|
|
|
| |
|
|
What's Happening on Ithaki 2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To revisit a previous Summer, click on Navigation Menu above and select the Summer Lodown from the drop down list on the right. |
|
|
|
|
Around the Villages - Summer Lodown 2007 |
See what's happening around the island villages from May to October. Parties, festivals, concerts and general fun from Vathy, Anoghi, Perahori, Dexa, Lefki, Stavros, Polis, Exoghi, Platrithia, Ag. Sarantas, Afales, Lahos, Frikes Raxi and Kioni. You won't miss a thing on ithacagreece.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fri 15 June - Tour operators may be leaving the Ionian islands, ciphening tourists to other destinations, but they can't take the beauty with them. That's ours, for life. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Right - After a busy morning, Stathi from Penelope restaurant in Frikes enjoys a midday break with some Kefalnians with a little too much wine. This group sang some old favourites from a long time ago, while they waited for their meals to arrive. They made a few locals very nostalgic as their voices rang out through the village. |
| Around the Villages of Ithaca in 2007 |
Mon 18 June - Now that the weather is heating up, with 40C expected around Wednesday, who knows how long Ithaca will retain its lush green landscape. Below - view from Exoghi down onto Platrithias with the aqua waters of Aphales Bay on the left and Frikes Bay on the right. Exoghi is well known for its amazing views over northern Ithaca. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tue 19 June - Below - Sunrise over Aetos Bay in the south of Ithaca. With the expected top of 39C, the colours of the first light really reflected what the day would be. Hot, hot, hot. Monday around the villages is usually the day for Vathy chores and Tuesday is the day many head off to Cephalonia for all the things they couldn't achieve or get on Ithaca on Monday. The ferry now leaves at 6.45am so it's an even earlier rising than usual for those participating in the big Tuesday escape. The leg between Vathy and Sami takes around an hour. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The summer trip from Vathy to Sami isn't as dreary as the winter one. The sunrise is beautiful and with more light on the way, the views go quite a way to distract the regular traveler of this route, from the hour long journey. The ferry passes small coves, only reachable by boat, ragged cliffs, deeply grooved and pressed together, jutting out sideways from the shoreline with tufts of wild grass escaping from the rock. It's peaceful in the Ionian in the early am, still and calm beyond the double-glazed windows of the Kefalonia, while inside the ferry cafe, greetings and conversations ring out. Every face is a familiar one on this first leg. Some carry on to Patras, but most disembard in Sami.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Around someone elses' village - Above - Sami, looking dressed for the Summer with boats in the harbour and restaurants and cafes showing their best sides. Left - Sami beach. Quite a bit different to any of the beaches on Ithaca. Above Left - The Kefalonia ferry coming into Sami, with Ithaki in the background, to take all the Ithacans home again. |
Sun 24 June - Below Left - Niko Karantzis and Viki Softi wedding. |
Niko and Viki |
Little Tsoulo and Viki turned on the biggest party of the year for their wedding yesterday, with the ceremony at Gardelaki and the reception at Dexa Beach. It was huge, it was fun and it was great to see them both so exuberantly happy. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The scorching 40+ centigrade had everyone sweating, especially the groom, but beneath the flushed exterior was a cool and collected 'ready to be' husband. Niko and Viki closed up shop at the Mylos Creperie, Niko put on his pink tie and Viki, her sequened white wedding dress, and off they went to the church to tie the happy knot. |
For many more photographs of the Nikos and Vikis wedding, click here |
|
Congratulations to the Karantzis and Softis families |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Left - Yiorgos Douglas on his trike. It's been so hot these past days, some locals are taking on being Mexicans to cope with the heat. Even in Frikes, one of the coolest spots on the island, the cement is radiating over the 40C mark. The best place to be is in the water or under a shady tree or in the shade of a bar with cold beer on tap. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tue 26 June - Above left - This quaint little building as you drive into Vathy is a flower shop. Looked nice so I snapped it. Above Right - Aetos bay is absolutely steaming under the 42C and climbing temps on the island. The water is like glass, misty and eerie from heat. Below Left - The traditionally picturesque side of Vathy. Even being this close to the water, doesn't give relief from the scorching sun, beating down on Ithaca over the past week. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The only good thing about being sweat deep in a heatwave is that all the villages around Ithaca become very, very quiet. It's way too hot for building, which means no banging, drilling, cement - trucking around, just the crickets under the sun and the sighs of the people as they occasionally manage to walk from the car to the waters edge, where they will spend most of the day trying to cool down. Inside the air-conditioned business center of Vathy, work goes on as usual, but out on the pavements, the sizzling heat in Vathy is worse than anywhere else on the island. Luckily, there are beaches close by, with shady trees and corners to cool in. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
