Damn American influence

So it's Halloween and my neighbours are busy preparing for the evening's onslaught by laying in baskets full of goodies and decorating their houses in an effort to placate the night's callers.

Happy Halloween - Ba! Humbug!

 It all looks so innocent doesn't it?

Pumpkins - Bloody Americans, what ever happened to Turnips?

Time was a time when Halloween actually meant something here in Britain, especially to those from the non-mainstream religions. Over the last 25 to 30 years the whole thing has become so American influenced a once quiet night of innocent fun has turned into a nightmare event for the old, the lonely or the nervous thanks to gangs of marauding kids roaming the streets screaming and shouting, banging on people's doors (I use the term 'kids' lightly).

I'm particularly pissed off by the wilful damage wreaked upon the householder when the Trick or Treaters don't get what they want and that's increasing money, not sweets. No I'm not talking about the odd egg or a handful of flour thrown as a trick, I'm talking about smashed windows, broken wing mirrors and scratched paintwork, uprooted plants and shrubs, broken bottles and tortured pets. If it was up to me the whole Halloween nonsense would be banned! Of course that's just wishful thinking on my part.

I refuse to get involved. Bang on my door at your peril!

This is the only pumpkin I'd put outside my front door

Making use of that extra hour

So here in the UK we've departed from British Summer Time and returned Greenwich Mean Time, this means the clocks went back one hour at 02:00 today. For most people this is a godsend because they get an extra hour in bed, for me it's an additional nightmare since it means I have an extra hour of insomnia... oh well, more time to stooge the Internet then.

As it turns out it was a lovely morning here so after an early breakfast we hopped in the car and headed for the coast to give Tilly a bit of beach time.

Ogmore to Porthcawl panorama

We parked beside the River Ewenny at Ogmore-by-Sea and walked down to the beach. Bizarrely, for a dog that hates water, Tilly loves the beach. I think it's because the sand has so many different textures and there are always so many things to sniff and explore.

Me and My Shadow hit the beach

As usual Tilly's first reaction on the beach is to stand and stare, after all a dog's got to check out the opposition and see if there's any available talent in the offing.

Checking for other Doggy scent

Then the sniffing starts. First thing to check are other dog prints.

Can I go play now?

Then I get the big brown eyes and the unspoken question, it's obvious to me she wants to go and play and is just asking permission.

While Tilly is off doing her things I do a little exploring of my own, there is always something of interest to find on a beach. In shallow water beside some rocks I spot my first victim... he's a Rag Worm that has been uprooted, probably by some marauding seagull. He's damaged, but is still alive.

At around 15 inches he's quite a big fella with a pale belly and greenish upper side.

Having photographed him I returned him to a section of quiet, shallow water with a sandy bottom. A few minutes later he was busy burrowing into the sand. I doubt he'll survive, but at least I gave him a fighting chance.

I took a few other images while Tilly was playing and may or may not share them at some stage. Here's one of the River Ewenny flowing down to the sea at Ogmore, which I hope you'll enjoy.

River Ewenny at Ogmore

Autumn Leaves & Dying Eyes

So it seems I may have Glaucoma... that's a bit of a shit really. My optician seems fairly certain I have damage to the optic nerve in both eyes and has referred me to a specialist. I'll know more in the fulness of time no doubt.

The good news is, I'm told the condition is treatable.

The bad news is, I'm told I may end up going blind.

Life is full of little surprises it seems. Perhaps best to enjoy the colours of Autumn while I still can just in case...

Early Christian cemetery

There's an early Christian cemetery on the outskirts of Pythagorion (on the Chora road) that was built adjacent to and on top of an archaic Sanctuary of Artemis. As you may know Artemis was goddess of the hunt and I find it interesting the early Christians would choose this site for a cemetery.

Early Christian cemetery

Since the very early Christians were persecuted and even hunted I suppose it's kind of apt a site used to worship the huntress was adapted by their descendants.

Like a lot of ancient sites in Greece information about these remains was sparse to say the least. A lady at the museum in Pythagorio told me the site dated to the 2^nd century AD.

Burial Chambers

These are some of the burial chambers.

Burial Chamber

Inside one of the chambers

Some of the stonemasonry and brickwork is in remarkably good condition even if it is hard to determine exactly what was what.

Sadly very little of the ancient Sanctuary of Artemis remains visible. There are a couple of broken columns, but any outline of the buildings are mostly covered in vegetation.

Another Rusty Usky moment

Came across a Rusty Usky object on my morning walk with Tilly today...

I grant you it's a little larger than my usual Rusty Usky objects, but I think it qualifies.

Somehow I can't imagine this old combine ever working again... looking at it it brought the late Adge Cutler to mind.

Potami Waterfalls, Karlovasi, Samos

There's a mountain behind the beach at Potami and somewhere up on the high ground near the town of Leka you can find a fresh water spring, which feeds the small river that gives life to the Potami Waterfalls.

The walk up the valley to the start of the falls isn't exactly hard, but it certainly isn't suitable for anyone with limited mobility and here's a tip: wear clothing and footwear you're happy to get wet.

The pathway soon gives way to a dirt track and you'll have to negotiate tree roots and boulders as you go.

It's a green and leafy walk, the shade giving pleasant relief on a hot day, especially with the sound of the water making its way downstream.

You'll soon find yourself between steep-sided rocky cliffs and I was reminded of the last time I explored a river valley, the magnificent Almbachklamm in Bavaria; not an obvious comparison.

I was surprised at how small the river was in its lower reaches although bizarrely it becomes wider and deeper as you progress up the valley.

Don't be mislead when you come to the first of the small waterfalls, these are not the attraction!

You need to cross back and forth over the river several times. Wooden bridges are provided, although some of the crossmembers are not secured care must be taken unless you prefer to paddle through the stream.

I was amused by the pile of cut branches, are they there so visitors can make temporary repairs to the bridges?

Keep an eye open too for life in the river. There are plenty of small fish to look at, but also in some of the quieter pools you'll find these:

Fresh water crab

Something else you may notice are visitors who have been to the falls before removing outerwear and stashing bags of kit among the trees for retrieval on their return.

There's no doubting that swimwear and beach-shoes are the outfit of choice since once you reach the steps leading to Taverna Archontissa you'll have to wade up the river.

Rickety Steps

We were told the river water was ice-cold, but in fact I found it pleasingly cool. Also you're told the water is never more than waist deep, but that kind of depends on how tall you are!

Something else to note, the water is opaque and there are some hidden rocks you'll have to negotiate. They are smooth and slippery so watch your step.

I saw one chap miss his footing and take a dunking, I don't think it did his camera much good!

Don't be surprised if you find fish nibbling at any loose skin on your legs, especially if you have any scratches or open cuts.

One of the things to do is take a shower under the first fall. This chap said the water was freezing!

Not everyone agreed. This guy kept asking for the soap.

Sadly this was as far as we could go up the valley. To progress to the next waterfall you have to climb up and over the first one, which I was not prepared to do. There are three more waterfalls above this one and we were told you used to be able to access them by climbing the steps to Taverna Archontissa then taking the footpath down the cliff, but due to a landslip the pathway was now closed.

Tunnel of Eupalinos - an ancient feat of engineering magnificence

The Tunnel of Eupalinos is without doubt one of the greatest engineering achievements of ancient times. It is also known as the Eupalinian Aqueduct and is a water tunnel some 1,036 meters (4,000 feet) long, excavated through a mountain on the Greek island of Samos.

The tunnel was dug through solid limestone by two separate teams advancing in a straight line from both ends, using only picks, hammers, and chisels in the 6^th century BC. This would have been a prodigious feat of manual labour in any case, but the incredible thing is when the two sets of tunnellers met they were less that 20 centimetres off line! No one knows for certain how they achieved this since no written records exist. We must bear in mind when the tunnel was dug, the Greeks had no magnetic compass, no surveying instruments, no topographic maps, nor even much written mathematics at their disposal. Simply incredible.

Tunnel of Eupalinos

The Tunnel of Eupalinos provided fresh drinking water to the ancient City of Samos, modern Pythagorio until the 7^th century AD when it seems to have fallen into disuse.

For more information on this amazing achievement please visit Tunnel of Eupalinos.

Ancient Theatre of Samos

I recently blogged the world's largest Hellenistic theatre, the Grand Theatre of Ephesus, an amazingly huge theatre capable of entertaining 25,000 patrons. The Theatre of Samos, built in the 4^th century BC is also ancient and Hellenistic, but it is not on the same scale as Ephesus.

The remains of the Theatre of Samos stand within 150 metres of the Tunnel of Eupalinos and approximately 100 metres below the Monastery of Spilani, which overlooks the modern city of Pythagorio (site of the ancient city of Samos).

Like the Grand Theatre, the Theatre of Samos consisted of an orchestra (performance space where chorus actors danced and sang), the skene (where actors could change their costumes) and a kilon (the amphitheatre space where spectators could sit or stand).

Theatre of Samos

Today very little of the theatre remains, just a stage, the skene and one tier of seats, but with a little imagination one can see the importance of this monument.

Tiered seating

Interestingly the theatre is still being used and musical concerts, Greek drama and other performances are held there. I'm somewhat saddened however to note the pouring of concrete over the kilon and the embedding of supports for wooden bench seating.

The skene with modern stage above

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any effort being made to preserve the remains of the ancient structure. As someone with a keen interest in history and archeology I find that somewhat deplorable, especially since the theatre was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1992.

Pylons supporting the modern stage showing damage to the skene

I do hope steps are taken to preserve what is left of the ancient theatre, it would be such a shame to lose it.

Thank goodness for memories

It's only been 18 days, but already this seems like half a lifetime ago...

Pythagorio harbour at night

Walking around the harbour at Pythagorio was such a fun thing to do...

A few of the waterside eateries

There are so many interesting places to stop for food and such a variety of cuisines to choose from.

Waterside watering-holes

And of course there are quite a number of bars where you can whet your whistle with anything from water to highly decorative alcoholic cocktails. I quite liked Barfly... they played my kind of music and served excellent freshly squeezed orange juice. 😀

I enjoyed Samos more than I expected to and sitting here now watching the miserable UK weather through the lounge window I rather wish I was back there!