea forms the gulf of the Petalis islands.

We are at the Thomas Beach Hotel.

Short passage through Marathon, where in 490 BC the Athenians repelled an attack by the Persians coming from the sea. The Athenians lost 192 of their men but won the battle. The messenger Pheidippides went to announce the good news to Athens after running 42 kilometers! The first games of the modern era, in 1896, in memory of this epic episode, created the famous race.

The tumulus where the 192 Athenian soldiers are buried.

Stele representing a hoplite, "Infantry soldier of ancient Greece, heavily armed. (The complete armament included the round or oval shield, the helmet, the cuirass, the greaves, the double-edged sword and the spear.)" @Larousse

The site is dotted with olive trees where olives are ripening at this end of October.

We leave Marathon heading north to reach the bridge that will allow us to cross onto the large island of Euboea. The road passes by the Marathon dam which retains the waters of Lake Marathon which flows into the Charadros river.

Our rental Kia Stonic.

Here we are already on the island of Euboea and stop for lunch in Nea Styra, a small coastal village. Greek salad on the menu obviously!  

We take the road south of the island. On the other side, the mainland where we were this morning.

We approach the objective of the day and some sheep show us the way...  

Given the late hour and the overcast weather, we advance as much as possible with the car and we arrive at a small hamlet where we leave our car for a small walk of a little over 2 kilometers to the end of the Dimosari gorges.

These two wonder what these two individuals are doing in this slightly too humid weather...

The path passes by a small chapel and its equally small cemetery.

The interior of the chapel is very spartan. A single room with the Orthodox altar.

And hop, here we go again. It climbs a bit but nothing very difficult. You especially have to be careful about slipping on wet stones.

We are in autumn and the colors let us know.

We have arrived at the waterfalls. The setting is very nice with these trees seeming to have been recovered directly from Middle-earth of the Lord of the Rings...

Obviously, this is an ideal place for geocaching. Our first in Greece and not the last...

After this very short getaway, we take the road again which passes by the beach of Paralia Kallianou. But no swimming for us, just a small stop next to this miniature church that we have already crossed several times on the roadside and in different forms. These are "Kandylakia", small monument marking the place of accidental loss of a loved one... Inside, one often finds icons and a candle whose flame is carefully maintained by those who want the memory of the deceased not to fade.

Karystos, small coastal village of the gulf of the same name. We will spend the night there in an AirBnb apartment.

Dinner in one of the restaurants overlooking the small port of Karystos.

Then a little coffee on the terrace of the Tzimis pastry shop.

Monday25October

New day starting on the balcony of our AirBnB overlooking, among other things, the Nikolaos Cathedral.

The interior of the apartment

Before leaving Karystos, we visit the city cathedral.

The interior of the church is, like any Orthodox church, entirely decorated. The dome traditionally receives the figure of Christ, surrounded by angels.

Behind the altar, an altarpiece covered with saints.

The pillars and walls also have the right to their religious personalities.
Saint Menas, Saint Panteleimon, Saint Cosmas and Ignatius of Antioch.

Saint Euphemia on the left and Saint Catherine surrounded by Saint Paraskevi and Saint Anastasia of Illyria.

???ate????, Saint Catherine.

We leave the south of the island of Euboea not without casting a last glance at Karystos and its small gulf.

Before going back to the mainland, we will mark our return with a few steps. The first passes through Mount Ochi where we will be able to visit the Dragon of Styra, at least his house...

"The dragon houses or Draga are about twenty large ruined buildings found in the south of the island of Euboea, Greece. They were built with massive stone blocks without mortar and large stone slabs for the roofs. The dragon house on Mount Ochi, north of Karystos is the most famous and best preserved." © Wikipedia

There is no explanation for these constructions. It was only from the 18th century that references to the curious houses began to appear.

View of the Petalis Islands Gulf.

Nature is wild here. On the ground, some plants attract the lens of my camera: thorny burnets (Sarcopoterium spinosum), turbinate junipers (Juniperus turbinata), Nice stonecrops (Sedum sediforme)...

...Greek Cyclamens (Cyclamen graecum) and its leaf...

Lunch break in Amarynthos, small town on the edge of the South Gulf of Euboea.

The typical "Gyros" in its pita bread, with mutton recovered on the vertical rotating support (hence the name gyros which means "to turn" in Greek).

New stage before joining the mainland. Here we are near Mount Dirfis, the highest mountain on the island of Euboea at 1743 meters. But we will not climb its slopes, but just a small climb through the neighboring pine forest. We are actually in the pine resin harvesting season, the bags are almost full.

The view from our highest point. Behind us, behind the mountain, Mount Dirfis, which we won't even see!  

We won't bring back this pretty mushroom either, a parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera)? But for now, we have to join the car and leave for Delphi, our final destination of the day is located another 4 hours drive away! And let's go!