greece is the word

 

Chapter 2. 20th~22nd June

It seems over the top to write up the Greek butterflying holiday in three parts but there is just so much material. And I struggle with editing or throwing stuff out. Six thousand images and videos was condensed to around five or six hundred and I don't like to post more than 200 per blog. I realise people aren't that interested in every detail - it is more a debriefing for my own reflection; a talking cure.

I did wonder if such incredible scenery and butterflies would ruin the enjoyment I get from the comparatively modest amount of Scottish lepidoptera. While it does not bare comparison, I still enjoyed a day out chasing stuff here (since I returned) and being outdoors. It does put some of it in perspective though. But so does looking at the UK Butterflies group on facebook and seeing species arrive earlier down South than we get them here, and in greater numbers and diversity. It's not like I wasn't aware of this before the holiday.

And it was absolutely tremendous to see some of those English butterflies and more exotic specimens in Greece. I will probably try to do some kind of summary at the end of chapter 3 but first we have to get through another few days of standing around in meadows and on dirt trails under a blazing hot sun looking for absolute beauties!

the Gymnasium at Delphi - (did not take out membership, lol)
a brief stop to admire this before moving on to the main archaeological site

We started this amazing day doing the archaeological sites near to where we were staying in Delphi. (Which is an amazingly pretty town on the side of a hill.) Hardly worth hopping aboard the wagon to travel a few hundred yards round the corner! I have to say my historical knowledge of things ancient Greek is slim-to-none and my interest, only mild. I enjoyed the site mainly because it was really good for butterflies and birds, and was nestled beneath a massive mountainous terrain, more than the historical info that was travelling in one ear and, to an extent, out the other. A few names and descriptions rang bells but if you want to know more look it up on the internet rather expect much in the way of guidebook accuracy here. Nick and Paul were far more captivated by the historical side of things, as was Sotiris, our knowledgeable guide.

I thought this was a purple hairstreak
but obsidentify thinks otherwise (blue-spot hairstreak?)

There were these quite large moths (above) everywhere. They looked to me like large underwings, possibly yellow underwings. They would come and go at all times of the day while trying to avoid the camera. The couple of shots I did take, obsidentify calls different things: but tends to keep them in the Catocala species - underwings.

Right from getting out the van we saw some pretty amazing stuff. The main archaeology site at Delphi doesn't seem to have a snappy common name. I have been googling and it seems....

The Archaeological Site of Delphi, nestled on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, as revered by the ancients as the "navel of the world". The sprawling UNESCO World Heritage Centre complex contains the Sanctuary of Apollo, the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, a monumental stadium, and an ancient theater. 

The main archaeological area is divided into two ancient sanctuaries. Key highlights to explore include: 

• Sanctuary of Apollo: Ascend the Sacred Way, which is flanked by the remnants of ancient city-state treasuries and votive monuments. This path leads to the majestic foundations of the Temple of Apollo, once home to the Oracle of Delphi and the Pythia priestess. 
• The Ancient Theater: Located uphill from the Temple of Apollo, this 4th-century BC theater offered space for dramatic and musical contests during the Pythian Games and seats over 5,000 spectators. 
• The Stadium: Situated at the highest point of the archaeological site, it hosted the renowned athletic events of the Pythian Games. 
• Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia: Located just south of the main road, this area features the iconic circular Tholos (built circa 380–360 BC) alongside treasuries and the gymnasium. 
• Archaeological Museum of Delphi: Located at the site entrance, it houses priceless artifacts excavated from the ruins, including the famous Charioteer of Delphi, the Sphinx of Naxos, and the statues of Kleobis and Biton.

More importantly these ^ amazing looking individuals are neither butterflies nor dragonflies but Nemoptera (either coa or sinuata). Commonly called Greek spoonwings or thread-wing lacewings, they have heads similar to the horse-like face of a scorpion fly. I found them fascinating. They are about medium+ butterfly size although the streamertails give them the feel of something larger. I was captivated and tried to take photos to reflect their elegance.

shieldbugs (Mustha spinosula?)

Freyer's Grayling

Balkan marbled white and accessory beetle in similar colourways

Moorish Gecko

rock nuthatch

this cleopatra wasn't for stopping
so I had to take an in-flight shot

the Temple of Apollo

this 9-shot panorama of the place gives an idea
of the steep gradient and surrounding mountain-scape
(taken with DJI Pocket)

there is a real atmosphere of scale and grandeur

 - good job to whoever earmarked this site for a temple build!
(allegedly Zeus.)

The place is amazing. Even if, like me, you are a historical ignoramus, it is worth a visit for the sheer grandeur and atmosphere of the place. It was thought of as the bellybutton (Omphalos) of the world. Apparently Zeus, who gets the credit for the blueprints, released 2 eagles at the ends of the earth and they met here. A stone, the Omphalos, marks the spot. A copy is there to photograph and is unremarkable, looking like a giant spinning top (inverted cone) or a plug for a carafe. So unremarkable I haven't even posted a photo of it here although of course I took plenty. Sotiris was very knowledgeable about all the myths and archaeology and related details. Sorry to say I was more distracted by the wildlife of which there was plenty. But great for visual dynamics / scenery.

one of the local goldenring dragonflies
obsidentify suggests sombre goldenring - it never sat still for a photo

Also of note (historically speaking) was the famous Oracle of Delphi. The role of Pythia changed hands regularly and there is a ton of interesting stuff on the internet you can look up. This oracle chewed laurel leaves and snorted the fumes from an underground stream (which explains the painting in the reception area of our hotel) which may or may not have induced hallucinatory visions. These metaphorical visions were interpreted by the priests. One of the things I liked most about this is the three maxims on a forecourt column to the temple which say...

Know thyself, 
Nothing to excess,
Surety brings ruin.

Now that I can get on board with, and should be guidance for every sentient soul on the planet. Sadly those three mottos, particularly the last, are rarely paid the heed they deserve. Top advice and timeless wisdom though.

mallow skipper

migrant locust
(obsidentify says Egyptian grasshopper)

eastern black-eared wheatear

those ubiquitous moths
(obsidentify says Kermes yellow underwing this time)

black-tailed skimmer

turpentine tree, pistachia terebinthus

Turpentine tree, Wikipedia: In Crete, where the plant is called tsikoudia, it is used to flavor the local variety of pomace brandy, also called tsikoudia. In the Northern Sporades the shoots are used as a vegetable (called tsitsíravla). The plant is rich in tannins and resinous substances and was used for its aromatic and medicinal properties in classical Greece. A mild sweet scented gum can be produced from the bark, and galls often found on the plant are used for tanning leather. A triterpene has been extracted from these galls. In Turkey, it is known as menengiç or bıttım. A coffee-like beverage, Kurdish coffee or menengiç kahvesi, is made from the roasted fruit, and a soap is made from the oil. Terebinth resin was used as a wine preservative in the entire ancient Near East, as proven by many findings in areas such as the foot of the Zagros Mountains and Middle Bronze Age Galilee.

best shot I got of a nemoptera spoonwing

It took quite a while to get that shot of the spoonwing on the way back down the hill. As a result the group had descended quite a way and I had to scan the path far below to see them. Through the long lens they appear close by. I enjoyed jogging down to catch up.

This Eastern bath white was also a difficult specimen as it kept moving. Mary and I had noticed it was a very fine specimen and I really wanted a photo. I chased it in and around the tourists posing for selfies and draping themselves around the ruins (of other tourists.) Eventually it landed on this flower for a fraction of a second and I shot off a number of frames with only this one a movement-free shot among many.

I'm telling you this just in case it looks like everything posed perfectly and there was no problem recording all these wonderful species. Often there was a ten minute chase, and half the time the shot was not forthcoming. However, having far more specimens to chase means far more butterflies and shots landed. I don't think I have mentioned there were loads of butterflies for much of the time and it was an absolute delight to see so many. Not quite shooting fish in a barrel, and still a challenge to get close to a resting or feeding individual, but the general feel for me was that there were about ten times the number of butterflies we get on average in Scotland. And of many more species. Plus the sun was shining. 😎 It was fantastic, in case I haven't mentioned that. And every day had some really great moments!

grass jewel

Now this was a good example of a lovely tiny butterfly. (Europe's smallest?) Around the size of a (Scottish) small blue it was tricky to find and photograph and we didn't get great shots of it going up the hill. Liz was a big fan of this species and had, from day 1, expressed a wish to see them. She had gone through past reports and knew the likeliest places to see them, which included this site at Delphi (the only place we saw them.) She spent quite a while on her knees taking photos beside the spot where a couple of them flew. Mary and I joined her on the way back down the hill, to take a few shots. And sure enough, it is, as the label suggests, a grass jewel. 

very small but pretty

After a fascinating but hot hike up and down the hill, we met Rachael for the first time, who is also a Greenwings employee. She came along on several of the trips with us and was great for giving us a slightly more objective view of the local countryside, customs and habits, as she didn't grow up here but now lives outside Athens. Also she is married to Sotiris! Mary and I both noticed her on point earrings.

cicadetta montana

Then it was off to yet another amazing place - a high alpine type meadow (1500m) full of flowers which of course attracted butterflies. It was lush and green and there was no sense it was higher than the summit of Ben Nevis. (Maybe if we'd had to cycle there!) It started with Sotiris fetching a grass snake out from a swampy puddle. It was a thing of maximum beauty and I got to hold it! What an introduction to a site. I was chuffed to bits. 

When he passed it to Paul, the latter enquired was he positive it was not a venomous snake? Sotiris replied with a poker face that now he saw it from a bit of a distance he could not be certain... and we all laughed. The blue eyes apparently tell you it is about to shed its skin. First time I have held a snake not in captivity. Delighted!

Natrix sp.

my hands - photo, Mary

more heath fritillary joy

black-veined white

A shout went up of large tortoiseshell.
There is a bit of a stir about large tortoiseshells which are becoming regulars in parts of England. Some are migrants and some are possibly being introduced by people who don't want to wait any longer for their return and are in a hurry to have them locally. I largely don't pay attention to the controversy although we did have a Scottish record recently - a very worn one turned up near the borders. 

Having never seen one I hadn't appreciated their size. I thought they'd be a shade larger than a small tortoiseshell and as such I was pleased we had the better looking of the two in Scotland. Populations of the small tort seem to be in steep decline in England but in the Lothians they still appear in reasonable if smaller numbers than before.

Then I saw this large tortoiseshell. Wow! It was huge! And being in fabulous condition you nearly needed sunglasses to look directly at those giant orange wings. What you don't get from a photo is the size and radiance. I was instantly an LT fanboy! We only saw a couple of them all week. I'd rate this one as one of the best butterflies we saw. A belter!

BTW Sotiris had a charming mis-pronounciation of tortoiseshell as turtleshell! And Swallowtails were sallowtails I seem to remember.  

bush cricket (female)

Rachael was off to one side studying some very green bushes. She had found some bush crickets which were exactly the same colour as the bushes and grasses they were among. And when you looked closer there was another, oh and another. In fact loads, and all contained around this one small area. I loved the crickets and also it made me realise I was most likely walking blindly past loads of interesting creatures most of the time.

bush cricket (male)

heath fritillary

common blue (?)

h-b h-m

We only saw humming-bird hawk-moths twice in Greece. This one landed and I was disappointed it didn't hang around for more photos when it took off again. The other one, at the monastery, not that much better. Within days of returning from this holiday I got decent slo-mo footage of one locally in Edinburgh, which shows not everything in Greece was bigger or better. (Even though much was!)

black-veined white next to a mustard coloured weevil

wall (brown)

Adonis blue

Adonis blue

There were some amazing groupings of blues in a nearly dried up stream. Mud-puddling and looking for minerals, but huddled together in groups. When they flew it was a magical thing.

sooty copper

sooty copper

cleopatra (or brimstone maybe)

We were at the top of the valley near a miniature church no larger than a shed or one car garage when Liz shouted out that she'd seen something large. Initially she'd thought silver washed fritillary but then corrected that to Cardinal. They are similar in that they are both large with black patterns on a warm background. Larger than anything in Scotland. I hurried over and we followed the butterfly as it made a couple of stops but hurried between them as if to frustrate our attempts to keep an eye on it. I think we lost it, then found it again - Paul, Nick, Liz and myself running about back and forth near the small church.

Cardinal!

With some very fine luck it settled just in front of where I was, and slowly twirled nicely on clover (or similar) while I shot many stills and some video. The video better shows the amazing sheen on its uppers which flashes from mustard to shades of green and blue.

All the budget has been spent on the upper wings with the underwing a little unimpressive (with only a watermelon-red patch of interest, which gives the butterfly its name) compared to some other fritillaries (love the Queen of Spain underwing for instance) although as a thing, it easily outshines everything you'd ever see in an art gallery. I attributed a swagger to it that I'm not sure was really there. Maybe the relaxed large strokes it made through the air with those giant oars.

It seemed to be one half of a pair, with the other entertaining Mary and Rachael from a tree in front of them. I raced between the two fantastic specimens greedy to get as many photos as possible. They were the only cardinals we saw all week but I was happy with the footage and stills I hastily shot.

not the most impressive undersides

take off

video, cardinal 120 fps slo-mo
soundtrack: A New Start by Oliver Henry

common wall lizard

pearl-bordered fritillary

sooty copper

On the return to the van we saw dozens of blues sitting on damp earth patches in huddles. When you walked near them and they took off in such numbers, it was quite the sight. The difficulty was encouraging them to do that without getting in the way of the camera while trying to film flocks of them flying. It was an amazing last scene of a day of truly amazing sights. Hand on heart, one of the best days out butterflying ever!

slo-mo video clips of blues

soundtrack: Postcards for the Backyard by Neighborhood Libraries

~the next day~

How can you follow a day like that? Well, right from the start the house martins outside our bathroom window were getting the chicks ready to launch themselves out the nest. Then, when I went to breakfast at the incredible open air breakfast terrace looking out over the valley and hills at the back of the hotel, I heard a hoopoe calling. It is not a hard call to recognise and gives the birds their onomatopoeic names. Unfortunately the breakfast chat slightly mars my video of the beautiful morning scene - I had sprinted upstairs to our room to get my good camera as I'd seen the hoopoe on the telephone pole wires way below the hotel. When I got back I started filming but had to stop as I needed to have a few deep breathes when the sprint caught up with me; then (once breath caught) continued to film the bird hoopoo-ing away softly. It was the only hoopoe footage I've got from Greece and I was sorry we didn't have any further close encounters. (Nor saw anything of the bee-eaters Sotiris said may be possible.) I know it looks quite close but it was not - that's the long lens making it look closer.

breakfast hoopoe

various video clips - hoopoe, rock nuthatch, grass snake,

bush cricket, pincer-tail dragonfly

lots of house martins on other lines

We came across these swallow chicks in a nest when we stopped for a break on the way to the next hotel. It was a couple of hours drive although the landscape was interesting (including crossing the Rio-Antirrio Bridge) and the drive did not drag. 

On the way to the second hotel in Kalavryta, where we would spend the remainder of the holiday we stopped off at an amazing gorge or canyon. The small gauge railway was not running due to a recent landslip. However the landscape was awesome and Sotiris had brought us here to see the large and impressive two tailed pasha. He had brought a tupperware box of mashed ripe banana and alcohol to put out to attract the butterflies down from high in the trees. 

violet carpenter bee - one of the largest bees in Europe
with violet purple colours particularly on wings in bright sunshine

Southern white admiral

This was our first encounter of many with the Southern white admiral. These are the same size or a little smaller than red admirals but fly with a flat outstretched wing glide (between wingbeats) that is unique. They can look more like dragonflies as they fly directly towards you. They have beautiful underwings and the ones we saw were a bit reluctant to open their wings while basking on a leaf. Their uppers are mainly a dark purple black with a white pattern across them, not quite as jazzy as the undersides, but still a dynamic visual. One of the main reasons I am drawn to butterflies is their likeness to miniature works of art. They are almost all perfectly designed and would work as paintings or graphic logos.

the nearest I got to a sneaky peak at the upper wings

A short way up the canyon we came across a pair of two-tailed pashas. They are a much bigger specimen and their underwings are (as Mary pointed out) quite aztec in flavour. Again the uppers less so, almost reminding me of the camberwell beauty uppers - a solid dark colour with a lighter border all the way round. They would fly like large jet planes and you generally didn't need a second glance to know which species they were. One of them (the larger female (wingspans 75mm to 90mm) was in good condition, the smaller (male?) was a bit more battered and had lost some of his tails.

They were mainly interested in this fig tree. (I never saw them once visit the mashed bananas and checked a couple of times.) They would sit on or near figs and looked like they accessed nutrition from the bottom of the fruit (as above.) While they weren't being terribly helpful for photos, often staying quite high up the tree, they were posing well enough to get a few shots. I think this was the only encounter over the week, so a good call to seek them out here. We continued up the high-walled gorge and really enjoyed bumping into a few unlikely odds and ends. Nothing with the spectacle of the pashas or admirals but fascinating insects nonetheless.

robber fly with a moth
obsidentify says Machimus intermedius

huge antlion (Palpares sp?)

catchy name of Acrometopa servillea macropoda

I think it was Paul who spotted this praying mantis. When asked early on what I hoped to see on this trip I expressed an interest in bugs and beasties and hoped to see my first ever praying mantis. The group remembered this (so touching!) and a shout went down the line that I should get up to the front of the queue! This was it! My first (and so far only) praying mantis. It was quite small (compared to what I imagined) and looked like a blade of grass fallen onto a rock until it got up and walked/skipped briskly across the rock. No slouch then. The whole area was in the shade of a rock or tree and so the photos weren't great; a bit gloomy. But a thrill to see one. I've probably walked past dozens given how cunningly they disappear into the undergrowth.

Curiously obsidentify suggests it is a Northern Crested Newt 40%, a grey seal 31% or a harbour seal 8%. That is the top photo. The lower photo gets Praying Mantis but only in third place with 8% certainty, Mantis religioso. If anyone knows a great european insect ID app do let me know. Richard is just back from a Greenwings butterflying holiday in Northern Italy and says the Swiss site (the unfortunately named) Lepido app, Papillons de Suisse is a great reference and will ID your photos. 

Sometime later: there is an app called Butterflies of Greece but I am having trouble installing it on my older iPhone. Or PC.

another antlion

small pincertail - Onychogomphus forcipatus

another SWA

PB on track
and enjoying the sunshine

Balkan marbled white

We then drove to a roadside field about the area of one and a half tennis courts that was full of good stuff, and loads of it. There were lots of flowers and very sharp, very jaggy lowlying shrubs. There were lots of places it was intolerable to try to kneel to get down to the right height to take photos. While there were some larger specimens blowing through like large whites, Balkan marbled whites and clouded yellows, most of the butterflies were smaller and included our introduction to the marvelous Grecian copper. This looks to be a neat light honey coloured butterfly with orange lunules on the underwings. It kept its wings closed much of the time we saw it. But when it then opens its wings to flit to the next plant along, it reveals a bright orange metallic upper than is blinding. An instant favourite, but how to capture the open wing shot?

Grecian copper - Lycaena ottomana

There is a function, a mode in Nikons, Olympuses, and Panasonics where you can ask the camera to record photos a second prior to pushing the shutter release. Liz, Paul and myself all went into this mode then sat waiting for these spectacular coppers to lift off. When the butterfly took off there was a studied silence as all tried to use what is called Pre-Burst mode on my Panasonic and something similar sounding on the other 2s cameras.

I have a history with this function so have had considerable practice. You have to set a super high shuttersspeed and try to hold the shutter-release down for only 20 pics but usually take twice that. 30 of which are of a stationary butterfly about to take off and 4 of it in different places flying across the screen before it exits the frame. You have to hope it has gone across the frame in the same focal plane and that it has opened its wings just as your camera was shooting random images of it. It is fairly hit and miss but a good deal easier than trying to anticipate the real time event. After a few near-misses I got several photos showing the upper wings of these amazing butterflies and it flew into a top ten spot of great butterflies we saw in Greece. Maybe even top five, even though it is no bigger than a hairstreak.

in flight - unfortunately they didn't pose like this

a pretty butterfly but only a fraction of the story
until they spread their wings and BOOM!

We would follow one of these magical coppers around until it flew or until it did that clever disappearing trick by somehow turning a sharp corner in the air and leaving your eyes following a ghost in the wrong direction. A shout would go up someone had found another one and we'd get in close waiting for it to take off again, fingers halfway down on the shutter release. It required considerable concentration on a hot day in a field where it was torture to try to kneel down on jaggy vegetation. But worth it for those shiny upper wing shots!

Take a break time: to photo a lovely slow hopper/cricket thingy
or even get it on a hand for Mary to take photos of. 

clouded yellows seemed easy by comparison

then back to the Grecian coppers

I did some chimping to see if I was actually getting the shots I hoped
I was, and saw this one which made the process worthwhile!
More luck than skill, or possibly aspects of both.

mallow skipper

meadow brown

Another ace venue to end the day's shooting. We drove a short distance to the hotel in Kalavryta where we had a welcome shower and change of clothes for dinner. The new room wasn't quite as magnificent as the one back in Delphi - impossible to compete with that view - but it was comfortable and had great air-conditioning which is pretty much all a body needs. I washed through some t-shirts and socks and hung them on the balcony before we went out for dinner at a local restaurant. I think they were all dry before we got back from another fantastic meal.

next day - 22-06-26

A small flowery meadow to start with. It was just beginning to wake up and the butterflies appear. A couple of large whites about the place. I came across a beautiful demoiselle that wasn't properly awake. Today's treasure hunt was a blue that was maybe endemic to the area. I'm not sure we found any but took a lot of photos of other blues that looked very similar!

wood white

brown argus

queen of spain fritillary

Zygaena carniolica

this grayling landed on Sotiris' arm

more bee-fly action

something like Mediterranean Hartwort

We had a very enjoyable trek up this trail which started high in the mountains and headed upwards. We went about quarter of a mile looking for specific Lycaenidae and while some were found, others were not.

this was something specific - can't remember what

I get easily distracted by ie large whites

and Eastern bath whites

dingy skipper

Mary of the mountains

codophila varia

not sure what species but I liked the background bug

Balkan marbled white

turquoise blue

obsidentify says Hungarian skipper

clouded yellow

returning to the van

Escher's blue?

brimstone

queen of spain fritillary - now THAT is how you do an underside!

obsidentify says Alpine zephyr blue

obsidentify says Safflower skipper 100%

a couple of days I opted for this huge pastry
filled with cheese, ham and tomato sauce - highly recommended!
Although my favourite lunch snack was spanakopita (spinach and feta)

everything stops for lunch!

white plume moth

There were 5 different sites we visited today - tricky to keep them all in mind and what was seen where. I got the feeling Sotiris felt things weren't happening in this one meadow the way he hoped they'd be. That we might have arrived ahead of some of the species he hoped we'd see. However there were a few delights including the tiny clearwing moth I'd never have noticed. Even using the macro lens I was struggling to get decent photos - it was so small. The first clearwing I've seen so I have no idea what the more common size is but I'm guessing its larger than this.

body-positive cleopatra

clearwing and shiny micro moth

very lovely, if tiny, clearwing
perhaps Chamaesphecia nigrifons

something else equally miniature than landed on my arm

holly blue (f)
Nice to see a familiar species although this is a terrible photo.

long-tailed blue

This was a particularly successful stretch of dirt trail and scrubland. Saw this LTB on the way along and on the way back. There were a few diverse species here and there. I came across these spurge moth caterpillars and they were large and highly coloured. There were several on the same plant and although I checked surrounding plants of the same species, no others had the caterpillars.

At the same time a scarce swallowtail settled and sat on a bush at eyelevel. Not only was it in perfect condition (often they have tears and chunks missing), but it posed perfectly for photos from all angles. I had kept my macro lens on after taking photos of the clearwing moth which worked well for the spurge moth cats and surprisingly the scarce swallowtail as well. The photos are among my best of the trip. Despite the name scarce I have seen these large impressive butterflies on several trips abroad but they have never sat so well for the camera.

sandy grizzled skipper?

spurge moth caterpillars

the long-tailed blue again - which seemed to be egg-laying

violet carpenter bee bog-snorkling in a thistle head

pair of clouded yellows mating

Spilostethus pandurus ?

Synaphe moldavica?

brimstone

brimstoners
Soundtrack: Go with the Flow by Uppermost

the only comma (apart from the Southern comma) I saw all week

On the way back to Kalavryta we stopped on the outskirts of town to pay our respects at the memorial there. On the 13th December 1943, the entire male population (over the age of 14) were executed by the machine guns of the German occupiers as an act of revenge against the Greek national resistance. This is the spot where it happened and you can't help but reflect on the passage of history and that such a thing seems so distant from our current peaceful and happy trip. But that such atrocities are happening at various places around the world. It is a memorial to humanity behaving at its worst and was almost impossible to comprehend such a terrible thing, while stood here nearly 83 years later. A sobering and desperately sad act of inhumane violence that deserves to be remembered for all time.

a particularly attractive local church in Kalavryta

a handsome beer label

(the final) chapter 3 to follow