LEISURELY WALKSPhotographs
FOUNTAIN HOUSE WALK
0.5 hours

  • Starting from The Ark, you can walk to the east down the steep crazy paved road to the ancient fountain house situated next to a huge plane tree. It is the perfect place to sit and talk. As one visitor said: "The nature and mountains inspire thought, meditation and discussion."
  • Or you can get an introduction to old village paths by following the path below the grounds to the west as far as the first house. This is built around a huge "rock oak" tree and is traversed by a lower path.
  • To the east, this lower path is initially edged by a concrete wall before it turns sharply down the hillside towards the pumping station. At this junction you will continue to the east until the pathu emerges at the fountainv.
  • Your return journey up the crazy paved road, past the old school housew, can include a visit to the village graveyardx and the C13 - 14 Byzantine church of The Dormition of the Virginy. Here you can admire the frescos and, in Greek Orthodox tradition, light a candle in memory of a loved one. Candles are available, although it is customary to leave a euro or two.
  • In the evening, you will also see candles flickering in glassed compartments inset into marble headstones.z These will have been lit by family and friends although many light oil lamps or charcoal pellets doused with incense.
  • You will be struck by the dates on the headstones which reveal the longevity of the lives of interned villagers - many lived well into their nineties. Usually, they are buried in rented graves before they are exhumed and their bones are collapsed into a metal container about the size of a shoe box. The 'shoe boxes' are stored in the communal ossuary{ in the furthermost corner of the graveyard. It is a place of sanctuary, but some walkers cannot resist a peak.
Fountain house walk

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