So here we are up at ‘Chamon’ and we’re taking a look around inside the chapel where the floor is pebbled in traditional local fashion. What’s not so traditional about this church is the graffiti in the floor, some of which dates back to the 1950s, maybe before. I saw dates in the 1970s as well.
Besides the chapel is a house and there are people living up in this little settlement. It’s strange but I’d never been here before, well, not exactly here. We did, many years ago, once walk past the place but slightly further down. We’d walked from Horio around the road to Agios Efraim, and then turned off towards Kokkimides, wandered around towards Chamon and then headed across country and ridge to come out above Pedi, where we then traversed the hillside, heading down, following a donkey track to finally arrive back at Ag Marina cemetery again.
This was a four hour walk and had started due to a ‘let’s go for a short walk after lunch’ conversation; we just carried on walking and I can remember the exact day. It was November 5th 2002, because after we returned home we went to Jenine’s house for fireworks; it was the first time we met Ian.
But that’s an aside. Back up at Chamon, the path becomes more made up, concreted in parts as it is used as a road by nearby farmsteads and homes, though there are few, and in other parts is just sand, washed away by recent rains and showing pits and holes and boulders. We stopped now and then to admire the wildlife, chaffinches, ravens and coal tits, apparently.
It’s a beautiful place up there, with trees on the further hillside, and on this side of the valley, views across and up to Kokkimides, and towards the sea (not that you can see it) and the cliffs above St George. Peaceful, warm in the sun when it appeared through the clouds and with nothing but fresh air scented with herbs.
We haven’t come very far today, tomorrow’s post will be a bit longer as we get into some archaeology (i.e. guesswork on my part) and have a look around an ancient mystery. Meanwhile, in real time on Symi, we’ve been having more grey skies, storms, rain, winds, but some warm weather, and there’s no great news to report.
