Above - Aetos Bay. Below & Right - The weather has been so pleasant that locals are taking their dining outdoors again. It's looking more and more like the Ithaca visitors know when they come in Summer.

Below - A village in the north of Ithaca which rarely gets a mention in any publication, online or otherwise, is Kalivia. Kalivia is a hutch of Stavros and only has a very small population living there. Even in summer the population doesn't increase very much. There is a Well in this hutch which has a myth attached to it. All who drink from the Well will go insane. Now, I know several people who have drunk from the well and seem perfectly normal and others who were already a little insane, who didn't get any worse. A very pleasant walk is from Stavros toward Exoghi, taking the Kalivia turn off and following the road to Polis Bay where it ends. A short stint along the beach and then up the road to Stavros on the other side of the bay.

Above - Margarita Cafe Bar in Stavros is for now, still closing it's doors for a lunchtime break. Now that the sun is out more often than not, we see many more people in the streets and cafes generally, but it's not busy enough yet to warrant staying open all day and all night without a break. There'll be plenty of time to sleeping on your feet when Summer comes. Right - Pilakata. Blossiming trees wherever you looks now. The island is really looking very beautiful.

Monday 2nd April - Not alot of fooling around yesterday, but a breath of life into the outdoor ithaki again. Left & Below - View from Mazarata area above Vathy looking down onto the bay.

Left & Below - Locals clear up an area of council land so it can be enjoyed by residents and visitors alike. It looked like a good morning. What could be better than to get together with some like-minded friends in an area as beautiful as Loutsa, just outside of Vathy.

Tuesday 2nd - The past couple of days, it's become increasing cloudy again. Still lots of sunshine here and there, but generally the cloudy periods have become longer and longer. Looking outside my window now, it's overcast and a little dreary, but the birds are singing and the bees are buzzing as we make our way through the first month of Spring. Left - Forkis Bay in the south of Ithaki.

Above - Moutain-side above Mazarata. Left - Sparta blossoming on all the hillsides around Vathy and the rest of Ithaca.

Above - Vivika from Stavros doing her Monday morning chores in Vathy along with many others from the north of the island. Left - Dimitris Danis. It's been awhile since we've had his face on ithacagreece.com. I guess now that the Winter is over, we'll see more and more people coming out of hibernation.

Left - Vathy Square, where I got my first sunburn yesterday. Now that the tents are gone, lather up with sunscreen folks, the umbrellas just don't do it unfortunately. Heading north along the bayside of /athy toward Stavros, some tent frames have gone up, but no tents so far. Let's hope common sense prevails or an excellent replacement idea will be thought of before the Season really begins. I can't see 10,000 visitors all huddling under a few trees for shade. Yesterday it appeared that the Vathy town pipe project was finishing. A huge sigh of relief for the business owners who have been effected by the works over these past months. Pipes are still being laid between Vathy and Forkis Bay. Best to look ahead as far as you can for coming traffic otherwise you'll get stuck in a bottle neck. Only one car can pass at a time. Unfortunately they haven't allocated anyone to direct traffic at each end of the works. It would save alot of frustration. If you're car is your baby, then also watch out for the jack hammers throwing up stones.

Wednesday 4th - What a funny weather day today. On and off with promises left and right. Below Left and Below - Rebecca's Cottages area just outside of Stavros in the north of Ithaca. The mountain side just looks stunning, despite there was no sun to highlight the colours of our Spring.

Although we've had a little bit of (very dirty) rain over these past couple of days, soon the island will be dry and brown again. All the dead wild flowers will be strimmed from the landscape and the trampling of visitors' feet in their summer glory will take priority over nature.

On April 22nd, the Ithaca Council is organizing a clean up of the beaches around the island. For further information see www.ithaki.gr site.

Some of you with roots on Ithaca may be interested that the Council is now putting out a newsletter. It comes in Greek and English. Just send your email to Ioanna at www.ithaki.gr if you want to be on the list.

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