Say goodbye to Syros

Our final few days on Syros passed in a bit of a blur. On a few afternoons I went out on my own to do a bit of photography – tramping about the hills shooting big landscapes and small flowers. While we've been on the island, the hunting season has been under way – rifle cracks echo around the hills on a fairly regular basis. Apparently, they're shooting the little migratory birds that are stopping off on their way to Africa. On one of my wanders I managed to take some long-distance shots of a hunter decked out in camo gear with his girlfriend, in tracky dacks and a fluoro-pink backpack - following dutifully behind. 

That same afternoon, as I was heading home, I spotted a big, all-too-tempting piece of black rubber lying flat beside the road – the herpetologist in me immediately identified it as a potential snake home. And it was! Curled up underneath was a gorgeous little viper. Of course, I wasn't properly kitted out for photography, but I managed to get a few decent shots. I went back a few days later and turned the rubber over again and it was still there, allowing me to get a much better series of pics.

By now, Johannes was returning the favour to Yannis, helping him to harvest his olives, and I spent a few hours over a couple of days helping out too, which enabled me to get a few nice olive pics (and a collection of tired muscles).

We also had a few social occasions to attend – coffee and cake with a British ex-pat called Sandy, who has a house with a huge terrace and amazing view over Kini and the beach, and a sumptuous lunch with Flora and her landlords (and their dogs and cats...). And we had dinner at the only taverna still open on the beach, where a helpful Greek-speaking Welshman translated for the waitress – the restaurant had a menu in English, but she couldn't back-translate them (we had to order the 'split peas just married' – and very nice it was, too). We chatted to him afterwards and he quickly identified us the Australians looking after Jacky's place.