Trip to Karitsa

An English friend of mine, who lived for over 30 years in Sparta, came for a holiday to Greece. She is staying in the village where her late husband is born, Karitsa, about an hour from Sparta. My friend Ina and me went to visit her yesterday. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. The trip goes through a valley, between two mountain ranges. The area is rocky and rough. We encountered quit e a few shepherds with their sheep or goats.

After Geraki we had to turn left and were looking for the sign. We passed Alepochori, which means village of the foxes, and realized we had missed the turn to Karitsa. Back again, we encountered a road with a sign: "Forbidden to hunt" . Now was this the right road or not? We carried on and arrived at the archeological site  of Geraki, where, luckily for us, there were three men working. They told us to go back again and about 2 km we would find the turn.We were indeed very lucky, because this site is closed most of the year. When we went back we met a couple, unloading crates and gear for olive picking. They told us that the sign that showed the direction to Karitsa had fallen down and the only sign now was....the hunting sign.

The village is high up in the mountains and has lovely views. You can even see the sea from there. To get to the sea you at least an hour by car! 

This is the view from my friend's house. In spring it is lovely with all the flowers and blossoms. Yesterday is was a bit barren and because the sky wasn't very clear it was difficult to make nice pictures of the mountains.

We went for a walk and saw some beautiful restored houses and of course old neglected ones. I love the outside ovens most of those houses have. The food, prepared in those, tastes delicious!








On the way back to Sparta, we saw the most beautiful sky! Above the Taygetos mountains dark clouds had gathered with the sun peeping through. Very impressive as you can see.

A lovely day!!!