Another completely unexpected & magical day! Had my online Greek class this morning & I must concede I felt much more confident about stringing together sentences. Obviously immersive learning works!
Once class finished I decided to go down to the front for a coffee & to explore Πέτρα old town. Maria offered to show me the way up to the Church on the hill so off we trooped. On the way she pointed out the old mansion, now a museum which we will visit together another day. We stopped in at 16th century Church of St Nicholas which still has frescos intact on the walls. Absolutely incredible to see the frescos still so vibrant after 400+ years. The ones on display are the second layer of frescos & underneath is an even older layer which have not been exposed as the risk of destroying both layers is too great to take.
The colours & details are fantastic, it’s almost too hard to comprehend. It’s quite a big church so there is a lot of detail that I can’t show & these are just a couple of friezes. It looks fairly unassuming from the outside & whilst I would have entered without Maria, she is a wealth of knowledge & I’m grateful for her insight.
Once we parted ways I headed further into the heart of the village to climb the 114 steps up to the Church of Panagia Glykofilousa, Our Lady of the Sweet Kiss. It’s under renovation & has been for a number of years, so whilst it’s open there is scaffolding up, inside & outside with tents of plastic protecting some areas of the inside. The views across the village are quite something & it was a lovely place to sit & eat my bakery lunch in the sunshine.
It was whilst eating lunch that I met Debbie, an English woman who is travelling the world solo aboard her 11 metre yacht! We chatted for about an hour & swapped numbers before she headed into the village & I explored the church. Whilst a little chaotic inside it’s a beautiful building & very ornate. There is a little graveyard outside & smaller outbuildings, gardens & a water fountain. I suppose back in the day the clergy would live on site? How’s this for a chandelier?!
I spent the next 2 hours wandering around Petra old town & words cannot do it justice. It is one of the most beautiful villages I’ve ever seen. Old buildings, well tended little courtyards & gardens, cobbled alleyways, cats, flowers & beautiful gates & doors, all overlooked by the Church which sits high atop the 40m meteoron (suspended rock) & gives the whole place a feeling of peace & tranquility. Unlike Molyvos (of wisteria fame) Petra is flat & it’s easy to get lost in the maze of alleyways. If, however, one looks up there is the Church & depending on which side you are facing you can find your way back to the sea front. This is the library, it wasn’t open but I’m here for a while so hopefully I get a chance to look around inside.
There are quite a few abandoned buildings & some for sale. I think if you were prepared to live at a slower pace, with less amenities than a big town has to offer, Petra would be a wonderful place to live. It’s got quaintness galore & the climate is pretty good, the beach is lovely & there is enough of a population to keep things interesting!
Of course in such a small place Debbie & I kept running into each other! We decided that today was the best day for me to go & meet her boat ‘Nikaia’ an 11 metre beauty built in Sweden. I don’t know anything about boats but I could see that this was a beautiful craft. The outer deck is teak with a large sail & a swimming platform on the back which Debbie has modified to accommodate her dinghy. Inside Nikaia is like the Tardis with 2 cabins for sleeping, a galley & kitchen & the head. It’s all beautifully appointed & fitted out with warm hued scandi wood.
I stayed for a cup of earl grey & a good old natter about life on the high seas! I was fascinated with the idea of living alone in such a confined yet peaceful environment, but as Debbie pointed out it’s not always so calm & there have been some hairy moments. She does the majority of the upkeep of Nikaia herself & is clearly a very independent & self-sufficient woman. She courageously had a dip in the ocean whilst I was there, her daily ‘shower’, a braver woman than I!!
I left her to it, she’s off out to dinner tonight with another friend & made my way back into the village. Stopping at the mini-market I took a slow wander around the few aisles & tested out my Greek reading skills, bloody hard to decipher where the tuna was caught! Of course it got busy just as I was about to pay & test out my skills so I quickly handed over 10 euros & walked back to my apartment. I passed these elderly chaps on the way playing backgammon outside the tavern, what better way to pass the time?
I’m home alone tonight as Maria & Aris have gone to their other residence to take delivery of some goods tomorrow. I made my tuna salad, cracked open my Άλφα beer, stuck the telly on & settled in for the evening. I can hear the church bells ringing & there is a dog barking somewhere in the distance. All is well at the Paradise ranch as I turn in with my book & a cup of tea in bed. Greek bliss, I could get very used to this 🩵