Below Left - The black skies make a dramatic backdrop for the colourful houses along Vathys bay side. Right - Aetos Bay with Atakos in the distance. Below Right - Karamela Cafe is not only a great place to hang out in the Summer (also very convenient as it is directly opposite the ferry dock), but in the winter, you can't go past its cosy atmosphere and warm open fire place. I've had occasion to go there a few times while the rain is pouring down. Great snacks, good prices.

Friday 21st - The weather changed last night. Nothing too dramatic, just some rainfall and dark skies. The temperature, for now, is still quite mild, but is expected to drop over the weekend and beyond. Low cloud hovers over the island.

Above - Aetos. Left - a black sky backdrop to Dexa Beach signals a rainy Vathy. Below - Umbrella time in Vathy.

Monday 24th - Left - And the rain comes down. It looks like this will be the way over the next couple of days at least. Below Left - By sunset, the skies cleared a little. Below - Flowers growing on an S-Bend?

Tuesday 25th - Dramatic thunderstorms passed over the island overnight. Thunder that rattled whatever was cemented down. The electricity went out around 3am, but came back on in the morning thankfully. A very cool 7 degrees C today with below 0s in the north and on the mainland, as you can see in photo below, where a decent amount of snow fell on the mountains overnight. Lefkada too (below below) has some snow on its peaks. Winter has arrived with a vengence. This afternoon there were still more storms and rain across our little corner of the Ionian, but eventually the skies began to clear a little, giving us some blue sky and sunshine.

Saturday 29th - Stormy, rainy and cold over the past couple of days with more of the same ahead. Dramatic skies and clear, cloudy views across to the Mainland and to neighbouring islands

Left and Below - Some Kioni views. For those who know this village in summer, when there are people everywhere, all the restaurants and bars full, it would be unrecognizable now. Kioni in winter, is a sleepy bayside village with more cats than people in the streets. It's this time of year that is beauty is easy to appreciate.

Left - Views from Exoghi over Afales toward Lefkada. Below Left - Exoghi views across Marmaka to the Mainland. Below - Exoghis' Agia Marina Bell Tower.

Left - Stavros village views. Although there's not much going on in the north of Ithaca, it's important to have a northern center like Stavros, where all the businesses are open all year around, summer or winter.

Left - View to Atakos and the Mainland from Anoghi. Below Left - Giant rocks form much of the landscape in the highlands of Ithaki. Below - Laertes Farm roof is back on. Now for some renovations to the shopfront.

Above - It's no surprise there are mountain goats on Ithaca, but mountain bulls? Yes, we have bulls and cows climbing the rocky slopes of the island too. Left - Anoghi

Left - Looking down onto Vathy from the road to Kathara. Above - The winding roads of the Ithaca island.

Above Left - Agia Ioannis views. Left - Sami, the port village of Cephalonia. If it wasn't for our big sister island Cephalonia, Ithaca probably wouldn't have the ferry services we enjoy. There are many islands that aren't serviced daily, let alone twice daily.

We've been lucky enough to still have power even after some very stormy and windy days. The electricity has cut here and there, but there have not been any long waits for it to come back on again. When there's bad weather, the tv stations go a little wonky, the internet slows down and the woodfires burn from dawn til bed time.