A difficult road to Damouhari and Paradise!
By Helen Grubner. Filed in Uncategorized |
Made my final descent from the pagoda to Damouhari beach
Thursday in Makrinitsa I spent quietly, perhaps unknowingly building up courage and strength to help me on the road yesterday. Farewelled Hotel Achilles at 0930 hours, purchased a hortopita (pastry filled with delicious greens) from the bakery next door, then set off slowly down the road to await my bus, which duly arrived on time at 1045 hours. By 1130 hours I was back in the Bus Station of Volos, with a temperature of 34 degrees C and a two hour wait for the bus to Tsagarada.
I had not anticipated a journey of such duration, heading firstly down the West coast as far as Kala Nera, then a left turn along another twisting, winding, mountain road through olive groves, apple orchards and forests, eventually arriving in Tsagarada around 1530 hours. Fortunately, I had scored the front seat, meaning my eyes could follow the contours of the road and this definitely helps equilibrium. With a smoking, talking-on-his-mobile-while-driving ‘species’ of driver, is it any wonder there are a few near misses!
Tsagarada, where I had intended to stay, is made up of four separate areas and very sprawling. I left the bus at Agios Paraskevi where in the Square, there is a 1,000 year old plane tree, possibly the oldest in the world. Not long after my arrival, I spoke with a lady, also from New Zealand, however, she had a very English accent, having left Dunedin some years’ ago. I tried to help her to find where it was she needed to go, however, I figured Anilio was some distance away and that whoever had told her to get off the bus where she did, had completely put her wrong. I hope that she eventually made her way to the retreat she was looking for. Gave her my card with website address so if you should be reading this, you may like to email me or leave a comment – I would be interested to hear how you made it to Anilio.
Loyal readers and followers may remember that at the end of my last blog, I wrote about probably moving on to Tsagarada, with beaches of the Aegean Sea in easy reach (well, they are not) or perhaps to one of those beaches. As my search for a room in Tsagarada was proving difficult, I saw a sign and a walking track to Damouhari. A passerby told me walking there would take me about an hour. I decided I wanted to go there and I believed I had time. The path was one of those old cobble-stoned ones, great whilst it lasted but unfortunately, as so often seems to have been the case, I arrived at the end with no clear direction of where to from there. I could see the Aegean far, far away, below the mountain and cliffs I was descending, however, with no sign of a settlement or indication of where I should go. So, with visions of sleeping out under a tree or on a beach somewhere, I carried on, eventually sighting a man of whom I asked the question, if I take this dirt road, will it lead me to Damouhari? He was a visitor to the area and did not know. He summoned a lady from the house who bought me a glass of cold water and told me yes, that road will take you to Damouhari, about 15 minutes walk!
Past experience told me it would take me much longer and in fact, it was about 30 minutes before, there in the distance below, the sight of a beach and the village of Damouhari – Eureka! – I had found where I wanted to go. Descending the stone-cobbled path was better than any gym workout. I was feeling so hot, my clothes were wet and the sweat was dripping from my body on to the stones. I was thinking to myself, who will want to rent me a room when I am looking so dreadful?
Part II “Arrival and first night in Damouhari” to follow.