Prickly Pear cactus

We saw a lot of Prickly Pear cactus this morning. They stood out because they are so green against this barren landscape.

We had an early morning swim in the sea before driving up to the Prophet Elias Monastery. Very interesting to wander round the open sections and then out to a viewpoint. Everywhere is so barren that we were excited to see a few different types of flowers. We went to the village of Pyrgos for lunch then walked around the village afterwards. (See extras).

The vineyards here are very different to the ones at home and are bushes, wrapped around themselves to protect from the wind. ( see extra). A late afternoon swim with a glass of wine next to the sea…very relaxing.

The more we drive around and visit other places, the more we are shocked by the amount of rubbish that is everywhere. You can’t drink the tap water on the island so everyone uses bottled water, hence, a lot of the rubbish is plastic bottles. I don’t know what the solution is but I wonder if some of the money brought in by tourism could be used to clean up the island. It’s such a contrast to the lovely buildings etc and, of course, we only take photos of the nice parts!