Category Archives: History

Symi: Rambling around the past

Posted on August 4, 2016 by BarryH

WARNING: make yourself comfortable and a cup of coffee before starting to read this. If there is anyone out there hooked on Barry’s Ramblings and having withdrawal symptoms, apologies! I have had people staying with me most of the time … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Photography, Wales | Tagged archaeology, architecture, cromlech, dolmen, Greece, Greek archaeology, Neoilithic, Nimborio, St David's, Symi, Toli, Wales | 3 Comments

Symi: going wild

Posted on May 29, 2016 by BarryH

I was discharged from hospital on Rhodes on a Wednesday, six days after having been rushed there by a combination of ambulances and fast coastguard cutter. Engine management system rebooted, once again firing on all four cylinders, on the Tuesday … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Health and humour, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Photography | Tagged Agia Paraskevi, ancient olive press, Greece, Horio, kalderimi, Nimborio Bay, Pedi Bay, Symi, Yialos | Leave a comment

Kalymnos: peace and tranquillity at the end of summer

Posted on December 14, 2015 by BarryH

I finished my summer in Greece with a short stay on Kalymnos. Its population of 16,000, making it the third most populous island in the Dodecanese group after Rhodes and Kos, is considerably increased in the summer by tourists. However, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, new technology, Photography | Tagged autumn crocus, broadband, castles, Emborios, flowers, Greece, hiking, Hora, Kalymnos, Kastri, nature, photography, rock climbing, Symi | Leave a comment

Nisyros: Pirates of the Aegean and soft rock

Posted on October 31, 2015 by BarryH

Once upon a time the people of the small fishing village of Palloi on Nisyros, so it is said, got fed up with being raided by the Pirates of the Aegean, upped sticks and moved from their harbour-side homes to … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Wildlife | Tagged Emborios, Greece, hiking, history, Landscape, lava, Mediterranean shag, Nisyros, Palloi, photography, Pirates of the Aegean, pumice, sea daffodils, underground church | 3 Comments

Nisyros: Heritage Island

Posted on October 23, 2015 by BarryH

When I was young, summer holidays were a week at my grandparents’ in a small mining village in rural Carmarthenshire. I took every opportunity to escape the boredom of sitting around the house and walk the mile or so up … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Monmouthshire, Mountains, Photography, Wales | Tagged barrel-arched building, Greece, heritage, history, Karpathos, Nifios, Nisyros, Olymbos, photography, Rural Carmarthenshire, Siones, St Fagan's National History Museum, subterranean church, Symi, thermal springs, Tilos, windmills | 5 Comments

Nisyros: waiting for it to blow

Posted on September 14, 2015 by BarryH

It is more accurate to describe Nisyros as a volcano than as ‘volcanic’. Lots of bits of countries are ‘volcanic in that they are have areas of either lava (cooled magma) or igneous rock (rock modified by super-heating) … like … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Photography | Tagged active volcano, eruptions, fumaroles, Greece, hiking, Hippocrates, Kos, monitoring, Nisyros, photography, Polyvotis Craters, Stephanos crater, sulphur crystals, thermal springs, Volcano, Yialli | 7 Comments

Nisyros: giving in to addiction

Posted on September 4, 2015 by BarryH

Some places are addictive. Nisyros is one of them. My wife and I visited the island first on a day trip by high speed cat from nearby Tilos in 2001. Along with the herd we took the bus to The … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Photography | Tagged Alexandros crater, barrel-arched houses, fumaroles, Greece, hiking, kalderimi, Kato Laki, lava bubble, lava plug, Nisyros, Paleocastro, photography, Polyvotis crater, sulphur, Volcano | Leave a comment

Symi: high points

Posted on July 25, 2015 by BarryH

Having been identified as the Third Man and knowing he was pursued by Joseph Cotton, Orson Wells took to the labyrinthine sewers with a multiplicity of escape options and made the most memorable Sewer Speech ever. Unfortunately most Hollywood villains … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Wildlife | Tagged Butterflies, castles, Greece, hiking, limestone crags, mountains, movies, Symi, The Mani, tortoise, tower houses, treks, Turtle Dove, Viewpoints | 3 Comments

Symi: The Day I Shrank, and other adventures

Posted on June 30, 2015 by BarryH

One: The Shadow Sunday 21 June, the summer solstice, time to climb Oros Vigla, highest mountain on Symi. The summit is barely a mile from the house as the crow flies but I’m not a crow so the 500 metres … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Wildlife | Tagged ancient settlement, Coin-marked snake, Emborios, Greece, Greek economy, photography, snakes, Summer solstice, Symi, Vigla | Leave a comment

Symi: into a hidden valley, the past and beyond

Posted on June 20, 2015 by BarryH

I am increasingly fascinated by not just going ‘off piste’ on the Greek islands, but trying to understand the faint signs of the rich cultural past, trying to tread softly and see the wildlife and the plant life. There is … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Wildlife | Tagged Greece, hidden valley, limestone, Little Owl, Oertzeni lizard, Pelagic, rift valley, Symi, thyme, tortoise, white mulberries | Leave a comment