Alexandros lies on a plateau at about 400m altitude, protected by mountains to the north west and south east. This situation makes the three villages a few degrees cooler than the coastal areas of Lefkada all year round, with slightly later springtimes, pleasant summer days with light breezes, and frosty winters with occasional snowfall.
Between the villages the extensive Alexandros meadow often floods in winter and remains green until midsummer. In April and May you will hear – particularly at night – the loud calls and croaking of toads in the meadow, in the lower fields, and in the river bed below Kolyvata. Scops Owls call to each other all night with continuous ‘beep-beeps’ and sometimes there are Tawny Owls with their ‘twit-twoo’ calls. Long grasses and wildflowers provide the perfect habitat for fireflies; a touch of nocturnal magic every spring. Actually, nights here are special all year with dark skies that make stargazing easy. And on moonlit nights you might see foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, and even wild boar.
In spring Blue Tits and Great Tits fill the air with their cheerful calls and do a great job of protecting the oaks by eating thousands of often destructive moth caterpillars. Like the Magpies and Jays, the tits are here all year. Migratory visitors include Robins in winter, and in spring there may be Cuckoos and even Golden Orioles.
The Skaros oak forest above Kolivata is ancient; indeed German archaeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld believed that it was the ‘wooded Neion’ of Odysseus. Lying below Skaros, Alexandros also has several varieties of large and medium sized broadleaf oak trees such as English Oak and Downy Oak, as well as the abundant Kermes Oak bushes with their small prickly leaves and dark acorns.
Almond trees decorate the villages in early spring with their delicate pale pink or white blossom, followed a couple of weeks later by the deep mauve of the Judas Tree blossoms growing straight out of the bark. As spring progresses the Fig, Mulberry, and Walnut trees and the Pomegranate bushes come into leaf and start developing their fruits. The translucent flower heads of the Smoke Trees (Cotinus), some burgundy, some creamy white, catch the sunlight.
The display of wildflowers here changes throughout the year. In January and February blue irises, anemones, and Giant Orchids light up the short days. Throughout spring Jerusalem Sage – and Broom, with its beautiful scent – make the road verges deep yellow. The meadows and the edges of the vineyards and olive groves are covered in carpets of daisies and other small flowers in yellows, whites, blues, and pinks. Among them, usually in shaded areas, orchids appear for a few short weeks. The most intriguing, perhaps, is Orchis italica known as ‘Naked Man Orchid’; look closely and you will see why.
By summer the flowers, trees, and grasses are alive with bees, butterflies, hawkmoths, crickets, and mantises. It’s also the main season for seeing reptiles: lizards, geckos, and several species of snake, as well as the occasional tortoise. As summer slips into autumn the trees change colour and the crocuses and cyclamen appear. And it’s soon harvest time, first for the grapes and then for the olives.
