More Hiking Pictures

Just some photos from a hike I took a couple of weeks ago into the hills to the west of Kastelli. I haven't viewed the town and the gulf from this vantage point yet, so it was a nice, new perspective.

I found a great footpath that led straight up to the top of a decent ridge, although coming back down on the loose gravel was a bit of a bitch. I also found tons of wild sage growing along the path, and stopped to have a quick chat with a shepherd who was driving the flock in the picture down the opposite hill.

I went back last week in the hopes of picking a bunch of the sage, but the bees got there before I did and I wasn't in the mood to see if I could take it from them without getting stung.

My plan last week was to try to hike over the top of the ridge and eventually find a way down to the other side, on the road to Falarsana. However, the bees made me nervous, their angry attempts to dive bomb me reminded me of my trip to Gramvousa when I was attacked and stung by several of them, and I finally decided to just get the hell off the mountainside and back to town as quickly as possible. Not wanting to backtrack down the path, I followed the footpath off to the left, in the hopes of eventually meeting up with the paved road that I could see across the valley. And eventually I did, but not before having to walk by a hillside covered with man-made bee hives. I could see the air traffic getting heavy as I approached, so I took my long-sleeved jacket with hood out of my pack and put it on, covering up as much of myself as I could, just in case.

Alas, I escaped unharmed and have decided that I will no longer hike into the hills at mid-day, since that seems to be when the bees are most active.