That photo is taken from above the lovely and very remote village of Apollonas, in the far north of Naxos. A more laid-back and unspoilt part of Greece it would be difficult to imagine. I’ve been trawling through thousands of my old photos taken during our time living in Greece (2005 – the present), initially with the intention of selling some on a few photo-library websites but instead, as you can probably imagine, I’ve been getting lost in reveries of experiences enjoyed whilst visiting all these amazing places.

So, with this post I thought I’d mention some fairly innocuous stuff about home this past week or so, and then begin what may become a series in which I dig out some of my favourite photos from some of the beautiful places we’ve had the privilege of visiting here in this quite remarkable, nay, astounding country, during all the years that we’ve been blessed to live here (despite the flaming bureaucracy!).

Firstly, though, here are a couple of tips that you might just not know about. OK, so if you already do, sorry, and maybe you might want to skip a couple of paragraphs. The first concerns how to keep biting insects from off your exposed flesh, since Greece seems to be well stocked with such little perishers. The ones that cause the most misery are almost invisible and I think that a lot of people believe that they’ve been bitten by a mosquito, when actually it’s more likely to have been a ‘no-see-um’ or, as I also call them, a ‘flying full-stop.’ These little pests fly straight through mosquito nets, they’re that small. So, if, like us, you like to sleep with the windows open and the moonlight gently caressing your flesh as you sleep, the mozzie nets will be no help. You’ll awake to find little raised blotches all over the place, and they’ll be itching like hell. They don’t do any lasting harm, but I’m one of those people they seem to make a beeline for and I often end up with a dozen or so bites, including in parts I’d rather not mention.

Now, if you do discover that you’ve been ‘got,’ as it were, the best thing to ease the itching is the quite marvellous Lane’s Tea Tree Oil and Witch Hazel Cream, also called (for some inexplicable reason) Teangi. I always keep a few tubes of the stuff in, and as soon as I get bitten I rub it into the bite. Within minutes the itching is gone. But, “prevention is better than cure” I hear you cry, and I agree. That’s why I want to mention this…

Above: That’s one of two lemon geranium plants that we have in our garden. Frankly, it’s an essential and you really ought to not be without it if you live here. All you need to do, whenever you’re going to be outside for a while, is to pick a leaf or two, bruise it between your fingers, then rub the ‘juice’ liberally along your exposed flesh. It’s fairly common knowledge that citronella deters insects, and this stuff smells exactly like that. It’s not an unpleasant smell, rather like strong lemon of course, hence the plant’s name. Whenever the better half or I go out to do some gardening, or even to sit and have a drink, we rub the leaves all over us and, voila, no insect bites. In fact flying insects (all kinds) will give you a wide berth once they detect it on you. It’s 100% natural and costs nothing once you have the plant established in your garden. Now, I realise that this will apply more to people who live here than to holidaymakers, but you will see lemon geraniums all over the place, often in pots, as locals know all about its properties. So why not ‘borrow’ a leaf or two as you pass by, bruise it between your fingers and apply it right then and there. Lots of Greeks even use it to make a refreshing natural lemon-flavoured drink in the summer too, by the way.

Tip number 2. Take a look at this really dull photograph…

Now, you may well have seen that people will put a water receptacle on the end of the pipes leading from their air-con units, right? The one above is outside on the floor below the outdoor unit whose indoor unit we have in our lounge. Did you know that this water is to all intents and purposes ‘distilled?’ It’s been harvested from the moisture in the air and thus is free of the minerals that a lot of Greece’s tap water is pretty packed with. Incidentally, a sub-tip here: How do you keep the taps in your bathroom and kitchen from becoming dull with all the minerals left on them when the water evaporates? It’s simply a matter of remembering to wipe them with a towel or soft cloth each time you finish using them. If you don’t leave water on the surface of a tap then it won’t evaporate and leave all that limescale. The taps in our house are as clean and shiny as the day they were fitted. I picked that tip up from Tom, our old neighbour on Rhodes, who gets a lot of mentions in A Plethora of Posts, chapter 21. What about the water you’ve harvested from the air-con unit then? Most people have sealed batteries on their cars these days, but if you don’t, then you can use it to top up the battery fluid but, primarily, what I do is use it to top up the screen-wash bottle. Using tap water in there soon clogs up the jets and they’re a devil of a job to clean once they get clogged from inside with salts from the water. If you top up your screen-wash bottle with this water, it’ll give you a nice clean windscreen and not clog up your jets, and there’s nothing worse than having your jets clogged, that’s what I always say.

Oh, and you can use it in your steam iron too. Nearly forgot that!

There you go. Just maybe those tips (plus the extra one thrown in for free) might just be new to you.

The village is quiet at the moment, apart from the deafening chirping of the cicadas that is. We’re into the hottest two months of the year now and the forecast is for a heatwave this coming weekend. After the spring we experienced this year though, there’s no way I’m going to complain about the heat. Manolis is now walking around permanently with a walking frame, but he still gets about just the same, bless him. He shuffles over to the kafeneion to sit with Heraklis, then along to Angla’i’a’s for another coffee and a brief session of putting the world to rights. Of course, the hot topic this past few weeks has been the general election, after the second round of which the ruling party (New Democracy) of sitting Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis ended up with 158 of the 300 seats in the Greek parliament. Thus they get another four years. We try very hard not to get into such discussions, because, well, basically, whatever you say you can’t win! What is notable, though, is how our neighbours can often be diametrically opposed politically, yet still don’t fall out in any nasty way, so that’s good. Everything’s solved by an elliniko anyway, eh?

Photos, yes, that was it, favourite shots from the past 17 years. Here are some more…

Above: All of these are taken on Naxos.

Above: Three from Halki, which has to be one of my top five favourite places anywhere in Greece. The 4th is from part-way up the Kali strata, on Symi, looking down on the impossibly pretty harbour area.

Above: All on Patmos, which has to be up there with Halki as one of my top 5 in Greece. What is it exactly about rickety taverna tables and chairs right beside the sea? Whatever it is, I’m suffering from it and there’s no cure.

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