When we arrived on Kefalonia in April 2016, the first thing we needed to do was find suitable dog walks. Of course living near the coast there was the promenade that leads from Sami all the way to Karavomylos. A lovely walk, but later on that year (around November time) we realised when we walked along the path near Karavomylos harbour and the football pitch, there was an horrendous smell. I'm talking so bad that you had to hold your breath while you walked past.
Just recently (as in November 2018) we have noticed the same smell when we come out of the house. Weird - this is the first time we have noticed the same smell as that at Karavomylos since we arrived two and a half years ago. A foul smell which I can't even begin to describe.
What's the link? Any ideas yet? The smell is in the photos below (so to speak).
Football pitch where Sami football club play - Ithaca in the distance on the left
Mark with Dixie from Donkey Trekking Kefalonia
The path leading into the valley near our house
The path leading into the valley near our house
It is in fact a tree. The Carob tree - Ceratonia siliqua is the scientific name which is derived from the Greek - Keras meaning 'horn' which refers to the shape of the seed pod and the Latin word Siliqua meaning 'pod' in other words - "Horny Pod"
Who would have thought that a tree could be so SMELLY!
When the trees blossom in autumn (November here), the male flowers release a foul strong smelling compound called Cadaverine. Cadaverine (as the name suggests) is normally produced when animal tissue dies but it's also produced in small quantities by living beings and is responsible for the distinctive odours of urine and semen! The flowers attract bees, wasps and flies and you can hear the hum when you pass the tree.
IT'S SO STINKY! - and we have one beside the house!
The leaves and flowers of the Carob tree
The lower branches of the Carob tree can touch the ground.
It definitely doesn't smell good when in flower but it does have its good points. It produces seed pods which are edible raw, straight from the tree. I have to admit I haven't tried one yet. They can also be used for cattle feed and I know our neighbours, the donkeys, love a carob seed pod or two as a treat, but the one product that most people associate with them is the Carob bar (the healthy alternative to the chocolate bar apparently), when the ripe dried pods are ground up and used as a substitute for cocoa powder.
The burning question is - does a Carob bar taste like a chocolate bar? Again I have no idea as I haven't tried one!
A Carob seed pod with the tree in the background
Have you noticed how uniform the seeds are?
Carob seeds from a pod
In ancient Greece and Rome, dry carob seeds provided a standardised weight for jewellery, which we now call the carat, the word carat possibly being derived from the name of the carob tree (Ceratonia).
The seeds within the pod are used in the production of locust bean gum - a thickening agent used in the food industry.
So lots of uses for the fruit and the wood itself is also great as fuel even being preferred over olive and oak.The wood is very distinctive and unlike anything I've seen - it's gnarly with ribs all along the length of the branches. I managed to secure a thick branch which had fallen off the tree whilst on our dog walk. Needless to say I held my breath while doing so. We haven't tried this type of wood in the wood burner before so this winter will be a first. Hopefully the house won't smell of dead bodies!
Talking of wood, here are the different types of wood that we are burning in the wood burner this winter, all seasoned of course apart from the plum which is for next year.
Eucalyptus Carob Walnut Pine
Olive Oak Fruit (Plum)
There is definitely an art to getting a wood burner going. We've learned a lot about the different woods - which ones give a really hot fast burn and which ones give a long slow burn. Which woods and sizes are good for getting the fire started and which ones are good for maintaining it. Not having had a wood burner until we came to Kefalonia, it's taken a while to perfect it, but I think we've done it now. The wood store is filling up nicely. I've put myself in charge of the wood store (who needs a garage anyway?) and Mark put himself in charge of the wood burner. You can't beat a good old fire on a cold evening. Cozy!
You have to have responsibilities in life. 😂
The wood store (complete with window for ventilation)
You may think the wood is placed randomly, but no....
Seasoned wood on the left
Olive slims and olive chunkies in the foreground on the floor .
In the oblong tub and two round tubs - a mixture of woods we call stubbies
In the two white sacks - eucalyptus twiggies
At the back - eucalyptus branches which need cutting up into twiggies.
Unseasoned wood on the right (for next year)
Olive, oak, pine and eucalyptus chunkies.
You have to get the terminology right. 😂
The Wood burner
As the wood store is separate from the house we have a wood box next to the fire which I love to stock up.
The wood box
Inside the wood box
Everything you need to start a fire - From the left:
Chunkies, slims, stubbies, twiggies, brown paper bags, pine cones (little fire balls) and firelighters.
Most important - Top right corner (hard to see in the photo) is the fire extinguisher.......just in case!
Enough of wood! I've become a bit obsessed with it!
At the end of November and the beginning of December the weather was lovely - blue skies and warm. We like to make the most of sunny days in the winter so we had a few trips out, one to a sandy beach near Katelios (Mounda) on the south coast to give Bobby a run on sand, and of course there was hardly anyone around. We even put up the deck chairs and had a swim. Just us and a long sandy beach. Not cold at all even when we got out of the sea.
At the end of November and the beginning of December the weather was lovely - blue skies and warm. We like to make the most of sunny days in the winter so we had a few trips out, one to a sandy beach near Katelios (Mounda) on the south coast to give Bobby a run on sand, and of course there was hardly anyone around. We even put up the deck chairs and had a swim. Just us and a long sandy beach. Not cold at all even when we got out of the sea.
Katelios in the valley looking towards Zante in the distance
Time for a swim! Mounda beach (near Katelios)
The little Chapel of Agia Marina on Mounda beach
Mark with Bobby on Mounda beach
A lovely couple on the South coast had posted on a Kefalonia Facebook page that they had lots of spare mandarin oranges on their tree if anyone wanted to come and pick them. They didn't want any going to waste so we paid a visit on our trip to Mounda beach and came home with two big bags full. You wouldn't think we'd taken any. The tree was still full! I did want to reimburse them by taking them some lemons from our lemon tree but they had five of their own lemon trees so it would have been like taking coals to Newcastle!
The mandarin oranges were gorgeous. Thank you to Bill and Andrea.
Mark and the mandarin orange tree
Antisamos beach is one of our local beaches, so now and again we take Bobby for a walk here, only out of season though. Again, we were the only people on the beach. The sea was a bit rough on this day. Great views on the way down and we bumped into a few goats (not literally!). You can just see a black one at the bottom of the photo below.
Antisamos beach - November 2018
While we were on the beach this day I happened to stop at the board attached to the life guard watch tower. It is an old board with signs of wear and tear but I struggled with the meaning of a few of the signs. I've put red arrows against them below. Bearing in mind that red lines through a sign mean No caravans, No tents, No cars, No dogs etc, those without a red line through them must mean you can do something.
Signs on Antisamos beach
Red arrows - Clockwise from the left:
- Mannequins can swim here?
- Duvets available for hire?
- Polos can be eaten on the beach?
- Really not sure about this one! - Watch out for torpedoes landing in bowls? Grind your own herbs here?
- Can't even begin to think what this one means?
On the 4th December, we had a trip to Argostoli, the capital of Kefalonia. Argostoli was completely devastated in the 1953 Ionian earthquake and I'm always amazed at how it's risen from the ashes in such a short space of time. It sits in a bay and is home to the De Bosset Bridge which at 689.9 metres in length is The worlds longest stone bridge over the sea. At one time, vehicles could drive over it but now it's strictly a footpath for pedestrians and cyclists.
A path which takes you round some of the lagoon is a great dog walk too, although Bobby wasn't too keen as there were a lot of spiky oak leaves around which kept sticking into his paws. He's such a drama queen when it comes to his paws. You would think a Geordie Jack would be tough!
A path which takes you round some of the lagoon is a great dog walk too, although Bobby wasn't too keen as there were a lot of spiky oak leaves around which kept sticking into his paws. He's such a drama queen when it comes to his paws. You would think a Geordie Jack would be tough!
Argostoli as seen from Drapano, the De Bosset Bridge on the left.
Koutavos lagoon
The footpath is partially lined by palm trees which makes it look very tropical. The palm trees in the photo below look healthy enough but there were dead ones close by which had been cut down, the fronds yellow and the inside of the trunk just powder.
There's a story here.
Palm trees around the lagoon
Palm trees were imported into Athens from North Africa for the 2004 Olympics. The story goes that the snout weevil - the very invasive Red Palm Weevil hitched a ride within the trees at the same time! Within two years it had spread to palm trees across mainland Greece and subsequently the Greek islands.
Though the adults cause damage through feeding, it's the larval stage which cause the greatest mortality of the trees. Each adult female weevil lays up to 300 eggs in holes in the tree and the larvae munch their way from top to bottom decimating the trees from the inside out. When they damage the crown, the tree can't produce new fronds, the leaves turn brown and droop and the tree dies within months. Damage is usually only visible long after the palm has become infested, so by the time these external symptoms are observed, the damage is usually sufficient to kill the tree. The infestation may have been present for six months or longer. You can hear the beetles by putting your ear against the palm's trunk. When the trunk of the tree is cut down, the inside is just powder.
The adult insect is an excellent flier, being able to travel great distances so it could be that the palm trees on Kefalonia have at some stage become infected or were already infected when planted.
We've noticed a few palm trees in a poor state on our local travels but it wasn't until I looked into it that I realised that the problem is on a large scale - worldwide.
We've noticed a few palm trees in a poor state on our local travels but it wasn't until I looked into it that I realised that the problem is on a large scale - worldwide.
You would quite often see a line of Palm trees along harbour fronts such as in Sami, Agia Efimia and Argostoli. Unfortunately, many of these trees have succumbed to the dreaded weevil and have been cut down and the ones that remain are most likely infected.
It's a major worldwide problem with research being undertaken to help control this pest via the use of insecticides and bio insecticides.
Red Palm Weevil (adult between 2cm and 4cm in length) - Photo by Luigi Barraco
In the photo below you can see four palm trees on the pavement of the main street in Karavomylos. All are showing signs of being attacked by the weevil.
Karavomylos
Dead palm tree on Sami sea front (Photo taken on 18th December)
A larva (bottom right) in one of the palm trees on Sami sea front
In the photo below of the very picturesque village of Agia Efimia on the East coast of Kefalonia, you can see a long line of palm trees along the harbour sea front. This photo was taken two years ago.
The same area two years later December 2018. Most of the palm trees have gone and the ones that are still standing look like they won't be standing for long!
Poorly palm tree
These palm trees were at Karavomylos campsite in Sept 2016
December 2018 - All 9 palm trees cut down
The palm trees in the photo below, line the harbour sea front in Argostoli. There's rather a lot of them so I hope they are OK.
Argostoli October 2018
We also had a trip to Fiskardo in early December to take a walk to the Venetian lighthouse.
Bobby loves this walk - as do we. Guess what? Nobody around!
Bobby on the walk to the Venetian lighthouse
Venetian lighthouse (I can't help but see a Minion!)
Mark always says that when he stands looking out from the lighthouse, it reminds him of a sand picture. I think I know what he means.
Looking out from the lighthouse. Ithaca on the left, Kefalonia on the right
I love going up to Fiskardo on the North of the island if not just to return home via the east coast road to capture the island of Ithaca. You wouldn't believe it was December with that deep blue sky. It's so peaceful we have to get out of the car to take in the view. The villages of Komitata and Neochori are amazing hilltop villages on Kefalonia and have stunning views of Ithaca.
The village of Komitata just visible on the hilltop on the right.
Just a bit further along from Komitata is the hilltop village of Neochori
Not a sound!
For now though, have a great Christmas and New Year.
