The other day I took a walk down to the harbour using the usual route (Kali Strata) and walked back up via the road. This is a pleasant, gradual climb, though you do have to negotiate trees in the middle of the path and cross the road on the big corner which can be a bit of a leap of faith. Another way to come back up is the route I took last week, which is quicker, but hard work. Start off by coming up the Kali Strata, but when you get to the large, dark red house where the specialist paintwork makes it look old and damp, and there, take the steps up on your right. These lead more or less vertically to the start of a short zigzag which takes you past New Villa George and the chicken farm.
Well, it’s not really a chicken farm, but they belong to someone, I assume, and have free-range run of the place. There are cockerels there too and chicks, and several fussy lady chickens who squawk in panic as you approach, and fluster their way into the trees to escape, all of which can be very amusing. Continue to follow the path upwards, and upwards, and you come out near Lemoniotisa church, the one with the dome that you can see from Yialos, and the one tourists try to find and very often give up on finding because it’s not easy, and anyway, when you get there, it usually always closed, and, note, it’s Limeniotissa or Eleimonitissa, or Lemonitissa, depending on which book you read, but not Lemonitsa, as I’ve heard it called, anyway… where was I…
The view from up there is a pleasant one, and you realise you are just about in line with the west end of the harbour. It’s not a climb for the weak hearted, and I’d advise several stops to recover along the way, even in winter. In summer, when it’s over 40°, I’d take a taxi to reach the village.
