portokalia

Lakonia is the southest part of Peloponnese, close to islands of Elafonizos and Kythira. The region is famous during summer months for many camping sites, sandy beaches and caves, very often accessible only by boat. It is also well known for the orange trees providing the rest of Greece with best oranges!

Although it is not the best destination during winter, I was lucky enough for one February weekend to have almost-like-spring weather. Therefore some panoramic photos of Lakonia’s landscape for You, including village of Ano Kastoria and views from the road to Kastoria caves.

Photo1: Panasonic DMC-FX 150, Landscape Mode, f 1/5.6, 1/160s, 0EV, f=104mm (for 35mm), GIMP

Photo2: Panasonic DMC-FX 150, Normal Mode, f 1/3.7, 1/120s, 0EV, f=50mm (for 35mm), GIMP

reflections

Landscapes with reflection in the water are my favorite kind of photos, i.e. white peaks reflected in steady calm surface of mountain lake - perfect. After some rainy February days in Patras, I found a new definition of reflection photos, using… puddles. There are so many of them in bumpy local roads, that I didn’t really have to look very hard for some interesting effects, check out Yourself:

And this is just from one single place, next to Rio-Antirio ferry docks under the bridge. I will definitely look for more of these.

Photo1: Panasonic DMC-FX 150, Normal Mode, f 1/3, 1/160s, 0EV, f=33mm (for 35mm), GIMP

Photo2: Panasonic DMC-FX 150, Normal Mode, f 1/3.8, 1/160s, 0EV, f=53mm (for 35mm), GIMP

Photo3: Panasonic DMC-FX 150, Normal Mode, f 1/5, 1/100s, 0EV, f=85mm (for 35mm), GIMP

copy paste

Some years ago, I was lucky to visit famous Barcelona. Truly beautiful city! Big, modern, located by the sea with modern port and marina, but first of all, full of history. Barcelona’s “must visit” list is very impressive, just from top of my head: Sagrada Familia, La Pedriza, Fontana Magica, teleferico over marina, Parco de Guey, the hill of Tiboodabo. I guess other cities of the world have strong reasons to be a little jealous.

When passing from Patra’s city beach towards marina, You can find some colorful decorations by the coast. The walls, benches, some playground for children are decorated with small ceramics with many different warm colors, just like in Barcelona’s Parco de Guey. By a chance or on purpose, they are similar and I like it! There is nothing wrong to copy something beautiful. I just wish, they were equally famous :-P

Photo: NIKON D70s, AP, f 1/7.1, 1/1000s, -0.3EV, f=27 mm (for 35mm), GIMP software

home of santa clauss

When I started this blog, the whole idea was to write about photos from Greece and in particular from Patras. But, to be 100% precise, my home town, well in this case my “home village”, is actually Agios Vasileios at the north-eastern outskirts of Patras, just after passing Rion on the way from Patras to Athens, if You take old national road. The name could be translated to “Santa Clauss” as in Greece, Vassilis is the one who bring presents.

The village is quite popular summer destination for coffee and swimming during hot months. Lots of citizens come in the afternoons, straight from their offices, to get some rest lying on the beach, swimming and drinking coffee with friends. And Ag Vasileios is one of the top places to go.

In winter, it changes completely. Beach becomes empty, beach chairs disappear in magazines, coffee places and tavernas are in most cases closed, streets are empty, early afternoon traffic is gone. The village feels like… a real village, quiet and deserted. Only during sunny weekend days, in noon hours, very few come for coffee to few all year open cafés, like “Weekend” or “Mirabeu”. So, this is how abandoned summer destination looks like. You can argue, but I like this silence.

Photo1: NIKON D70s, AP, f 1/6.3, 1/640s, -0.3EV, f=43 mm (for 35mm), GIMP software

Photo2: NIKON D70s, AP, f 1/7.1, 1/640s, -0.3EV, f=40 mm (for 35mm), GIMP software

made in switzerland

Few days in December, just before 2011 Christmas vacation, had some heavy snow in Greece. Many roads in north areas of the country were closed or at least partly closed, including major highway Egnatia. Also Achaea got some snow and ski center in Kalavryta was open, just 1.5h driving from Patras. The peaks in Panachaiko mountains were also all covered above 1000m altitude. This gave a unique “Swiss” look to the landscape  with white peaks over the city.

Looking into forecast, where higher temperatures were coming back to Patras, I decided to take a photo of this winter landscape before all the snow would melt. So, on 2012 new year’s day, Sunday January 1st, I went for a lazy walk, hoping for a nice panoramic photo. At first I couldn’t find a proper spot to fit all the peaks. After a while, I realized that the bridge will be perfect. It gives some wider perspective and tops over other buildings close to the coast, allowing to capture more distance. Maybe one day, it will snow in the city too…

Photo: NIKON D70s, AP, f 1/7.1, 1/640s, -0.3EV, f=72 mm (for 35mm), GIMP software