Tag: Byzantine Churches

Kastania – General and Chestnut Festival.

This is the first of two posts that will be going up about Kastania, because I will be devoting another post specifically to church/ folk art in the village, of which there is a lot. We were drawn there by the Chestnut Festival, which was a huge success, with the kind of numbers in attendance that English village fetes such as the Rudhams one could only dream of. Also, although you had to pay if you wanted a proper meal, as you entered the square where the main action was happening you were given little cakes, a free slug of Raki was provided for adult visitors, and bags of roasted chestnuts from a huge circular barbecue were also free.

A scenic route back through Exochorio and Proasteio,  featuring the church of Ayios Nikolaos Proasteio completed the day’s travelling.

Enjoy these photos…

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The Greek Flag and a local flag side y side
The Greek Flag and a local flag side y side
Chestnuts roasting
Chestnuts roasting

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Stepped surfaces such as this both prevent wheeled traffic (other than quad bikes) from using them and suit donkeys and mules.
Stepped surfaces such as this both prevent wheeled traffic (other than quad bikes) from using them and suit donkeys and mules.

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This fortified tower overlooks the Viros Gorge
This fortified tower overlooks the Viros Gorge
Ayios Nikolaos at Proasteio
Ayios Nikolaos at Proasteio
Decorative brickwork above the entrance to the church.
Decorative brickwork above the entrance to the church.

The Lousios Gorge and Ayios Andreas

The Lousios, the coldest river in Greece (although as the travel writer of the ancient world, Pausanias, is honest enough to point out, not by any means the coldest in the world), is a tributary of the Alfios, which featured in one of my earlier posts: https://aspiblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/leaving-olympia/ and it too flows all year round. The chapel of Ayios Andreas was closed, but there was a missing pane in the glass cross on the door, so I did get some internal pictures. Enjoy these…

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This is a modern monastery - the older ones are concealed from public view.
This is a modern monastery – the older ones are concealed from public view.

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One of the two internal views.
One of the two internal views.

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The Lousios in full spate.
The Lousios in full spate.

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The bridge across the Lousios
The bridge across the Lousios
This memorial is near where we dropped our second hitch-hiker of the day.
This memorial is near where we dropped our second hitch-hiker of the day.
It took a lot of effort to get a good shot of this lake.
It took a lot of effort to get a good shot of this lake.yios

Byzantine Churches

Venturing into the inner Mani (the town of Areopoli marks the boundary between the inner and outer Mani – think Men of Kent and Kentish Men) we saw some very splendid Byzantine churches (and some truly ghastly modern replicas). In the only one we could get inside there were some interesting frescos, and all featured some fine examples of decorative brickwork using Roman style bricks. I have some very fine photographs of these extraordinary buildings…

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A close up of some decorative brickwork
A close up of some decorative brickwork

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Unfortunately a bag of builders materials prevented me from showing the whole church from this angle - we are in Greece after all!
Unfortunately a bag of builders materials prevented me from showing the whole church from this angle – we are in Greece after all!

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An external fresco of a Madonna and child - this took some serious editing.
An external fresco of a Madonna and child – this took some serious editing.

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Here the original alabaster obviously fell out, and has been replaced by rubble.
Here the original alabaster obviously fell out, and has been replaced by rubble.

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