It's Sunday, the sun is shining and the views are clear. Make some sandwiches, take a bottle of water and a box of chocolates, gather up a friend or two and let's go for a walk past Kioni and over the hill to the little church of Ag. Illia.

We leave Kioni behind and head through a landscape of olive groves with age-old trees, and rocks and slopes. Goats bells tinkle behind every scrub of bush. It's the perfect day for a walk.

There's no wind, yet the trees on this side of Ithaca maintain the shape of howling day.

 
 
 
Where do you want to be?
Only 25 minutes out of Kioni and the landscape becomes rugged and remote. Goats scale the steep slopes down to the church while we take the dirt road cut out of the hillside not too long ago. The earth is rocky and red, cracked from the lack of rainfall. We continue steadily on a descent down to the shore, where the little church of Ag. Illia sits alone amongst jagged rocks, looking out to sea. From the white-washed church with the Greek emblem of blue around the window frames, you see Aetos on one side and Lefkada and the small island of Attikos opposite. The views are mesmerizing. The world feels far, far away and the soul is uplifted. Sounds a bit mushy, but it's true. All is peaceful except for the rush of a wave the superfast ferry left in its wake when it past 20 minutes earlier. Little things such as this, make you appreciate just how lucky we are living on Ithaki.
 
 
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