Happy Christmas! A large handful of colourful postcards from the Mani Peninsula taken in Spring 2019, bringing back a kaleidoscope of memories from one of the loveliest places on the planet.
Tag: Agios Dimitrios
Muddy puddles and red-rumped swallows
The puddles outside Agios Dimitrios are wet mud; perfect for swallows, red-rumped swallows and house martins to gather material for their nests. The energy and tenacity of pairs is relentless; it is a small theatre of iridescent blue until the plump house sparrows come down to drink.
Early April on the Mani
There are days of blue sky and cool winds and others where the land is drenched by great thunderstorms or smothered by blankets of grey cloud that creep over the mountains to slowly suffocate the coast. The sea is often blue glass and sunsets a simple wash of orange; under grey skies there is often…
The storm
The storm arrived from the north; the evening before was uncommonly humid and the cloud crept heavy over the hills. In the night, the wind got up and the rain threw itself down. The next day was equally ferocious with periods of drowning rain and the wind coming through in great gusts; it refused to…
Agios Dimitrios to Trachila
Trachila is a small fishing village, virtually empty in March at the end of the road from Agios Dimitrios. The narrow road runs under great cliffs and past olive groves and coastal scrub and was only recently constructed so access was previously only by boat. It is a place of wide views across the sea…
Mani Olive Groves
Below the village of Platsos, a sheepdog escorts her flock up the track and moves the herd off to let an olive pruner’s car pass. Passers by are few and are barked at as sheep watch on carefully. The endless olive trees cover the flat ground as well as the shallow slopes where ancient terraces…