Free Day

WITH no chess scheduled, the weather forecast naturally changed from 'sunny all day' to 'scattered thunderstorms', but the latter were not expected before 11:00.

I rose early to what passes in Crete for a threatening sky

My plan was to take my usual post-breakfast walk to Fodele village for an espresso, and then head on to the monastery of Saint Panteleimon, a Christian convert martyred in 305 during the Diocletian persecutions.

This dog barked furiously the first day I walked past, but now just wags its tail and yawns

I have been used to seeing - and hearing the bells of - herds of goats, but today quite some time past before I spotted this loner, which was non-stop bleating, perhaps having lost its companions

It is only three kilometres (about two miles) from Fodele Beach Resort to Fodele village, but the roadside is littered with shrines built to commemorate traffic-accident victims or to give thanks for seemingly miraculous escapes

Shrines may contain a saint's icon, mementoes of the victim, offerings and such like, and may be securely locked or open to inspection 

It is hard to tell if this new-looking building - I do not recall it from when I was here three years ago - is a shrine erected by someone rich and especially devout, or perhaps a very small church

A welcome splash of colour

Shrine with an 'eternal flame'

A small flock of geese apparently emboldened by the peace of a Sunday morning to travel by road

An old and gnarled platanus or plane tree in the centre of Fodele, with beside it a plaque commemorating the painter El Greco, who may have been born in the village

Leaving the village, one of the first things seen is this shrine of modest make, but with a carefully tended 'eternal flame'

Gourds

Fat cat - a rarity in Greece

Sunshine enhances the scenery

Pomegranates

Evidence I was nearing the monastery, which is about 3.6km from Fodele village 

Close-up of the cave

This statuesque tree looks to me like a Norfolk Island Pine, but someone may know better

I reached the monastery before it normally opens to visitors at 09:00, but because this was a Sunday the main door was ajar to let in worshippers for a service

The only substantial remains of the monastery, apparently originally built in the hills by monks fleeing early-16th century raids by Turkish pirates and slavers, is this chapel, which today was filled to overflowing 

Monastery cats proved less timid than most Greek cats, and some even approached me to be scratched and stroked, but were too nervous to stay long

Although obliged to return the same way I had come, this had the advantage of seeing things from a different perspective, including this view of an 11th-century Byzantine church

Finally, having almost got back to the hotel, I encountered this herd of goats passing a parked pickup