Excursion: Butterfly Valley and Chalki

I've told you about the trials and tribulations of our excursion the other day, but this concentrates on what we did and what these places were like.

'Butterfly Valley'

Deceptively called the ‘Valley of the Butterflies', Petaloudes Valley is home to thousands of moths (relatives of the Jersey Tiger Moth) It’s a natural habitat and gets overwhelmed in spring and autumn with butterflies of the Panaxia genus, species Quadripunctaria Poda.  The valley's high levels of humidity draw them here to reproduce.

The valley is home to the River Pelekanos and many waterfalls are scattered all along it. Over the years, the valley of butterflies has turned into a popular tourist attraction.  Small wooden bridges cross the river and an uphill path leads to the Monastery of Panagia Kalopetra.

It costs €5 to get in and children get in free.

These moths, being moths, don't settle and then leave their beautiful wings open. When they settle, they close up. Getting a photo of them with wings open is well nigh impossible. They flap their wings so quickly that even using my highest shutter speed, I was hard-pressed to get any photos I can use here.

This is what they look like -

And here are some merged video clips for you to see what the valley is like -

Of course, it is the dry season now and most gullies which run with lots of water in the winter are dried up.  There is a little water still flowing here, but otherwise the valley, although looking fairly arid, is greener than most places on the island!