Photographer: Silas
Early in my time in Greece and looking over the omnipresent olive trees and it's no exaggeration they're everywhere. Olives are so important to Greeks and the history goes all the way back to Greek gods when olive oil was regarded as part of the connection with them. That reverence for olive oil transferred to me and I regard it as magical to this day.
My thinking had been since I was completely screwed, my best move was to go somewhere as cool as possible for the rest of the game. It was far more than cool since there was a deep sense of spirituality from it and that continued as well. Greece remains one of my top favorite countries in the world and almost entirely due to the wonderful people.
Running into flocks of sheep around Katakolo wasn't uncommon and it charmed me every time. This isn't such a large flock so that makes it easier to pass by them but check out the ram who has swung out from the others to keep an eye on things. Passing them is no problem and the main thing is to show you pose no threat. That period driving between the sheep was special to me for the way humans and animals react in this circumstance and a history which must go back millennia.
The highway monuments here and there along Greek roads were mysterious at first since I wasn't entirely clear on their purpose but it's beautiful when you get it since these are built by individuals or families after one of their own is killed on the highway. Perhaps some see them as morbid but I saw these monuments showing a whole lot of love.
Even in Winter they come. It was unusual to see a small yacht docked so close to such an extraordinarily large vessel but such was the way of Katakolo. It was such a small town and yet the port had the capacity for docking five of these gigantic cruise ships. It was always a good time watching them dock and then watching as the passengers, possibly as many as a thousand, came into Katakolo. Colors had sprung up all along the main street the night before they arrived and it became something like Carnival as the passengers came off the ship.
The church was the biggest building in Katakolo but it didn't make an imposing presence over people. Spirituality with the Greeks is different from here since either your belief is Greek Orthodox or you're wrong but that's accepted and there's no contest about it.
It's the Church of Agios Nikolaos or Saint Nicholas, patron saint of Katakolo. If you ever have a chance to be in Greece for Easter, do try to be there. I celebrated that with my friends Harry and his family at a much smaller church in Agios Andreas which was. I'm not one for celebrating anything of this nature but that Midnight Mass in Agios Andreas was something I will remember and love for life.
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