Cow bells jingle and echo among the mountains. High bells returned by resounding resonance. Wind blows the music around as it plays amongst the trees and rocks. The folds of mountain and hill in the distance become the waveform of the bells as they dangle and jangle and clink and toll. In the distance, the music is muted by the …
From Kardamyli, heading off up a road away from the bookshop, we began towards the Taygetos. We knew we would not go far; our plan was only for five kilometres, barely traversing the main plateau between sea and mountain’s foot. After a few bends in the road, our walking path climbed up into the terraces of olive trees painted across …
When I visit a new city, I like to make my way to the highest point I can—tower, hill, rooftop, whatever—and just take a look around, thinking ‘this whole city is at my fingertips, where shall I go to next?’
I sit above a taverna in Karavostasi, a small collection of buildings and houses in a bay at a breaking point in the formidable Taygetus just north of Areopolis. The hills flanking the bay drop steep down to the water. I remember the approach: coming down from the attacking peaks of the north, the new folds of mountains and hills …