Folegandros

 

 

Even though we had not booked beforehand, we managed to get ourselves a great apartment at 'Folegandros Apartments'  a place I would definitely recommend to anyone going to the island: the accommodation is excellent, the service outstanding and they really do try to fulfill your every need: to give an example, they even provide people with umbrellas to take to the beach as there is no shade on the island's beaches.

The whole of the upstairs in this picture was our apartment: bedroom on the left, sitting room/kitchen on the right, and two balconies, one for the mornings and one for the afternoons, depending on where the sun was. We had breakfast on the balcony in the picture

and this was our view

this was the view from our second balcony

and this.

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We stayed in the Hora, which translates as 'the capital' - a word that is used only in the islands and in all of the islands - so that there are innumerable Horas and in most cases you do not know the real name of the place as they are all just called the Hora.

The Hora in Folegandros is very small and is perched on top of the mountain. It has kept its traditional flavour and is totally unspoilt. There is a big square in the middle which is where the buses drop you off. At one end of the square there is a ledge and when you go and look over

this is what you see

 zooming in.

This is the view to the right and if you look at the right hand side, inside the shadow on the water you will see a white dot: that is a boat and it gives you an idea of the scale and the drop

you can see the boat more clearly now that I have zoomed in

this is the view on the left hand side - it looks like an aerial shot, does it not?

The white line below the horizon is mist, an unusual occurrence in Greece in the summer and this is why I took this photograph

and this is what the sea looked like on Monday at dusk when it was very still and calm. It literally was the calm before the storm because by 3:00 in the morning the winds were raging. What I really love about this scene is the patterns the currents make on the water.


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On the other side of the square the pedestrian area starts which is a series of squares (four, if I remember right), forming the centre of the Hora and that's about it. The whole place turns into a series of eateries at night.

In the centre of the first square, is the sterna, which originally would have been filled with water and would have been the centre of life in the village: everyone would come here to collect water, the women to do the washing, the men to water the animals, and more generally to chat and to gossip.

A lot of villages used to have these, and what you also always find is a platanos, a sycamore tree that provides excellent shade.

Today, all around the sterna is an excellent kafeneion/cafeteria and this is where we sat on our first morning where we had a drink and enjoyed the wonderful shade of the sycamore.

The first square also has two churches next to each other

both almost identical.

This third church, in the second square has been allowed to fall into ruins and has not been whitewashed

one of the tavernas in the third square at night

and another one.

Finally, Hora's most distinguishing feature, the church on the hill and the path that snakes up to it

I took these photographs at dusk and the hills are rosy/golden from the sunset.