Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: Hans J on November 04, 2010, 01:37:41 PM
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Hi all ,
I have made in this fall a trip to the ionian islands of Zakinthos + Kephallonia ....this was a long time wish of me.
The weather was very mixed and we had some difficoulds with our ferry boates from one islands to the other and back .....
But we have reached all our targets and we had a really nice time there .
Here are some first pics from our bungalow village on Zakinthos ( only 6 bungalows ) - this was a former olive oil mill and all is between olive trees :
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All was still in flower ( Bougainvilleas ,Plumbago,Hibiscus ) ....what a difference to our wet and cold wether in fall here in Germany ....
From our rooms we could look to the ealier salines of Alykes -the way by foot to the sea was only 10 minutes .
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The first trip by car was to the north -there is a small port : Agios Nicolaos .....from here goes ( normally ) the ferry boats to the neighbar island Kephallonia .
It is importet to know the times where the boats goes .....and it is more importent to have one or two days more for security when the ships can not operate ( often in this time )
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Near of Ag.Nicolaos is Cape Skinari - there is the light house for the north coast :
also are some earlier windmills ( now renovatet )
we found is this area a lot of interesting plants - here is a pic
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One of my wishes to see in the habitat was Acis ionica - the most plants had flowered but we could find the plants with the fruits
One day later we found in a other area a flowering plant :
This plants grows in different places - many are in phrygana or in stony places ,sometimes also between rocks on slopes
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By our trips we could often also see some interesting animals :
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One of my wishes to see in the habitat was Acis ionica - the most plants had flowered but we could find the plants with the fruits
One day later we found in a other area a flowering plant :
This plants grows in different places - many are in phrygana or in stony places ,sometimes also between rocks on slopes
Hans,
Congratulations for this trip - excellent start. The seed pods of Acis and
Narcissus are simular to eachother.
Gerd
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Here some plants :
We found this Sternbergia lutea often in cultivatet area ....so I'm not shure if they are naturalized or wild plants ....
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On this islands we saw very much Colchicum ....but I have not any knowledge about this plants ...so if anybody knows the names I would be glad
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Gerd :
Many thanks !
Please wait ...I will post also later pics of Narcissus from this islands
The seed pods of Narcissus and Acis are different :
Narcissus stand up ...and Acis lay on the the ground
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We saw also on this both islands many hundrets of flowering Cyclamen hederifolium - flowers in kind of shades - but nothing really special ( like the red flowering from Corfu ) or any white flowering plants.
We was to early to see the leaves ..... :'(
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One of my main targets was to find populations of Paeonia -there grows P.russoi ( the greek form )
This is for me a really interesting plant because P.russoi grows normaly on Corsica ,Sardinia + Sicily ( I had the luck to see it on all this islands ) -the strange thing is that in the mainland of Italy not grow any P.russoi ...and than again on this islands ::)
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Now some pics of Narcissus - for Gerd and the other Narcissus enthusiants :P
I suppose thats are Nar. miniatus ...I'm right ?
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here are some other Amaryllidaceae :
Pancratium maritimum
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One of the importent picture motives of this island is the so called "Ship Wrack beach" .....a nice story from some smuggling peoples ;D ....this people are in prison ....but the govermant should make a monument for them ! .....all tourist came and make pictures .
It is only possibly to make pictures from this little balcony .....or by ship ....or with a helicopter !
:o :o :o It is really to danger to go on the margin of the coast !!! :o :o :o
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Our last walking on Zakinthos was the highest top of the Mt. Vrachionas ( 756m)
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After some days we decide to leave Zakinthos and go to Kephallonia ...we start early in the morning to Ag. Nicolaos and wait for the ferry boat ....after some time comes a guy from costal gard and tells us : the ship does not operate today ....because the wether ....
We could this not understand because the weather looks fine .....so we decide to drive back to Zakinthos town ....from the goes a ferry boat to the mainland ( Kylinni ) .....and from Kylinni later a other boat to Kephallonia ....we tried this way and all goes well ;D
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Nice photos Hans.
Your Colchicum 1+2 seem to be C. cupanii (dark anthers, broad leaves)
3+4 could be C. parlatoris if the corms are not stoloniferous
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Thank you Thomas ;D
Thank you for the Colchicum ID ....I did not know that you are also a specialist for Colchicum :o
It is also interesting to see your pics from Peleponnes ....many remeberings rise up on my last trip there in year 2000 ...
It is a nice surprise that you also found this Campanula ....I found the same plants on Kephallonia ....and now I know the name ;D
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Here we are now for a short stop on the port of Kylinni :
and some hours later on Kephallonia - on port of Poros :
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We had to drive late in the evening now to our new home - a vineyard near Lourdata 8)
This location is direct near the sea ( with a private acsess to the beach ) on the feets of Mt. Enos - the highest mountain of this island ( more than 1600 m )
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A lot of you will know the name Kephallonica from the endemic Abies cephalonica which only grow on this island - thats beautiful plants :D
our first first trip was to see this trees ....
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Since I have seen the movie 'Corellis Mandoline' I would see this island ....
here are some pics of Argostoli ( maybe some will remeber on the movie )
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a other small beautiful village is Assos -with a small harbour and a castell
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ALso on this island we found several habitats of Acis ionica - one very interesting was direct near the sea ( sealevel 5 m )
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Now some pics of Narcissus - for Gerd and the other Narcissus enthusiants :P
I suppose thats are Nar. miniatus ...I'm right ?
Thank you, Hans! These are relatively large flowering forms. The colour of the corona at first made me nervous but pics of the tube show clearly miniatus shape.
Gerd
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Thank you Thomas ;D
Thank you for the Colchicum ID ....I did not know that you are also a specialist for Colchicum :o
It is also interesting to see your pics from Peleponnes ....many remeberings rise up on my last trip there in year 2000 ...
It is a nice surprise that you also found this Campanula ....I found the same plants on Kephallonia ....and now I know the name ;D
Hans I'm not a specialist in Colchicums, but I always had a pleasure for the small flowering forms. The problem was simply the lack of useful reference books for this genus and now I finally have one: 'Bulbs of Greece' by Christopher Grey-Wilson.
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a other habitat was in a shady gorge -here grows the Acis together with Campanula versicolor ( thanks the topic from Thomas I know the name ) ....interesting that here grows the same plants as on the Taigetos Mts. ....
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one of the most pictured beaches of Greece is the famos Myrthos beach ....we had not so luck with the weather on this day ...but it looks still fine 8)
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In the description of Acis is only reportet from plants near sealevel until 250 m .....but I had the luck to find a popuation on a altitude of 650 m .....so it could be that this plants are much hardier than the lowland forms :)
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Now here for Thomas and the other Crocus + Colchicum fans :
I suppose thats are Crocus boryi ...I saw only only this Crocus on Kepallonica + Zakinthos
Here are two pics of Crocus habitats :
one from lower altitude 600 m
the other is from more than 1000 m
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On Kephallonia we found also to my surprise really wild growing Sternbergia ( I suppose sicula ) -this plants look similar to the plants which I have found on Corfu in fall 2006
A big surprise was the altitude : 1060 m
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Our home on Kephallonia was some KM outside of the village ....on a unpaved road !
One morning after a night with a lot of rain ,thunder and lightning we would start to a next trip .....but after some 100 m we must stop :o
The rain has washed a lot of stones from the mountains and the road was closed ( and not more visible )...
After some mintues of waiting came a big caterpillar and made for us a new road ( but since this time we was always a bit worried when we drived this road ) ....
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Here are pics of Fiskardo - a really nice port in the north of Kephallonia ( there are a lot of sailing people ).
Since the actors and the other movie people ( from Hollywood) have visit this small port are the prices rise up really crazy ....we are shocked :
We have payed for a cup of tea + a frappe + a piece of lemon pie + Kateifi : 14 Euro :o :o :o
From this village is possibly to look to Ithaka + Lefkada
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Pancratium maritimum
and a caterpillar for Anthony
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To find peonies in the wild is always a mystic moment ....we had the luck and could find this plants also on this island :
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Now here for Thomas and the other Crocus + Colchicum fans :
I suppose thats are Crocus boryi ...I saw only only this Crocus on Kepallonica + Zakinthos
Here are two pics of Crocus habitats :
one from lower altitude 600 m
the other is from more than 1000 m
Hans, Crocus boryi has white anthers while your plant has yellow ones - points for Crocus niveus.
The colchicum looks smaller than the recently shown C. cupanii and the leaves thinner and this would point for C. pusillum.
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It was really difficould to find plants with fruits .....those beasties have eaten the most of them :
they are not only on the ground ....they can also climb and eat all :( :( :(
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Thomas - thank you again .
I would say you have to go on this island to observe all ....
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We have leave after one week the island of Kephallonia ...we drive to Poros and waiting for our ferry boat ( 13:00 ) ....a short time before says to us the boatpeople that the ferry does not operate ....maybe later ( 18:00 ) ....of later in the night ( they must wait for the OK from the coast gard ) ....
After 10,5 hours with waiting ( luckily we had our hire car and could sit inside ) starts the boat on 22:00 ....we reached Kylilli on 24:00 ....must look for a hotel .....and on next day 6:00 in the morning we must buy the tickets for Zakinthos ...on 7:00 we leave Kylilli and reach 1,5 hours later again Zakinthos .....
Here are pics from our last trip on Zakinthos :
We visit Cape Gerakas -this area is all protectet for the sea turtle ( Caretta caretta ) .....in this time there was not any to see ....
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Here is a final pic of a nice Bougainvillea ( never I saw such a interesting bicolor before)
I hope my trip was interesting for some of you and you have enjoyed my pics !
If any members are interestet for further information - please ask me .
I can give additional information where we had our homes and also a very nice and friendly car hire people adresses .
Have fun
Hans 8)
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Hans,
A wonderful report with excellent photographs and very interesting plants, and animals! It seems a beautiful area and you obviously enjoyed yourself as I did looking at it on this miserable cold and wet day here.
Paddy
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Many thanks Paddy !
In our home on Zakinthos was a young lady from ireland ..she was married with the son of the owner !
We had a lot of fun ....if you ever will go there for a holiday let me know and I give you the adress.
Hans
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I forgot to report :
Shure I have also searched on this both islands also for Galanthus ...but without succsess :'(
It is strange : Galanthus grows on Corfu ....and also on the mainland ( Taigetos mts.) ...so why not also here ....
In other hand : on Zakinthos + Kephallonia+ Lefkada + Ithaka grows Acis ...but not in Peleponnes ::)
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A fine series Hans 8) Many thanks.
A. ionica looks a beauty even in seed, and it must be very exciting to see these paeonies in the wild. Are they partly shaded by trees or growing on northern aspects?
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Thanks for the photos of the Paeonia russoi! That's really fabulous to see and with so much seed! It is by far my favorite species for the garden, even better than corsica.
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Thank you Ashley ,
you are right : peonies grows mostly in northern aspects ....and we could see a lot growing under trees- I think this is more a protection for the goats ....in higher altitudes ( on more open stony places ) they grows under shrubs and between stones.
Hans
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Thanks for the photos of the Paeonia russoi! That's really fabulous to see and with so much seed! It is by far my favorite species for the garden, even better than corsica.
Thank you Aaron ,
We found much seeds only on the population on Zakinthos ...there was no goats !
On the population from Kephallonia it was really difficould to found some fruits.
I have never heard that anybody has offered seeds from this peonies from the greek island ....so they are pretty rare in cultivation.
Hans
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Lovely Hans
So much beautiful scenery. Feel I have been on a holiday myself. What a wonderful place.
I to love the black peony seeds I remember the first time I saw these shinny black seed on my path I was amazed at there size. They had fallen from my peony tree.
Cheered me up seeing the lovely blue skies
Angie :)
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Thank you Angie !
Here is a earlier pic from a P.russoi ex Kephallonia -I have received this plant before many years from a friend -it was grown from w.c. seeds ex Kephallonia .
Sorry to report that this plant has not survived the last winter ( which was extrem long and hard )....but luckily I have found in spring some seedlings from this plant in my border !
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Hi Hans
What a lovely large P.russoi so sad that you lost it but as you said it really was a long hard winter.
With your warm summers the seedlings will soon grow quick.
I have put a lot of my tender plants in my polytunnel this year, don't want to lose as much as I did last year, so taking no chances. You should see my polytunnel, we bought it to grow veg, ::) ;D ;D
Thanks for showing your wonderful pictures.
Angie :)
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Lovely set of pics Hans, I enjoyed them.
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Thank you David !
I feel a little bit bad because I have not taken any pictures of all the nice meals we had ....on this both islands is it still possibly to eat all the old greek things like :
Stifado , Moussaka ,Kleftiko ,Kokkinisto and more ( mhhhh)
In other areas they make now only food for tourists like Gyros , Souvlaki, Bifteki .... :-\
Hans 8)
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Wonderful series of photos Hans which give us so much information - everything a good travelogue should be. Thank you so much for taking the time to post them.
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Many thanks Gail !
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Just came in from the garden, put my feet up and visited Greece ;D Many thanks Hans, a great series of photos (even though there were no Galanthus :'(). I am pleased you have seedlings from P.russoi ex Kephallonia in the garden as it is always sad to lose a much loved plant. My mouth is watering at the thought of the Kleftiko, happy memories. Thank you for taking the time to share your trip with us.
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Many thanks Brian ,
Sorry ...but I can not send you any Kleftiko :'( ...do you know that this meal was a meal special made for the partisans ?
Our kind of travelling is not so easy ...but we dont like to travel "all inclusive" ( with breafast ,lunch +dinner always in the same hotel ) :(
We organize all self and so we had always a lot of contact to the local peoples - it is sometimes more like a little adventure ( special if you go by ship ) ....not always works all well -but last it works !
Also are our holidays mostly a little more expensiv than a 'normal' holiday .....but we have so many nice rememberings after all this year - it is worth each penny !
Hans 8)
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I feel a little bit bad because I have not taken any pictures of all the nice meals we had ....on this both islands is it still possibly to eat all the old greek things like :
Stifado , Moussaka ,Kleftiko ,Kokkinisto and more ( mhhhh)
In other areas they make now only food for tourists like Gyros , Souvlaki, Bifteki .... :-\
Hans 8)
Hans, you have me salivating by name-dropping greek dishes. I'm a huge fan of Greek food, and one thing I regret most about my being laid off from work this past year, is my weekly lunch at an established Greek eatery, my most frequent treat was mousaka, but sometimes spanakopita, dolmathakia (dolma, dolmathes, dolmades), avgolemono, loukoumades (honey puff donuts)... eesh, I didn't eat enough breakfast... my stomach is growling.
Not familiar with Kleftiko, I looked it up, interesting how it got its name... scroll halfway down this link:
http://www.symivisitor.com/fassolada2.htm
And to tantalize the appetite:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&q=mousaka&gl=us&resnum=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=Xw_UTJGCI8XflgfxoLDlBA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDYQsAQwAw&biw=1280&bih=836
Oh yeah, almost forgot, the travel pics and plants were great.
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Only picked up this thread right now Hans and I'm glad I did !
Wonderful report of what looks to have been a most enjoyable and adventurous ;D trip !
Lovely scenery - lovely plants - excellent food... what else does a man want ?? :D
(maybe ships sailing as scheduled... :-X)
Thanks for sharing !!
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Mark : great that you also like greek food ....my problem is only that I also love food from Italy ,France and some other countries ....
Yes - I know this story from Kleftiko ....
I like all greek meals which include cinnamon ( p.e. Pasticio ) .....and I have luck that my wife can cook some of this meals !
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Thank you Luc !
I think it is better to trust the coast gards if they say the ships can operate ....
As we have wait for the ship in the port of Poros comes up a heavy wind ...he blows up a sailing boat ( outside the water ) - it is fallen on a other ship ....and the mast break down - luckily are not any humans involved :-\ so we think it is better to wait !
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Hans,
thank you for your detailed travel report and the marvelous images.
Greek is always worth a trip! :D
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Thank you Armin !
...yes you are right with visiting Greece !!!
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Thanks for posting these wonderful pictures of greece.
It is wonderful to see peonies in the wild. I hope your seeds are going to germinate soon and will also please me as much as your plant did all the years.
I am sad to hear that your plant has passed away. But I am glad that the plant have given you a last present.
I love especially beside the peonie site the marvellous Narcissus miniatus. For me it is still a wonder to see Daffodils flowering in fall! :-)
Best regards
Lukas
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Hi Lukas ,
thanks for your friendly words !
Hans 8)
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Hans,
Thank you so much for the tour (and the email to let me know this topic was here! ;D). I don't often get into the travel section of late, but I think I must spend some time today and have a tour through various other parts of the world as well. ;)
The cliffs that you posted at the beginning are amazing. I can only think how green my wife would be standing above that sort of cliff. She doesn't like heights, and those look VERY high. The Paeonia seedpods look amazing. Fascinating to see them in the wild. You must have been so pleased. So many other wonderful things and places you've showed us, including that interest Beaugainvillea. Mine has just started flowering here in the last couple of weeks...... later than usual as we've had a cooler wet winter/spring than in many years. Such a rewarding plant. I'm also glad that you got to see at least one Acis ionica in flower to go with all those seedpods. 8)
Thanks again for allowing us to "travel" with you on your trip. Excellent stuff!!
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Paul T ,
I'm glad that you like my report and you have enjoy the pics !
Hans 8)