Snakes alive! (but not for long!) & Kitten update

We've been exploring lots of the island on foot lately and have come across a couple of snakes, unfortunately both rather squished!  Paul had said that he'd like to see a live one and lo and behold, a few days later he got his wish.  Rather unexpectedly we came across a perfectly harmless grass snake (or something similar) going up the gulley at the side of the steps from the beach at Roussoum.  Being the tourists that we are, out came the mobile phone and the camera for some pictures.  Unfortunately this drew the attention of a couple of local men who promptly disappeared into their homes and came out brandishing a spade!  By this time, despite our best efforts to herd it back down to the shrub at the back of the beach, it had gone across the path and was in someone's courtyard.  With a shout of "It's dangerous" the man with the spade brought it down to chop the snake in half!  I said "no it's not" and put my nice white lacy parasol in front of his spade, just as the snake slid into the drainpipe at the front of the apartments....oops!  We were not popular, got some filthy looks as he shouted for the owner of the apartment.  Needless to say we beat a hasty retreat. So, sorry to the apartment owner for probably having to disconnect his pipes and sorry to the snake for drawing attention to it and leading to it's probable demise......

 

The kitten we rescued from the crow is doing very well and apparently hasn't stopped bellowing since we brought him!  Luckily the mum seems very placid (and is probably now deaf) and doesn't seem to mind.  We were asked to give him a name and after thinking for a while came up with Chaos, Marble (due to his colouring) or Harley, as in Harley Davidson motorcycles which are rather noisy (and being a fan of said bike).  We all decided on Harley so he now has a name to call when being told to SHUT UP!

 

 

Dancing and another kitten

Last Monday was the first Greek Dancing class of the year at a taverna in the old village at the top of the hill.  Paul actually joined me and we had a fun hour tripping over each over trying to remember the steps.  Everyone usually takes it all far too seriously so Paul managed to lighten proceedings adding various extra moves and banging his head against the brick wall when it wasn't quite coming together!  He seems to have a new fan in an attractive Scandinavian looking chic called Stephanie!  Hopefully she's going home soon....either that or he'll find himself cooling off in the harbour!! Never mind, I can console myself by holding on to the muscular shoulders of my favourite dancer :))

Would you believe it....we rescued yet another kitten the other day.  We were happily sunbathing at our local beach when we became aware of a mewing, crying sound from nearby.  At first I thought it was a bird but Paul was convinced it was a cat.  Other people started taking notice and a few went to investigate, including one of the taverna owners wife.  She leant into the undergrowth at the top of the beach and came out with a tiny kitten bellowing it's head off.  For something so small it made one hell of a racket!  She disappeared into the taverna with it so I was hopeful that she was going to adopt it.  Unfortunately 5 mins later she re-appeared and took it right up to the top of the steps above the beach.  All was quiet for another half an hour and then we could hear the crying again.  We both decided to investigate so went toward the steps.  Paul thought the noise was coming from the closest rental rooms but I carried on to the top of the steps.  The crying was louder and more pitiful and I suddenly saw a huge crow pecking and pecking at something in the grass in a fenced off garden.  To my horror it was the kitten!  I managed to shoo off the crow and was convinced the kitten was dead as it was on it's back with it's little feet in the air and it's eyes wide open.  I called to it and thankfully it moved and came unsteadily over to the railings, close enough for me to pick it up.  Goodness knows how but he seemed totally unharmed although very shocked and scared as he was panting and spitting at me.  We couldn't leave this one so I took it down to Patitiri to find the local head of the animal protection outfit on the island with 'Tiger' bellowing all the way!  I didn't find Julia but luckily one of the ladies in the office said she had a cat with kittens of a similar age so I suggested she adopt him....she thought for a moment and said "I will do it!" (although she was slightly worried about her fathers reaction!!).  Unfortunately she couldn't take him for 3 hours as she was working so I had to take him back to the apartment.  We spent a happy, if noisy, few hours getting tuna all over the floor, my dress and the sofa but hey!  He eventually went to sleep, first on my lap and then on Pauls. We finally took him to meet his new family....a Siamese looking cat with 3 very light kittens, so he'll blend right in....not! She was a bit wary at first but happily seemed to accept him when the milk bar was open.  I spent ten minutes trying to get him to get the hint and find a nipple and he finally got the message.  We left him happily paddling and suckling on his new mum with his new family. (and no I don't mean me!!!!)

Lost and Found

We've had some lazy days and some strenuous one's this week!  More taverna's are actually starting to open so the choices have gone up.  We finally managed to go to an ouzeri that I meant to go to all summer last year and never got round to it.  It's an old fashioned place that has a couple of guys playing bouzouki a couple of nights a week.  Unfortunately it also has a local reputation of not serving very good food so we stuck to meze.  The food was actually perfectly fine and the music was great....although it didn't start until 10pm rather than 9 as advertised!

We ate at a lovely fish taverna called Pascali's on Thursday night and I had the most amazing tasting Sea Bream.  We were half way down our half kilo of wine when the owner turned up with another one saying it was with compliments of Kostas & Karen (who happened to be sitting a couple of tables behind!). We thanked them and she came over later to remind us she was leaving in the morning for a week in the UK and would we mind taking the washing off the line, emptying the washing machine and maybe ironing the sheets! Beware Greeks bearing gifts!!!!

Paul decided to go walking and I joined him thinking it was a nice flat walk, ha flaming ha!  It was to a couple of churches called Ayii Anaryiri which were built on a cliff edge, miles from anywhere that you could get a car to.  I have no idea how they got the building materials there in the first place and only the most devout must go there to worship!! There were the most amazing views though.

Old Ayii Anaryiri church

Views across the bay



We scrambled, literally, down the hill and finally made it to the bottom and a lovely beach called Tourkoneri.  The only problem was we then had to get back up the other side of the island!  This hill seemed to go on forever and it was around midday by this time so was rather warm!  We finally made it to the top road and were passing a small builders yard when this tiny little kitten came hurtling out from it's hiding place and came running towards us meowing all the way.  I picked it up and it purred and purred...great, now what!  On further investigation there was a hut with cat food and a couple of bowls so it was obviously being looked after by the construction guys....sweet! It seemed insistent on following us so we created a diversion with a few bits of food and hot footed it out and around the corner! 

Kitten number 1

Kitten number 2

We carried on with our route and managed to lose the path in a pine forest!  We tracked back to the road and bugger me if another kitten didn't come running out of the undergrowth greeting us like long lost parents!  This one was a bit bigger and much more insistent on following us home .  We tried to carry it but it was rather wriggly and we had no idea how much further we had to go.  Paul hit on the idea of giving the tiny one a companion so we duly walked back to the builders yard and introduced the kittens...they got on like a house on fire so we put some food out, waited until they were both tucking in and then ran like hell....There are going to be some very confused builders when they turn up to work!!!!




SHARK....maybe!

We were catching some rays on Roussoum beach when I spotted what looked like a small fin sticking out of the water about 10ft from the shoreline.  It bobbed around a while and then there was a splash as it went below the surface.  It came up again a little way along the bay and you could see another fin a couple of feet back from the dorsal fin.  Now from the shape of it it looked like a small shark around 2 - 3 ft long.....thankfully common sense prevailed and I am well aware there are no man eating sharks in these waters and therefore came to the conclusion it was a Dogfish, which is a rarity in itself to spot one this close to the shore!

We were invited to our first Ouzo meze night on Friday.  It was actually quite a civilised affair for a change as we only had 36 bottles of Tsipouro by the end of the evening (between 12 :)) and lovely to meet up with some of the people I met last year. It was a lovely end to the day that had turned out rather more physically demanding than anticipated!  Paul had, in a moment of alcohol induced madness, volunteered us to paint the roof terrace of our accommodation and today was the day.  So, roller and brushes in hand we started painting with the sun on our backs and spring in our steps.  3 hours later our hands seemed to be stuck in permanent brush holding pose and our backs were creaking with the effort of standing straight. Karen came up just a we'd finished the last stroke and agreed we'd done a fantastic job and we now all need our sunglasses before looking at the walls!  She disappeared to have lunch with one of her friends and we happily helped ourselves to a couple of glasses of wine from the box in the rooftop fridge :)

Cats, birds and jellyfish!

Whilst we still had the car we visited a couple more out of the way beaches, Chrissi Milia and Kokkino Kastro (Red Castle), so named as there used to be a small fortress here and the colour of the rock is red!  We were greeted at this beach by a very friendly tabby cat who proceeded to follow us down the steps to the beach and across the beach itself.  We found a hut with sunbeds that weren't tied down so helped ourselves to a couple to watch the world go by.  The cat decided this looked very comfortable so joined us!

 

Several unwanted guest have arrived in the harbour....jellyfish!  There are only a few of them at the moment and the local kids have been fishing them out with nets.  Hopefully there won't be any more as I don't fancy sharing the water with that particular bit of wildlife. 

We had a more welcome visitor on the town beach, a little heron type bird.  He sat on a little rock just out from the shore and had a lovely time snatching little fish out of the water.

Potholes aplenty

Well we've had a lovely week travelling the length and breadth of the island in the little car borrowed from K & K.  We have actually found a car in a worst state than ours!!!  The mud holds it together and it just about has a gear box. There is no blade on the rear windscreen wiper and no tread on the tyres....apart from that it was great!! We really shouldn't complain as it managed to get us everywhere we wanted to go as we wended our way down roads that wouldn't have been out of place in Beirut!  Potholes so big we would have lost the wheels and quite possibly the car if we'd hit one.  I spent a merry 30 mins driving down a two way road weaving from side to side just to get round them!  Luckily we appear to be the only idiot tourists on these roads...the locals learnt long ago either not to use them at all or to own a tank! (or a 4 x 4).

We found a beautiful bay called Megali Ammos which had the worst road. The tarmac ran out 2 mins into the journey, then the potholes began.  We eventually lost our nerve half way to the bay, parked the car and walked the rest of the way.  Luckily the views were worth it. Yet another beach to ourselves.





Megali Ammos beach



Olive grove above the beach





Votsi and beyond

Had a couple of days walking the highways and byways to see what's changed on the island.  Unfortunately quite a lot!  They are extending the harbour front in the neighbouring village so there is currently a massive and rather unsightly dredger which seems to spend it's day hammering down the sea bed!  Apparently they were aiming to get it done by the start of the season....fat chance.  I can't imaging the Sunvil guests being happy with their idyllic setting being trashed for the summer.....

The weather was rather grey and cool for the first couple of days but has now warmed up considerably.  Sunday was a beach cleaning day where the local scout group, some locals and some expats all got together in groups to gather all the rubbish that the winter storms had brought in.  The day started fairly cool which we were all quite grateful for but it soon changed and we ended up boiling under a cloudless blue sky!

We've met quite a few of the people I got to know over the summer last year and various events are already being arranged.  The first BBQ of the season is a week on Sunday so I'll prepare my liver as Karen is hosting!

Karen and Kostas have gone away for a few days so have kindly lent us their car to explore further afield.  We had a fabulous day today exploring Gerakas (at the very top of the island), Kalamakia - a lovely little harbour village and Steni Vala where we had our first Calamari & Tzatziki of the summer... it's a hard life!


On the road to Gerakas

Kalamakia harbour

On paying the bill we were asked whether we could give a young lady a lift back to Patitiri.  We said of course and ended up meeting Nikki, the new vet for the island!  It turns out that she was in Steni Vala to release a young seal that had been being looked after at the sanctuary on the island. Typical, we missed the event by a couple of hours. Oh well, maybe next time.