Category Archives: Greece

Symi: back to a waterhole in the desert

Posted on November 10, 2014 by BarryH

During the summer on Symi and the other islands I visited, I went walking in the mountains every day. Since I have been home I have been out very little even though I live at the edge of the Brecon … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Grey Britain, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Pontypool, Reflections, Spring, Wildlife | Tagged aquifers, biarum marmarisense, brecon beacons national park, dragonflies, goat paths, Greece, Green Toads, Gria, Horio, hornets, Pedi, Pedi Valley, ponds, Pontypool, Pontypool Folly Tower, rainfall, Red-veined Darter, Symi, Wales, water hole, water levels, windmills | 2 Comments

Symi: to the past and on the edge

Posted on October 30, 2014 by BarryH

I’m back home now, trying to stop the cold seeping into my bones and prevent the grey seeping into my brain. But there are many bright, warm memories of Symi to look back on, more Symi-based blogs to post. One … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains | Tagged Byzantine stone wine pressses, Greece, history, hochlakos mosaic, Megalos Sotiros monastery, Panormitis monastery, Symi, trekking, viniculture, wood carving | Leave a comment

Symi: Wildlife safari.

Posted on October 18, 2014 by BarryH

The searing heat of summer on The Hot Rock has passed. Life is beginning to emerge again from the crisp remains of the scorched landscape. Trekking in the mountains reveals more every day as plants and animals emerge from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Wildlife | Tagged autumn, autumn crocus, biarum marmarisense, Coin-marked snake, Greece, Symi, The Hot Rock, tortoise | 3 Comments

Symi: A Taste of Honey and Dalliance with A Painted Lady

Posted on October 4, 2014 by BarryH

I stopped to chat with friends in Lefteris’s kafenion at the top of the Kali Strata on the way back to the house from the restaurant close to midnight. After a short while the owner started hurriedly carrying the wooden chairs … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Wildlife | Tagged Biarum marmarense, Buterflies, flash flood, Greece, Horio, Kali Strata, Lefteris's kafenion, nature, Oertzeni lizard, Painted Lady, Sea squill, Squill, Symi, Thistle flower, thunderstorm, wildlife | 5 Comments

Symi: another trek in the mountains in search of the past.

Posted on September 24, 2014 by BarryH

It started out as a simple amble across the island to check out the site of more ruins shown on the SKAÏ map but turned into a really good-value-for–money trek. Finding the Pelasgian Platform (‘Trekking to a time before Greece’) … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape | Tagged agricultural terraces, archaeology, dragonfly, footpaths, Greece, Greek Classical Period, hiking, kestrel, Ruins, Symi, trekking | 3 Comments

Symi: wandering the mountains in a search for the past

Posted on September 14, 2014 by BarryH

My jaunt along the Kokkinochoma peninsula ‘Trekking to a time before Greece’ and finding the fortified platform and other stuff, which I think are Pelasgian remains (though with no corroborating expert evidence this is conjecture), set in the top of … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Wildlife | Tagged ancient routeway, Antiquity, footpaths, Greece, Helenistic Ruins, Painted Dragon lizard, Pelasgian, Ruins, Symi | 1 Comment

Symi: a walk to the beach via the underworld and pre-history

Posted on September 4, 2014 by BarryH

I had walked to Nanou Beach a few times, a long trek up to ‘The Tarmac’, the road along the top of the ridge which is the main spine of the island, and then a 2½ kilometre drop down a … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature | Tagged Ancient pathway protection, caves, dinosaur remains, EU funding, fottpaths, Greece, hiking, kalderimi, Nanou Beach, paths, pre-history, pygmy elephant, Symi, Tilos, trekking, walking guide | Leave a comment

Symi: a trek to a time before Greece

Posted on August 21, 2014 by BarryH

It began when I was lying on a wall at Agios Nikolaos Stenou monastery on the top of the ridge between Nimborio Bay and the open channel which separates Symi and Greece from Turkey, the dividing line between Europe and … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Wales | Tagged cromlechs, footpaths, fortification, Greece, Limnos, Pelasgian, Pre-Hellenic, pre-history, siesta, Symi, Wales | Leave a comment

Symi: a jaunt down a mini-gorge

Posted on August 14, 2014 by BarryH

The pattern of my days on Symi is different to previous years. I spend the morning doing chores around the house and writing. By midday I have had enough of both and need to get out into the mountains and/or … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Wildlife | Tagged Butterflies, gorge walking, Greece, Greek Islands, hiking, Nimborios, Painted Dragon lizard, Starred agama, Symi | 2 Comments

Symi: a trek into the past

Posted on August 6, 2014 by BarryH

I’m fascinated by deserted settlements. They show the stark effects of seismic economic shifts, technological development, and climate change. They can also show how people lived decades ago. Whenever I am on Tilos I visit and write about the deserted … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Reflections, Wales, Wildlife | Tagged deserted village, dragonflies, gateway to the past, Ghera, Greece, Gria, Karpathos, Micro Horio, national heritage, Olymbos, Pedi, St Fagan's National History Museum, Symi, Tilos, time portal, traditional bread oven, Wales, water abstraction, water supply, Welsh Folk Museum, windmills | 1 Comment