This weekend we basically just spent relaxing a little. Saturday we went to yet another beach. It is really crazy how every corner of this island makes you feel like you just stepped into another country. You’ll have all these crazy rock formations of all different kinds of stones, and then you’ll turn a corner and have white sandy beaches. Unless the sand isn’t white but orange or red. Turn another corner and you might find yourself in a pine forest. Turn another corner and you are standing in palm trees.
This time we went to a little beach surrounded by a river coming in and two villages with white houses on either side. Very cozy and cute.
Then on Sunday, we woke up to a storm. We went down to the beach to see the waves crash against the cliffs, which was absolutely stunning. Very impressive to see firsthand what mother nature is capable of. We tried to get some good videos and pictures and they turned out kind of nice, but not nearly as impressive as it was in real life. I think some things are just meant to be seen and experienced live and in color instead of on a computer screen. Sometimes it seems like a nice idea to put the phones away and actually enjoy the show.
After watching the waves on the beach, the cliffs, and several other spots we decided to go up to the highest point of the island. Monte Toro is a mountain almost in the middle of the island with a cute little restaurant and church on top of it. It offers a very cool 360 view of the entire island. Because of the storm, we couldn’t see every inch of the island but the views were still spectacular.
On one side you could see the ocean, on another side you could see the beach that we were at on Saturday, and the other side had the olive forests. There was a spot that was full of antennas and the very top had the church, the restaurant, and I think a convent as well.
The church was small but it contained a lot of history. It was looted and had a lot of things destroyed during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. There was a heartwarming story about how a farmer saved a statue of the Virgin Mary by burying it in his fields until the war was over. They had the pots that he put in to protect it and the shovel that he used to dig it up later. It was weird seeing two clay pots and a shovel behind a grate in a church. Once we read the story it all made sense though.
They also had a small grotto in the church itself. That was the spot where a friar (I think) found a statue of the Virgin Mary when he was first exploring the top of the mountain by lantern light. Since he was (supposedly) the first Christian to make it up the mountain, they assumed it was a sign and that is why they built the church on that spot.
We decided we have to go back on a nicer day so we can actually get the full experience that it has to offer.
The boss, the general, and the brains of the operation. Anya is the mom of this crazy group of misfits. When not traveling the world and teaching her kids to be decent human-beings, she likes to bake, sing, be goofy. Aside from all that she does for Five of a Kind, she is also a short term foster mother for infants in need.
She also enjoys unreasonably spicy foods and is searching for a hot sauce that is spicy enough and yet still has some kind of flavor to it.
