This is what holidays are all about - a late breakfast on the beach! 

Today we're going to explore Kamares a bit more and decide to walk along the bay path past Agia Marina to Agia Ekaterini.  We decide not to climb the 2000 steps up to Agia Marina in the midday sun but decide to do it one evening instead. 

 The little church at Agia Ekaterini is wonderful. It seems to be surrounded by a small monastery complex. We think we are completely alone but it appears that this monastery buildings surrounding the church has visitors.  They appear to be packing to leave so we continue to explore (despite their efforts to ignore us!).  The church is so photogenic from any angle.  Painted white steps lead down to the sea edge.

 After our brief exploration of the area we take a slow walk back.  Before we reach Agia Marina we stop to watch an oil tanker come into port.  It is completely fascinating to watch the furore of activity that ensues when a large vessel comes into port.

We spend a lazy afternoon on the beach at Kamares.  Despite being backed by a dense bamboo wall, the small narrow beach is still subject to the wind which is still making its presence felt.  The sea is still cold but Peter braves the waves and goes for a swim - too chilly for me!

We eventually head back to Pension Morfeus  to get showered and changed before heading out for our evening meal and stroll around the port.  First things first - we take the path that leads up above the port to see if we can catch a good view of the sunset.  Not the most romantic setting - we end up at the water treatment plant - nonetheless a great vantage point for the sunset!

This evening we eat at taverna Captain Andreas which is next to the Captains Bar on the beach at Kamares (and just a short walk from Morfeus).  I can categorically state that these are the best dolmades I have  ever tasted!  I have meatballs and Peter has  lamb in lemon sauce.  This is finished with  lovely spoon sweets (glykó tou koutalioú) -this time lemon.

After a stroll along the beach, back to Pension Morfeus which is so pretty at night.

From what we have deduced - most buses depart from the islands capital Apollonia so we catch the first bus up there.

First stop for breakfast is the cafe in Hotel Anthousa and Patisserie right in the centre of the town.  Before we leave we given a biscuit each from the patisserie.

We follow the path out of the village to Pano Petali.

The path continues on to the village of Artemenos where we stop in the pretty square for a cup of tea.  We can smell the freshly baked produce coming from the nearby bakery.  The pottery chimney pots are really something!

We continue down an almost deserted road towards the windmill which now provides accommodation for tourists.  

It is a bit overcast today but that doesn't detract from the amazing view of neighbouring islands.  I'm sure the islands we can see are Anti Paros, Paros, Naxos and maybe even a bit of Sikinos and Ios (pushing it a bit!).  I don't think I have ever seen so many islands from one vantage point like this before - it was pretty amazing!  

From here we can also see the village of Poulati

It is very hard to resist to keep on walking to keep discovering what is around the corner.  We do keep on walking along the coastal road until the road almost grinds to a halt.  Down below we can see what we think is the Kastro but it looks so far away.  To get to it we need to start walking through farmland and down winding paths that look quite labyrinthine from where we are standing.  Peter goes on ahead to explore and I wander around photographing the wildlife!

So close and yet so far - but we decide to call it a day anyway.  We head back through the same little villages again in reverse.

As we pass through Pano Petali again, an elderly lady waves her arms to Peter to attract his attention.  She beckons him to climb the steps to her little balcony and through gestures asks him to unpeg her washing from the washing line (like being at home eh Peter!).