Amanda had suggested that for our final afternoon we take a drive round to the other side of the island and have lunch at a taverna there, so after we'd done the midday muck-out we piled into the van and set off in a direction we'd never ventured in before. I sometimes wonder if we should have explored the area more while we were there, but we were always so hot and tired in the afternoons that it never seemed feasible. Just around the first corner I discovered there was a taverna at the end of the road which had been practically in sight the whole time, but I'd been so happy in my bubble I hadn't thought to go looking for anything else nearby.
Amanda's partner Stathis is an artist and the town's sign-painter; on the way to the taverna, Amanda took us to an art and ceramics place where there were beautiful statues hidden in amongst the shrubbery. The statue pictured above was by Stathis; he'd never sculpted before he was asked to produce something for them but he managed to carve this incredible Skyrian out of the rock.
We arrived at the taverna. It was in such a beautiful place, nestled in the trees on top of a hill. An evil eye looked out from one of the stairs leading up to it. We sat under a canopy at the very edge, looking out at the landscape. The boy who took our order was one of Amanda's English pupils - everyone on Skyros seems to know each other. We ordered a load of different dishes but the boy brought us extra dishes as well. The food was delicious and the flies had almost stopped bothering me (almost). After we'd eaten as much as we could handle we were brought rice pudding, on the house.
I don't think I will ever be able to forget this rice pudding... goat's milk with cinnamon sprinkled on top. Ben ate his practically in one mouthful. Just... yum.
After our meal we headed down to a nearby beach. It was so stunning... the huge waves, the islands, and we set off exploring the hills beside the beach.
I thought this huge rock out to sea looked like a horse emerging from the water. But I did have horses on the brain.
This beach is the way I'll always remember my first experience of Greece. For a lazy hour or so we stood in the water, sat on the cliffs and wandered through the shrubbery. The whole time I was debating the likelihood of Amanda allowing me to adopt Orfeas. (She did.)
After we returned to the farm, I was walking across the yard with Amanda when she said "Oh my God. Artemis has had a foal."
And it was true. Artemis, who wasn't supposed to be due until the end of the summer, had a tiny little foal at her feet. She looked pretty rough from lying in the dirt and having suddenly lost a huge portion of her body but she had a foal! We got to work putting up a fence in the straw field so that they could have some privacy - they were currently rooming with two stallions. In the end though we moved them to the school for the night as it was quite late by the time the fence was up and Amanda didn't want to disturb the neighbours by bringing them through to the back - the other horses would have been pretty noisy in greeting the new arrival. Amanda wanted to get a headcollar on Artemis before the morning so that she'd definitely be able to catch her the next day, as she'd get pretty aggressive in defence of her foal once she regained her strength, so I spent the evening, even after it became dark, sitting in the arena with the tiniest foal I'd ever seen and his cautious mother, feeding them pony nuts.
Then we all cooked up some toast and boiled eggs and had a very late dinner. In the morning, we said our goodbyes and headed to the airport. Because of the recent vote in Greece everyone had returned to their hometowns, so strangely enough the tiny airport was packed and we even panicked we wouldn't make our flight (but we did, of course).
Farewell, Greece. I'll be back next summer - you can't get rid of me that easily.
P.S. Congratulations to Amanda and Stathis because The Katseralias-Simpson Project will soon be a registered charity, The Skyros Horse Trust!
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