The village on Skyros is the small paradise everyone seeks as they travel around the Aegean, one that we were fortunate to experience.
The village itself is built on a hill, and during the morning some of us climbed all the way to the top to find a small monastery with a spectacular view over the sea. If you did not make it to the top, you had plenty of chances to walk through the tiny alleyways and enjoy the atmosphere. No cars would ever make it through, those streets are too narrow. Why?
All over the islands of the Mediterranean Sea you can find small villages like this one, and the reason is of course to create some shade during the hot summer and wind shelter during the winter. The Mediterranean climate is characterized by extreme hot summers with drought and lots of rain and wind during the winter. This is something most plants in the area have well adapted to. Still, as we traveled around the island we could see something that almost no plants can ever withstand - goats. Together with man, goats are maybe the only animal which can actually destroy ecosystems.
The island is now covered with mostly low bushes, the only survivors have thorns or are poisonous to eat for any goat. All over the Mediterranean Sea you find this kind of vegetation and most often two French words are used to name them, macchia if it is higher bushes and garuigue if it is mostly lower bushes.
At Skyros you find the beaches you can almost only dream about. As we arrived to the beach everything was set up. Some went out with kayaks to explore the rocky shoreline. Here you can really study how goats damage the vegetation. A rare Eleonora's Falcon flew overhead. This falcon is unique because it breeds late, from August to the end of October and in colonies. The reason is that they feed the chicks with migratory birds they catch as the birds try to reach the islands to seek shelter during the hot day. The Eleonora's Falcon is much a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. As it leaves for the winter area, East Africa and later Madagascar, they only feed on insects, mostly termites.
Some of us went below the surface to explore the under water worlds. Of course nothing like any coral reefs, but still the snorkelers saw colorful Peacocks, a Wrasse with the color of the rainbow, and also saw many more things. The water is extremely clear, and it is really hard to stay away. Yes, this was a day to remember.
