THE destination | the Rebel & the Seeker

Chapter 3

„Hike to Lakones Donkey Path, hike to Lakones Donkey Path!" a young local guide was calling his clients together. Dian and some other curious tourists asked for more information.
„The hike leads from Paleokastritsa up to the old village of Lakones. You can decide to go to the Bella Vista pointview where you will have a breathtaking view over Paleokastritsa," the guide smiled back, but after another information that the hike is actually a hike, no donkeys included, half of the interested disappeared. And after the addition that it takes an hour up a relatively steep hill, the rest backed away.
„Still interested?" the guide smiled at the Asian boy, that looked he was not frightened by some physical exercise.
Dian nodded and looked up to the village on the hill: „This will take more than an hour", he thought, „but the view must be great."

And so two hours later: „Isn't the view great?" the guide was smiling at the sweating group of people that looked like they are going to end their Greek holiday right here and never come back again. He himself looked like he was having just a light walk around. The only other man standing was Dian, although, if he should be honest, another 15 minutes of climbing and it would finish him the same way.
He made himself proceed right away to the half an hour distant viewpoint Bella Vista instead of sitting down to take a rest in a taverna in Lakones. „Now, this is a view worth the torture," sighed Dian when the panoramic view over Paleokastritsa opened below him. He took out his camera and took his time to catch the dramatic green steep hills emerging from the blue depths of Ionian Sea. The famous Agios Spiridon Beach that attracted him to this place was actually just a small part of the nature's puzzle that made this part of the island so special. But to be revealed this secret, you can't stay laying on the beach or sitting in a cafe down in Paleokastritsa... 

Now Dian could finally reward himself with a lunch.
„Excuse me, sir, what is that place, please?" he asked the waiter in the restaurant which view could compete with the Bella Vista itself, pointing on a steep hill with some ruins that was obviously guarding the northwestern coast for centuries.
„It is the castle of Angelokastro. Now there are just ruins, but once it was one of the three castles that protected the island. It saved the inhabitants mainly during Ottomans wars and it was never conquered," Dian got a lecture of local history, „I think I do not need to tell you that the view from that castle is great," the waiter chuckled, "when the weather is clear, you can see the Venetian fortress in Kerkyra."

* * *

"Seems like everything here is only half or hour away..." Dian commented waiter's time estimate of the trip to the castle after another almost two hours of walking an asphalt road and climbing a rocky path up to the castle in the ruthless sun. But he knew it was also his fault that he did not check properly on Google maps. Otherwise he would see that the "half an hour" ends on the foot of the hill so logically, there should be another time needed to get up to the fortress itself. But that is not important anymore - he already spotted the entrance gate into the fortification walls. Uff.
Inside he took a deep breath and drank the last deciliter of water he had. He should have bought more.

And the sun was burning hard. After the last month which he spent in Prague this was another reality. He should have checked the weather... He should have taken a cap... He should have planned the itinerary...

He promised himself to make an effort to always get familiar with the country he is exploring. He is not in the rainy central Europe anymore and he is not in a metropole where you can buy whatever you remember at whatever time of the day. Over all, he should not kill himself in the first day. A trip should be a pleasure not a torture.

Alright, now that he is up and breathing again, he could wander around the ruins with other individuals that did not die conquering this proud place in the modern way. Only after one finally gets up to this point he can truly understand why this fortress was never be defeated.