The Picnic at Ag. Igionnais – Samos.

You’ll love the story, you’ll love the photographs, and you might book a flight to Greece.

“  We left our food under a vine-covered terrace and wandered into a small orchard containing peach, lime and orange trees.   This is where we came upon the priest.  Further back was a terrace containing olive trees and trailing vines loaded with ripening grapes and beyond that the reason for the existence of the monastery – a spring .   The monks had taken the concept of the traditional well one step further and built a pool to accommodate the water burbling to the surface.  It was here that I saw an azure blue, 12 cm, gauzy winged dragon-fly on my first visit many years ago.      It was also here that when stung by the only jelly fish to be lurking in the waters around Samos, and there being no resident priest at the time, was administered first aid (vinegar rubbed over the infected site ) by another  visiting family.