A quiet day on the beach and near Livadi

We first walk to the pebble beach near our apartment. The water is pleasant and even ducks and geese float around in the salty water. But we do not go swimming, we still find it a little too fresh for that.
We drive first along the coast, as close as we can but because of the rocky area the road sometimes goes a long way inland. We are still surprised that Greece is so mountainous.

Sampatiki, pronounced by the Greeks as Sabatiki, is a quiet harbor town with a beautiful bay. Especially when you drive a bit to the south where the road goes up, you have a beautiful view of the bay. In many harbors along the Greek coast piers have been created, creating a kind of bay so the water is calmer. Here a beautiful beach forms a large part of the bay.

We usually have 2 cameras with us and this year we have bought two of the same cameras with GPS (Canon Powershot SX280 HS) so that we can more easily trace back where we made a certain photo. And we do not have to argue now anymore who makes the most beautiful pictures, the kind camera no longer makes a difference.
It is only early May, but we are surprised that we see so few tourists here, not one all day long. We do not mind that much, since we do like a bit of rest.

A wide spread out plain leads us to a somewhat larger village, Leonidio, which lies between 2 mountain massifs. The valley was also called the Garden of Dionysus in ancient times because of the fertile soil. Dionysus is, among other things, the god of wine and therefore also of grapes. The center of the village is spacious but it is very quiet so it appears deserted.
A sign at the entrance of the village indicates that people also speak Tsakonian heren, an almost extinct language (or dialect, there are different opinions about that).

The Dafnon river should flow through the village, but not today, the riverbed is completely dry and the bushes that grow there have been around for some time. However, there must be enough sources of water because the landscape around the village is very green.
Although there are more and more tourists coming (there is a long clean beach 4 km away), most residents still work in agriculture. Citrus, tomatoes and olives are grown and it seems that the eggplant from this area (known as the Tsakonian eggplant) is very well known. We had never heard of it before.

In the village there are a few restaurants with covered terraces (against the sun, we think, certainly not against the rain), and we randomly choose one from where we have a good view over the area. Their eggplant may be known and delicious, the coffee is certainly not, at least not according to Elisabeth who looks not happy with hers. I think it is not that bad (but I also like my coffee a bit weaker).

After that we drive a bit further south and then back to the north again, when in the distance we suddenly see a few round towers. According to the GPS it is at Akra Tyros and if we look a little further, it turns out that these are windmills. But where are the sails?
The village seems to have been a well-known port in ancient times and is protected by a steep coast. Here too there is a beautiful beach where you, with some luck and in the right season, can spot sea turtles.

The beaches are almost all surrounded by rocks and the coast is often very steep. You can not reach all places by foot or car and then a boat is handy, you can really choose a beach for yourself. When it will be a few degrees warmer we also want to lie on the beach again, which is already quite a few years ago (probably in Croatia in 2007).