Making my way

Selene

nobody@vox.com(Mela Amara) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:24:15 +0300

For the August Full Moon Festival, I went to Sounio to watch the moon rise, this month being the time the moon is closest to the earth. Many ancient sites across Greece were open for the event, including the Acropolis, but I knew that would be over full to bursting and opted for something outside of Athens. Sounio was quite crowded so my friends and I found a near-deserted beach with a view of the rising moon and Sounio.

Cape Sounion

The full moon (looking tiny) and Cape Sounion

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Πελοπόνησος - Part IV

nobody@vox.com(Mela Amara) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:45:54 +0300

Quite possibly the most beautiful chapel I've ever seen; Panagia Plataniotissa, where the chapel of the same name is tucked inside the naturally formed hollow of a large plane tree, which is part of a strange squiggle of three others that grew together over time. The chapel can fit ten (or fifteen, or twenty, depending on where you read it) people for mass, which is still held on a regular basis. This chapel was awe-inspiringly beautiful, which my words cannot even begin to describe.

The entrance to the chapel.

Inside the chapel.

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Πελοπόνησος - Part III

nobody@vox.com(Mela Amara) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:33:48 +0300

Our next camping site wasn't quite as scenic, but it was still beautiful, set beside a tiny out-of-the-way chapel, near Ancient Lousi and a Temple of Artemis. There was plenty of wildlife though - lizards, grasshoppers, etc. Thankfully I didn't see any big spiders.

The Chapel with No Name.

I cannot describe the sheer size of these mountains.

Sunset over Kalavryta.

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Πελοπόνησος - Part II

nobody@vox.com(Mela Amara) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:25:12 +0300

The views from where we camped on the first night were amazing. We had a mesh roof on the tent, so we could lie in our sleeping bags and watch the stars - I even saw two shooting stars! The views were amazing, night or day, it didn't matter.

We did have to battle goats to get there.

View to the left of our campsite.

View to the right of our campsite.

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Πελοπόνησος - Part I

nobody@vox.com(Mela Amara) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:16:57 +0300

Last week I went on a short tour of Northern Peloponnese, mostly in the Achaea region. One thing I'll say about this area is you will never be short of a chapel to pray in, or in my case, camp by. Over the four days we covered many mountains and saw dozens of chapels and churches, some of which were incredibly beautiful, one in particular, but I'll get to that later.

The first of many chapels, near Evrostina.

Chapel panorama, which we camped by.

Peloponnese panorama - mountains, lots of them.

St George basilica, near Evrostina.

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Athens by Night

nobody@vox.com(Mela Amara) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:59:05 +0300

Taken from Pendeli

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Αθήνα

nobody@vox.com(Mela Amara) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:47:28 +0300

Πλάκα

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Edinburgh II

nobody@vox.com(Mela Amara) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:40:53 +0300

Panorama

Night shot of a church

Cemetery, with the Castle in the background

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Edinburgh

nobody@vox.com(Mela Amara) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:48:11 +0300

I've been kept busy with work and there hadn't been the opportunity to go travelling, however my partner had a week long business trip to Edinburgh lined up and was happy for me to tag along. I love this city, I have many happy memories of what I think is one of the most beautiful places in Europe.

The view of Edinburgh from The Mound

The view from our apartment

View from North Bridge

The Fountain, with the Castle in the background

I had plenty of free time to wander around the city by myself, catch up with friends, drink decent pints of Guinness in one of the few remain traditional pubs, drink cocktails until the wee hours, I ate my first Steak & Guinness pie, sit in the gardens with coffee and watch the world go by. It was a wonderful holiday, returning me to the UK without the claustrophobic blur of London.

Already, I can't wait to return.

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Beach

nobody@vox.com(Mela Amara) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:24:46 +0200

Before going to Charmeana, I spent the morning sitting on the beach...

Looking towards Itea

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