Again, an undisturbed night’s sleep, and all the beaches in Chios town face the dawn. Another early morning swim – and shower – this one had a sign up on it saying “Don’t use soap or shampoo”. Aw, spoilsports.
I had been missing wildlife spotting on Chios – e.g. I haven’t seen any lizards since I got here. Well! I saw two this morning: One scuttled off over the rocks and looked like a gecko. The other tiny one was trying to hide in my tent – it was a good thing I spotted him as I was folding it up, or he probably would have been toast.
Cycled around town and found the main post office – a batch of postcards and small presents sent. There will be people I have overlooked – to whom I apologise and you might get a card at a later date. Rest assured that the cards I did manage to send were all crumpled and creased from having this laptop crammed down on top of them. Whoops.
Riding out towards Karfas, through Chios town backstreets, I spot a small place advertisting “hand-made woven crafts’. It’s a small place packed with a few four-shaft floor looms, all warped up with fine linen thread. Various damask like patterns result – most plain cloth, some with small amounts colour judiciously added. Two women were working – one, called Marianna weaving, the other, called Anna, embroidering a large square of plain linen cloth that had been woven with a check pattern. She was embroidering the checks with flowers, using cross stitch. Neither of them could speak English, but we did a fine job of communicating with photographs and demonstrations of weaving, embroidery, knitting, spinning. Marianna could spin as well as weave. I was very pleased to meet them both – a short, but pleasant interlude.
Karfas was a bit of a disappointment, but as I expected, from reading the internet reviews. It a typical beach resort full of some very luxurious hotels and apartments, alongside restaurants with expensive price tags. The beach is sandy – so that’s probably why it’s so popular with the tourists.
There were several unfinished buildings, so I slept on the balcony of one - with a fabulous view of the coast and the dawn. It will be a very nice apartment when it’s done!
I had been missing wildlife spotting on Chios – e.g. I haven’t seen any lizards since I got here. Well! I saw two this morning: One scuttled off over the rocks and looked like a gecko. The other tiny one was trying to hide in my tent – it was a good thing I spotted him as I was folding it up, or he probably would have been toast.
Cycled around town and found the main post office – a batch of postcards and small presents sent. There will be people I have overlooked – to whom I apologise and you might get a card at a later date. Rest assured that the cards I did manage to send were all crumpled and creased from having this laptop crammed down on top of them. Whoops.
Riding out towards Karfas, through Chios town backstreets, I spot a small place advertisting “hand-made woven crafts’. It’s a small place packed with a few four-shaft floor looms, all warped up with fine linen thread. Various damask like patterns result – most plain cloth, some with small amounts colour judiciously added. Two women were working – one, called Marianna weaving, the other, called Anna, embroidering a large square of plain linen cloth that had been woven with a check pattern. She was embroidering the checks with flowers, using cross stitch. Neither of them could speak English, but we did a fine job of communicating with photographs and demonstrations of weaving, embroidery, knitting, spinning. Marianna could spin as well as weave. I was very pleased to meet them both – a short, but pleasant interlude.
Karfas was a bit of a disappointment, but as I expected, from reading the internet reviews. It a typical beach resort full of some very luxurious hotels and apartments, alongside restaurants with expensive price tags. The beach is sandy – so that’s probably why it’s so popular with the tourists.
There were several unfinished buildings, so I slept on the balcony of one - with a fabulous view of the coast and the dawn. It will be a very nice apartment when it’s done!
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