Day 13, part 2

We spent the day on a little gravelly beach swimming beside the mountains and the Rio-AntiRio bridge.

The mountains are stunning, steep and bare. At the top of some are wind turbines; wind power is the main source of renewable energy in Greece. I could see sailing boats and the Rio castle, built by ottomans at the end of the 15th century. The beach was strewn with driftwood and and a few plastic bottles. But there were also gorgeous yellow flowers, spiky green plants, palm trees, a lone jackdaw and several brightly coloured butterflies.

I decided to take a leaf out of my mum’s book (pun not noticed until my sister pointed it out) and research what some of the many flower species they might be. After trawling through the Internet, I figured out that I had seen a yellow, horned poppy and a big Brugainvillea plant. I realised why my mum used to consistently rely on books not the Internet.

Most exciting of all were what I believe could have been flatfish. There were about five of them that flapped out of the water as I swam nearby. I was so thrilled to discover that this kind of creature was not just something magical out of Life of Pi.

#greece #wildflowers #travel #wildswim #mountains #adventure #beach