Barren land this part of Aeolean Earth, travelling westwards, where ancient
volcanic lava, Orthodoxy, rocks and sea just meet each other, amalgamating
themselves mysteriously in one body and one soul… Firstly the village Dafea,
the Monastery of Lemonos, full of small trees and Byzantine churches,
steeped in incense and the tears of monks' prayers…Blessed rocky land…
I go on…Philia, Skoutaros, Anemotia, Skalochori, and
southwards the beach of Kalo
Limani, the shelter of fishermen and
travelers at this infertile land…Going uphill westwards there I meet the Monastery
of Perivolis, built beside the banks of a torrent, listening to the
imploring croaking of frogs amalgamating with the psalmodies of dressed in black
nuns : praying for rain, to quench the land's thirst, the earth's soul thirst…
Upper the villages Vatoussa, Pterounda, Chydira, Revma, Antissa. Here I
relax under the few plane-trees of the central square, quenching my thirst,
tired by the hard travelogue, but my soul is still thirsty…How can its thirst
be quenched at this land with the numerous beauties, that
charm
the body pushing it to look for immortality, so that to have time to embrace
everything…
I go downhill towards the sea, to Gavatha beach, at the fish-taverns, at
Kampos with the pistachio-trees and at Lapsarna site… Let me descend
eastwards, the Monastery of Ipsilou perched
on the top of Ordymnos mountain…The fossilized trees : fabulous land
out if this world ! Trunks, roots, leaves, fruits, ruins of the destructive
mania of ancient volcanic lava …and the sun keeps on firing the knots, stamens
and barks of petrified trees… A breath of Aegean air at the village Sigri,
with the small port, Nissiopi islet, the Castle and the white small
cottages…I go downhill southwards : the Monastery of Pithariou perched
on the rocks, with the sound of the bells calming down the hardness of this
rocky land…
Afterwards Eressos village with the fig-trees, the few olive groves and
the poplar-trees…Skala Eressou embraced by an endless girdle of
sand, rocks and monuments…with crystal clear water, the faded ancient marbles,
the stone-built houses and the
colorful
rocks…Rising course towards Messotopos, Tavari, Makara, Apothika,
surrounded by prehistoric ruins beside the sea…The landscape starts
impertinently getting greener, Agra, Parakila with the lemon trees, Skala
Parakilon with the plain sandy beach surrounded by small trees…