Last night we popped into the Sunrise Kafeneion and ended up there for the big series of 30+ explosions that went off around midnight, along with fireworks displays around the island. Listen to the racket here.
Red egg conker-type contests and Easter biscuits all round after Christos Anesti (Christ is risen) greetings.
Came back to the apartment afterwards - about 1 am we got an invitation from our landlord, Frank Taxiarchis, to come and share their traditional Lenten-fast-ending Easter breakfast. Also there were fellow guests, Alan and Julie - Alan snapped me tucking into a tasty bowl of mayeritsa i.e. lamb offal soup (I'd left my phone back in our apartment) - and lots of family and friends dropping in all the way up to 2 pm when I made my thanks and crawled into bed.
Today started off earlier than I would have wanted after such a late night, but - fortified by my soup - I was up not long after 8. Just in time to smell the barbecue being lit by Frank to cook the two lambs and koukouretsi (more offal warpped in intestines and roasted in foil on the spit). Later on, he called me to show off his handiwork just before a massive peal of church bells (no explosions at that stage of the day - just some firecrackers the young boys had not yet used up).
The morning unfolded with our glorious view still in warm sunshine (34º forecast today).
Haven't seen this type of thistle before - pretty flowers.
Lots of spiders' webs on the way to the Pontikastro, including over this barbed wire.
More pretty flowers.
We heard a couple of big explosions from above Yialos, and saw the clouds from them afterwards. The explosions persisted into the evening, but finally seemed to have stopped!
Thyme in flower - the insects love it.
Pretty thistles underfoot.
The setting sun provided a breathtaking vista.
Another explosion - this one on the Panormitis road.
After we came back to the apartment we went for a wander round the Horio, stopping at Mandeio's.
I liked the contradiction between the slogan and the temperature reading on the fridge.
Approaching the gyros shop, with a cat on watch for potential tidbits.
This day a year ago, we arrived in Molivos on Lesbos, and enjoyed the sunset down by the harbour.
Around 1.30, we were summoned to eat the barbecue, again with family, friends and other guests. It was a feast indeed with tzatziki, spinakopita, beer, lemon potatoes and lots of lamb followed by Easter biscuits, more beer and a birthday cake for the baker from the shop by the bridge in Yialos (whose birthday was actually on 3rd November).
We eventually got up from the table about 3.45 and staggered back to the apartment for a coffee and a siesta on my part. By early evening , it had cooled down and we went for a walk up by the windmills and the Pontikastro. Passed this ruin overlooking Yialos on the way.
Su's news story of the day (BBC website - click on the title for the full story):
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