{"id":2051,"date":"2010-08-23T17:56:07","date_gmt":"2010-08-23T17:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=2051"},"modified":"2011-04-12T16:43:20","modified_gmt":"2011-04-12T16:43:20","slug":"damouhari-and-places-nearby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=2051","title":{"rendered":"Damouhari and places nearby"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Self portrait at Fakistra beach, The Pelion<\/p><\/div>\n

Damouhari – what a wonderful paradise I have found, especially here at Victoria Guesthouse where the family make you feel you are at home and all the guests and visitors to Victoria Cafe are so lovely and friendly.\u00a0 I would be quite content to sit in the courtyard – eat, drink, talk with the people and write, however, there are many wonderful places to explore nearby.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I set off to walk to Papa Nero beach and the small settlement of Agios Ioannis, much closer to Damouhari than Tsagarada and in fact, the point where my bus terminated last Friday, if only I had known then what I know now!\u00a0 Anyway, a pleasant walk to Agios Ioannis where I enjoyed a Hortopita (green vege pastry) for brekkie\u00a0by the beach,\u00a0followed by\u00a0a walk back to the southern end of\u00a0Papa Nero beach where I had no problem passing several hours, alternating from sun to shade under wonderful trees.\u00a0 Unfortunately, for some reason unknown to me, the Aegean Sea here at present is producing massive waves at all the beaches, making swimming an activity only for those a lot braver or more stupid than me.\u00a0 I fit in with the majority who are not venturing far beyond the waterline –\u00a0just enough to cool down and\u00a0feel refreshed later on.<\/p>\n

Early this morning I set off to walk to Fakistra beach, the pathway to which begins\u00a0along the very same route I\u00a0arrived at\u00a0Damouhari\u00a0last Friday.\u00a0 When I saw the cobbled path literally climbing uphill,\u00a0I could not\u00a0believe I came down that hill\u00a0with my backpack\u00a0and I believe it was only Helen’s sheer determination and\u00a0stubbornness that brought\u00a0her here.<\/p>\n

The level of difficulty for this route which takes you along the coast, parallel to the sea, \u00a0is described as medium but for those who walk it, the spectacular views and scenery are rewarding.\u00a0 Once you arrive at the pagoda, you follow a dirt road, leading once more to a path which meanders downhill through olive groves, eventually arriving at white rocks where the path continues uphill, through rocky terrain and low vegetation.\u00a0 From this point, on a clear day like today, the islands of the Sporades can be seen, before you continue on downhill to a small hut.\u00a0 From the hut, the path takes you once again uphill through thick vegetation this time\u00a0and\u00a0another dirt road.<\/p>\n

It was somewhere here that Christina, her husband and her god daughter from France caught up with me on the path\u00a0and together we walked on until we arrived at the side path which takes you to Krifo Scholio, now a tiny church\u00a0and the sea cave of Panagia Megalomata full of stalactites.\u00a0 During the Turkish occupation, Krifo Scholio served as a school, an allegedly clandestine school that helped Greeks maintain their language, culture and religion during the period of Ottoman rule.\u00a0 According to what I have heard, children from Tsagarada and Mouresi made their way down there at night to read and learn, finding their way by\u00a0shining small torches towards the ground.<\/p>\n

Once back up on the dirt road, it is only a very short distance until you arrive at the ashphalt parking area above Fakistra beach where I farewelled my companions and made my way down the stone path to the wild, pebbly beach and turquoise waters.\u00a0 Deserted other than for a young couple who were camping nearby in an olive grove, she was Greek, he was English, they met 4 months’ ago at a music festival and now live together in Ireland.\u00a0 They left me alone in paradise!<\/p>\n

Late last night, all I had been able to find to take with me today to eat, were two pots of creme caramel and a packet of sesame bread sticks.\u00a0 I ate one of the creme caramel and half the sesame bread sticks before tempting fate in the wild waters.\u00a0 Wanting only to refresh myself for the return journey, I sat down on a rock where soon the waters poured over me, throwing me off the rock\u00a0and a hasty retreat to higher ground. \u00a0With the waves sounding like cannon fire as they crashed against the rocks, I left Fakistra to\u00a0return to Damouhari from where I will reluctantly move on this Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Firstly, I must make my way back to Volos from where I will take a boat to Skiathos, with only six nights on the Sporades islands before heading to Skyros to meet up with my Canadian friend Anna for a few days.\u00a0 Company will make a pleasant change from travelling alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Damouhari – what a wonderful paradise I have found, especially here at Victoria Guesthouse where the family make you feel you are at home and all the guests and visitors to Victoria Cafe are so lovely and friendly.\u00a0 I would be quite content to sit in the courtyard – eat, drink, talk with the people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2051"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2597,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051\/revisions\/2597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}