Leaving the campsite we drove to Paralia Tyros where we stopped to get supplies including some meat for barbecuing as the weather was definitely improving and the forecast suggested a period of good weather. Giant pork chops, chicken legs (pounded flat for the BBQ using a very large brass weight), pork souvlaki (kebabs) and home-made sausages together with local Tyros hard sheep's cheese were purchased from the butcher.
Our target today was Monemvasia but there were lots of interesting place along the way. We stopped at the large town of Leonidio south of Tyros and wandered around the town. We were surprised to see a restored traction engine parked proudly on the river promenade – that must have been a real status symbol when it was first brought to this area. Leonidio is a bustling market town full of shops, cafés and restaurants. We intended to BBQ that evening, so we contented ourselves with that wonderful Greek fast food, souvlaki pitta – the first one since we arrived in Greece. Whilst we were walking along the main street eating the pitta, we bumped into Chris and Tanya with two visitors. It was great to be able to thank them again in person for the our special Greek Easter and wish them the best for the future.
Just outside of Leonidio we came to my favourite Greek chapel. I had spotted it from the town centre and remembered well the time many years ago (at least 15) that we had approached it from the other direction, down the gorge from Kosmas. The relatively modern Byzantine-style whitewashed church has a backdrop of a huge reddy-brown cliff and became the subject of one of my first attempts at producing a print from a slide in my darkroom back in Somerset. The print graced one of the walls of our house for many years but the colour balance, always very difficult in a novice's darkroom, was not quite right. I was determined to take a digital photograph and try again. The light was perfect as I walked up to the church where I met George, a local man, sitting in the shade under a tree. We had a long, wide-ranging discussion about life in Greece, life in America (his brother and family had moved to America, near New York and had been there for many years), life in England, how to keep healthy and many other subjects. This was quite an achievement given that George spoke very little English and I can only muster about fifty words of Greek. I understood that life in Greece was not easy, but it was a great life; life in America was not good – too fast, too much pressure and the work was too hard; George thought that England was a lovely place and the football teams were very good (it is Chelsea v Liverpool tonight – I told him that Chelsea would win, I wonder whether I was correct); the way to keep healthy is to have a spoonful of olive oil every day washed down with a glass of water. I also found out the name of the saint to whom the chapel was dedicated but two minutes later, I had forgotten – I must find out from Wendy, she is sure to know. I finally got some photographs taken, said goodbye to George and returned to the motorhome and Jane who was wondering what on earth I had been doing.
The drive up to Kosmas is long, windy and incredibly beautiful. I still think that Cheddar Gorge is beautiful but this is on a huge scale. Towards the top of the gorge we stopped at the whitewashed Monastery (actually a convent) of Profitas Elonis set into a sheer cliff on the side of the gorge. Regular readers and experienced Greek travellers will not be surprised to hear that shepherds discovered a spring and miraculous icon here and that is why the monastery was founded. I resisted the temptation to purchase another mug as they were much less naff than the ones at Mega Spilio but I did buy two kilos of local mountain honey from a lady at the entrance. Both are delicious – one is 'four seasons' honey and the other is a pure pine honey.
We drove through the pretty village of Kosmas that was worthy of a stop but we had already done too much of that and needed to get on. Just outside the village we reached 1200m and then started the long descent to the coast through more lovely scenery. The guidebook and the ACSI guide told us of the Camping Paradise site on the beach a few kilometres south of Monemvasia and we headed for that. We failed to find it and at the point that we were about to turn around, we came across three motorhomes parked on a beach. We stopped to enquire about the campsite and found that everyone else had looked for it and failed to find it but we were told that this was an accepted place to camp. Having no other option, we decided to stay with the others and had a simple dinner whilst looking over the sea to Monemvasia in the distance.
Photos: The sleepy side of Leonidio; The very picturesque chapel north of Leonidio; View from the monastery of Profitas Elonis; The monastery itself with the monks cells on the left and the church housing the miraculous icon just below the sacred spring; Any icon you like can be bought at the monastery shop.
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