Home Free Me: February 2016

Athens - Evia Island - Athens - Styra

At the end of January, we said our farewell to Athens. It was a nice and warm day for a winter in Greece. As the ferry arrived in Nea Styra, we were picked up by our host and taken to a little village called Styra, where we plan to live for a month. In a little quaint house, where the previous owner seem to have a large interest in churches, we drop our backpacks and make ourselves home. We have longed for the peace and quiet and the serenity of the country side. A breath of relief as I inhale the freshness of the air of this little village that's surrounded by mountains.

Styra, Evia Island, Greece, our current home.

After spending the first week of January in Athens, we rented a car and went for a road trip from Athens, middle of Evia island and along the coast, through the mountains to the north side where Edipsos was the place we aimed to be. Edipsos is a town where there is hotwaterspring coming out of the mountain and running down to the sea. We went down the beach where the hotwaterspring falls from a big rock. The feeling standing under the water fall was incredible, where the lower part of the body is chilled by the coldness of the sea and the upperside is extremely warmed up by the hotness of the hotwaterspring.

First night of our roadtrip in Dikastika, mainland Greece.

Along the road through mountains in Evia Island

Hotwater spring water fall on the beach, Edipsos, Evia Island

North of Edipsos watching the sunset, Evia Island

While staying in Edipsos for a couple of nights, we found some time to look for an eco community called 'Free and Real', which we were extremely interested to witness and experience how the community works without money. Unfortunately the village is not active during winter. But the experiences and views we went through looking for the village was amazing.

On the way to Steni mountain to get some fresh water passing the beautiful dancing flow of Starlings, opening up like curtains as we pass by.

On our way up the mountain, Evia Island

Curious about a cave north of Edipsos, Evia Island

On our way south heading towards Athens, we passed Chalkida and headed further south where we ended up in Eritria and went in to a small island and an abandoned place called Island of Dreams. As we were looking around the area, we heard little dogs whining and barking. The sound came from a little church and all these little cute puppies were lining up against the gate trying to get our attention. There were 11 of them and we fell in love with them, so we stayed two nights there. While camping there, we also took the opportunity to visit Steni, where the taste of the fresh water coming out of the mountain is dense and sweet. It was one of the best tasting water I've had.

On the way south of Evia I

On the Island of Dreams, with Fluffwuff. SO CUTE!

Snow White, Panda, Fluffy, Beige and Jamie in Island of Dreams, Evia.

Leaving the dogs behind was really sad. I really wish we can take them with us, especially Fluffy and Fluffwuff who were the smallest and fluffiest ones amongst the others. Yes, we named everyone. Nosey, Mama San, Snow White, Beige, Jamie, Cersei, Panda, Caramel and Chocolate. After a week of living in the small car, we came back to Athens and stayed there for 2 weeks, taking the opportunity to meet up with my friend who I met from my last trip in Sevilla, Spain, as well as visiting Platonos Akademia. Our host also took us on top of the marble mine hill where the old marble road heading to Acropolis began.