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Lamberi Dromis |
Saturday 12th March |
Setting the streets on fire in Stavros. A pagan Carnival activity which makes kids and pyromaniacs out of all. Click on picture below for more photos |
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Vathy Carnival |
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Sunday 13th March |
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Lots of fun, lots of laughs and colour and warm sunshine all around. VAthy put on a great day for all. Click on picture below for more photos |
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Kathara Deftera - Clean Monday |
Monday 14th March |
Click here on photograph left for more pics |
Today most of Ithaki partook in the Kite flying tradition around Anoghi. A time for Picnics and a day in the sun with eyes on the skies as colourful kite tails whisped through the air over the hilltops of upper Ithaca. Seafood and salads, fresh local bread and wine was enjoyed by the masses who headed up to the mountain village around midday as they do each year on Kathara Deftera, the day which denotes the end of red meat until Easter Sunday. |
The warm Spring day and the hard work by the community to prepare food for everyone, made this a really enjoyable day and gave us all a taste of the warmer weather to come. |
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Tue 15 Mar - Tattooist Rien Post is now back up and running in Lefki as is his website Lefki Cam which gives a snap shot of things, people, animals and cars passing by his house.
As of April Rementzo Restaurant will be solely owned by Poppy Pagoulatou and Nektarios Vasilopoulos. hOME ithaca greece website wishes Makis and Ramona a peaceful and adventurous retirement. Although locals will miss Maki behind the Grill they will surely now be able to enjoy his company around the traps of Ithaki.
Many have been wondering what's become of the Stathis Raftopoulos Hotel in Frikes, well, downstairs is now a bar/cafe/ouzerie and billiards with rooms to let upstairs.
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Wed 16 Mar - Oh My God! it's 21 degrees. Wow! finally another day of heat and sun (There was one yesterday too). Everyone has a smile on their face, walking with their heads high, shoulders back and a wiggle in their walk. What a little sunshine can do. Today is just the day for sitting at a Cafenion for 3 or so hours with good friends, stretching out your legs and soaking up the clear blue day, then home for lunch and then a little walk. Why not. Let's go to Ag. Sarantas. Walk in a bed of blooming daisies and see that view down to Aphales Bay. Click here or on photo left below for a stroll. |
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View from Kathara |
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Vathy below is misted out as we look down onto the Capital from the road to Kathara |
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Friday 18 Mar - Kathara is quiet today, only a few cows keeping guard the Monastery on top of Ithaki. A heat mist obscures the islands beyond on one side and on the other, the predicted weather change is quickly moving in to spoil the clear, blue day. The top of 23 degrees for today is cut short with the cooler wind coming from the cold front. |
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A bed of wild flowers covers the island from Vathy to Kioni. This is Lefki. |
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...and this is Lahos. Beautiful isn't it? Now just watch out for the bees and wasps and... |
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We are promised that the former Levendis, will soon be Gefyri. Platrithia waits with baited breath to pass through these doors. |
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As promised the change starts edging its' way across Ithaki. Who needs a weather forecast. We can see it coming from miles away. |
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| Sat 19 Mar - Thankfully the cooler change was a fizzle. There's a slightly cooler breeze, but the sky is still blue and the sun is still shining. March is a funny month in Greece. It can be like summer or snow. |
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HEY MOO! |
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Tue 21 Mar - Above - First tour group for the season arrives in Stavros. Just kidding. They are cows. |
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Below - This is a view of Ag. Ioannis |
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Above - This is not a cow, this is a woman with a baby and a workman. |
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Above - This is not a workman, this is a boss having a smoke break. |
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Tue 22 Mar - Right - Chez Manu was happening again. A taste of Emanuels Eastern cuisine seems to have Vathinians and Villagers alike, flocking to the restaurant/bar. |
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Above - Yiorgos Simiris is here from the USA for 3 months visiting relatives. |
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Emanuel, owner and chef of Chez Manu with sidekick Dimitris Danis, Ithakis own entertainment entrepreneur. |
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Above - Chez Manu |
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Wed 23 Mar - Above - Stavros and Vaggos. Chappries keeping their day jobs and still they can't get no satisfaction. |
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Wed 23 Mar - Finally it's worth leaving the house again. Sunny days, warmer weather, kosmo (people) in the streets and Cafes and Spring, not only blooming in the fields, but also in the heart of the Ithaki community. Around all the main villages, shops are being painted and repaired for the coming season with bright new colours to lighten up the island. Windows open, let the fresh air in and get that damp out of the corners and out of the bones. Espresso Lungo (basically a double shot of coffee) is the order of the morning, by midday it will be an ouzo and meze and then lunch and then a nap. That doesn't sound too bad. Guess I can cope another day living in paradise. |
Thu 24 March - Below - The tragic remains of Babbis house which burnt down just over a week ago in Kioni |
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Above - Panos Moraitis lets us take a look at the stone house he is building in the hills overlooking Kioni, northern Ithaca. Click here on photo above for more pics. |
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The devastating fire has m any people now discussing what better efforts can be made to avoid such a tradgedy in the future as the northern Ithacan community contemplates the good fortune that spared the houses in close proximity to Babbies from suffering the same fate. |
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