The Holy Trinity Chapel

801_9506 [Holy Trinity Chapel]

This beautiful little chapel, found at a height of 600 meters on Mt Parnitha, is located in an environmentally privileged area and constitutes a highlight of Ippokrateios Politeia: A community of 1000 people lives permanently there in more than 600 houses. This chapel occasionally hosts under its roof believers from this community and certainly constitutes a highlight for crowds of visitors who come here in search of natural beauty.


The interior

801_9525 [Holy Trinity, the interior]

IMHO, the view of the interior is rather disappointing. It stands between simplicity and … lack of interest. It would be nice, I think, to see some changes for the better some time.


A structure nearby

801_9511 [Holy Trinity, a structure nearby]

Opposite the entrance to the chapel - only a few meters away - one can see an elegant little structure that offers fresh water to the passers-by. If close enough, they can read an inscription on its face that reads:

“ΝΙΨΟΝΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑΜΗΜΟΝΑΝΟΨΙΝ”

It’s a Greek phrase that can be read from left to right or from right to left and means:
“Wash off your sins. Don't wash your face only”.


All photographed on Mt. Parnitha on April 30, 2015

Please click on the pictures for a better view.

 

Sternbergia lutea

803_5617 [Sternbergia lutea]

Photographed on Mt. Hymittos on October 16, 2019

301_3969 [Sternbergia lutea]

Photographed at Grammatiko on October 15, 2008

Beauty in Simplicity

IMG_5633 [Beauty in Simplicity]

This little chapel is dedicated to St. Nicholas who is considered by the Greeks to be the patron saint of all seamen. It stands on a cliff near the port of Rafina and overlooks all ships moving in and out day and night.
See picture below.

Photographed at Rafina on May 29, 2018

[Rafina - Myconos!]

Photographed at Rafina on August 21, 2016

Colchicum bivonae

803_5438 [Colchicum bivonae]

803_5437 [Colchicum bivonae]

803_5486 [Colchicum bivonae]

302_1967 [Colchicum bivonae]

An early flowering colchicum: end of August to early November.
Beautiful, poisonous, cup-like, attracts your attention even from a distance. My favorite.


All photographed on Mt. Parnitha on September 27, 2019

For a n older post with a slide show of bivonae please click HERE.

“Men in Black”

IMG_3519 [Men in Black]

I was going up in a glass elevator to explore the Niarchos building in Athens when the people in black outside attracted my attention. They reminded me of the film “Men in Black”. Not having a camera with me, I immediately raised my mobile phone.

Photographed in Athens on April 23, 2017

Alectoris chukar

803_4567 [Alectoris chukar]

 Photographed on Mt. Hymittos on April 11, 2019

Colchicum lingulatum

803_5316 [Colchicum lingulatum]


Photographed on Mt. Parnitha on September 08, 2019

Posidonia oceanica

IMG_3538 [Posidonia oceanica]

Photographed at Schinias on April 26, 2017

This strange hairy ball attracted my attention on the beach, very close to the water but I had no idea what it was.
There were tens of it relatively close one to the other – I have also seen piles of it elsewhere - something that made my curiosity grow.
 

803_1425 [Posidonia oceanica]

Photographed at Schinias on May 03, 2018

Thanks to my friend RK – who often functions as my inexhaustible database of information – I've learned that these curious brown balls are made of fibrous material that comes from dead leaves that surround the rhizomes of Posidonia oceanica: a plant that forms large underwater meadows [see photo below] along the Mediterranean coastline and is considered to play an important role in maintaining the marine ecosystem heathy. The dead leaves are continuously drifted by the sea waves until they take a round or oval shape and are eventually washed up on the shore. Thank you RK!


 

   Photo: Courtesy of Rena Karakatsani

By the way,
did you know that Posidonia oceanica was originally a land plant and that, even though it lives in the sea today, it develops roots and has flowers, fruits and seeds?
I didn’t!!!