Ochi Day

Day 82 (Sunday)

Spent a pleasant morning having coffee at the taverna and watching the parade before heading off to the airport.

Paneotis

 Poliniki

The Parade

 Petrangelo and Poliniki

 The Dignataries

Soaking up the Last of the Sun

Day 79 (Thursday)

Spent the day at Antisamos beach.  We’ve noticed that the sea follows a similar pattern here every day.  When we first arrive the sea is a little bit choppy, at about 3:30pm a dozen large waves come in.  You have to be alert at this point and move your towels away from the sea.  After the waves have gone the surface of the sea turns ‘glasslike’ and it feels as if you are swimming in a lake.

While we were swimming a family of goats came on to the beach.  A few of them climbed onto the rocks and started to drink the salty water that had gathered in the rock pools.  Another two noticed the plastic bag by our towels that contained our lunch, Tracey leapt out of the sea like a dolphin and managed to save our sandwiches.

Day 80 (Friday)

See Day 79 (but without the goats)

Day 81 (Saturday)

Weather was a bit changeable today (as predicted) so we spent the day reading, packing and cleaning the cottage.  In the evening we went to the local taverna to say our fond farewells to Pedrangelo, his family, Amanda and Russell, Kevin and Joyce, Dave and Marian.

Tomorrow is ‘Ochi Day’ in Greece (ochi means No) when they commemorate the day in 1940 when the Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas said ‘No’ when the Axis powers asked permission to enter his country.  Weather permitting there should be a parade through the village tomorrow morning.  I'll try and get some photos and post them later.

After this we will begin our journey home.  We will be flying to Athens in the evening then on Monday we’ll fly to Heathrow.

Snaking Our Way Up the Mountain

Day 78 (Wednesday)

As you have probably worked out from the photos there are two cats that have adopted us during our stay here in Kalivaki Cottage.  They are called Mum and Kitten as we are trying not to name them because that will make it even harder to leave them behind.

After we had given the cats their breakfast this morning they wandered off for their morning constitutional.  Thirty minutes later they returned and Tracey said that Mum had something in her mouth – Yikes!  It’s a snake!  Presents like that we can do without.  As we obviously didn’t want it she gave it to Kitten for her to play with.  Fortunately, it was dead and she took it over the wall with her.

After that excitement we needed a nice long walk.  Instead of going down the path we went up the track into the mountains.  It was hard work but well worth the effort as we could see both sides of the island when we got towards the top.  We found a nice spot for lunch surrounded by alpine flowers (and goat poo).  When we got back I worked out that we were 700m above sea level (about two thirds of a Mount Snowdon).

Kitten (before the snake incident)

The route up the mountain

We walked up there

Driving Up North

Day 76 (Monday)

Started the day with some food shopping in Aghia Efimia and discovered that the day was actually quite hot so we went to Mirtos Beach.  It’s quite strange to be swimming in the sea at the end of October.  We also realised that this time next week we shall be back home.  I wonder if the weather is the same back in Swindon?  I must check.

Day 77 (Tuesday)

We’ve often looked at the road across the valley and wondered what it would be like to look back at us from there, so off we went.  It’s a spectacular road with great views out to the island of Ithaca.

We enjoyed the drive so much that we kept on going until we reached Fiskardo at the north of the island.  Fiskardo is quite a ‘yachty’ place and we spent a pleasant couple of hours watching people on a Sunsail holiday  bringing their yachts back in to the harbour.

When we got back to the cottage I checked on the Swindon weather, 8 degrees at the weekend, surely that’s a mistake.  I’ll check again later in the week.

Looking back to Makriotika

 Looking down on Aghia Efimia

 The Island of Ithaca

 Fiskardo

  Fiskardo

 A goat

In the Market for an Old Relic

Day 74 (Saturday)

St Gerasimos day today so we went to St Gerasimos’ Church.  We have driven through many times and it has always been deserted.  Today it was very different, thousands of people lined the road to view the sarcophagus being paraded.  There is also a temporary market selling street food, books, toys, clothes and lots of other tat.

Most of the islanders gather here and former islanders from the mainland come over to visit friends and family and to pay their respects to the saint.  We watched the procession and then walked through the market, stopping for a delicious gyros along the way.

We had our swimming costumes in the car so we stopped at Antisamos beach for a swim.  It’s the first time we’ve been to this beach, although it’s not as picturesque as Mirtos the snorkelling is much better.

Day 75 (Sunday)

After we’d swept and cleaned the cottage we went for a walk.  Instead of our usual route we walked down to the bottom of the valley, found the track that goes towards Mirtos, walked along this for a while before making the steep climb back up to Makriotika (a sort of triangular route).

 St Gerasimos Church

The Sarcophagus of St Gerasimos

 Antisamos Beach

 Antisamos Beach

  Antisamos Beach

www.catsonsunloungers.com

Day 70 (Tuesday)

The weather was still a little unsettled today so there wasn’t too much we could do except read our books in the garden between the rain showers.

Day 71 (Wednesday)

Better weather today although we still didn’t do much apart from a few chores.  The cats have really made themselves at home, we have to get up early to get on our sun loungers.  We also made an instructional video on how to lock Kalivaki cottage which we hope will be useful (see below).

Day 72 (Thursday)

Hooray!  The warm and sunny weather has returned.  We were going a bit stir crazy so we went to Mirtos Beach for a swim.  The sea is still amazingly warm.  Just before we were about to pack up, a man and a woman attached to a parachute came swooping off of the cliff, around the bay and landed on the beach, rather them than me.

When we got back to the cottage we put our beach shoes outside to dry.  A few minutes later we noticed that one of my shoes was missing.  Who would steal a beach shoe?  My money is on the dog next door.

Day 73 (Friday)

It was about time we went for a walk so we went on our usual route down the track to Aghia Efimia.  After about 200 yards we realised that the walk would be even more difficult than usual as parts of the track had disappeared during the rainstorm on Monday.  In places we had to climb down to river bed, walk along a bit and then clamber back up to the track.

After we’d read our books for a bit we had a coffee and walked back to the cottage where we showered and got in the car to go all the way back down again to do some shopping (including purchasing a new pair of beach shoes).

Tracey baked Amanda and Russell some chocolate buns to thank them for buying us some wine the other night.  In the evening we went to the taverna where it was very busy because tomorrow is a feast day for St Gerasimos, the patron saint of Kefalonia.

Only the finest wines for us

 Our paella supper

www.catsonsunloungers.com

Slip Sliding Away

Day 68 (Sunday)

After all the promises of miserable weather have come to naught, today it finally arrived.  We were confined to barracks all day.  We had done all our washing yesterday so today it was all draped around the cottage.  Tracey spent the day making leek and potato soup and having a go at some jam buns we had tried in Croatia.

In the evening the rain had finally gone so we went down to the local taverna where we met a ‘new’ couple – Kevin and Joyce from Leeds who have a house in the village and visit a few times a year.  We talked about the track that we walk down to go to Aghia Efimia, it goes alongside a dry river bed and we wanted to know if there was ever a time when water runs along it.  We also wanted to know why there was an abandoned Italian army truck next to a giant pink teapot.  The Italian truck was apparently used in the Captainn Corelli film but the giant pink teapot wasn’t.

We are obviously integrating well into the village as we were left holding the taverna owner’s baby while he and his wife cooked our dinner.

Day 69 (Monday)

The rain stayed away overnight but at 8:00am it really started to hammer down.  Hail the size of olives also joined in with the weather mix rain, thunder and lightning.

It did start to calm down a bit by midday so I went for a little walk to survey any damage.  I found out the answer to yesterday’s question about the dry riverbed.  A lot of the track had collapsed under the weight of water and one of the roads into Makriotika was blocked by rubble brought down from the mountains.  A JCB was already on the scene clearing a path so that cars could pass through.

Later, we went down to Aghia Efimia and discovered that we got off fairly lightly.  There is no river mouth in the town so the water just pours through the streets leaving lots of mud in its wake.

Italian Army Truck and a Giant Pink Teapot

 Croatian Jam Buns

There was a road here once

The Long and Stony Road

Day 65 (Thursday)

We were pleased to hear yesterday about the birth of George Christopher Wright.  10lb 3oz !!  Congratulations Steph, Adrian and Holly.

The forecast for this morning was miserable again and we awoke to grey skies so we took our time over breakfast thinking that the rain was on its way.  However, the sky seemed to brighten up so we went to explore the nearby mountain track and ended up walking the 4km down to Aghia Efimia where we read our books by the sea wishing we’d brought our swimming costumes.  We’ve now decided to ignore the weather forecast.

After a cup of coffee we walked back to the cottage and realised that it was all up hill on the way back.  Supper this evening was homemade prawn paella (with enormous shell-on prawns), the cats really loved that.

Day 66 (Friday)

Did very little today.  The day started grey again and looked as if it was going to brighten up enough for us to go to Mirtos beach but it stayed rather overcast and we chickened out of a swim in the sea. 

We went shopping at the local mini market which turned out to be ‘not so mini’.  It was a real Alladin’s cave of goods and we purchased some of the excellent 1.50 euro wine.  The evening was spent at the local taverna where we met Amanda and Russell again.  Pedrangelo’s wife and baby (Polanicki) were also there.

When we were in Trapezaki we bought a mysterious fruit that looked like a cross between a pear and an apple.  It turned out to be a quince, Tracey tried to stew it and although it was then edible it was still a bit peculiar.  This evening Pedrangelo gave us quince as it is supposed to be prepared along with yoghurt – it was delicious.

There was a thunderstorm over night and we were woken up at 1:00am by something scampering around in the roof space.  I thought that discretion was the better part of valour and didn’t investigate too closely.

Day 67 (Saturday)

Even though it was another grey start this morning we still walked down the mountain track for cooked breakfast in Aghia Efimia.  It’s very hard on the ankles walking down the stony track so we felt like we’d earned our breakfast. 

After we had walked back up the hill we cleaned and swept the cottage then Tracey cooked Greek roast chicken with potatoes for our evening meal.  There is only a ‘toaster oven’ in the cottage so everything takes a bit longer to cook.  Guess what?  The cats really loved the chicken.

The track to Aghia Efimia

Mummy Cat

 Baby Cat (Batman)

Raining Cats and Cats

Day 63 (Tuesday)

The sun was still shining this morning so we went to Aghia Efimia for a swim followed by coffee at Café Fior d’Amore and had a chat with Caroline the waitress.

We had pork chops in the garden in the evening.  We’re not feeding all the cats in the neighbourhood but a mummy cat turns up every evening with her little kitten and we just can’t resist.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks rather miserable so we are preparing ourselves for a day ‘confined to barracks’.

Day 64 (Wednesday)

There was a storm overnight which gave everything a good wash (including our hire car).  The sun was peeping through the clouds so we took a risk and went to Assos to walk up the hill to the remains of the 16^th century fortress, as the weather was a bit cooler.

When we arrived in Assos it was actually quite hot but we went on the walk anyway and were rewarded with lovely views out to sea and back over the town of Assos.  We quite like this miserable weather.

Tuna pasta bake tonight, the cats will love that!

The fortress at Assos 

Lovely 'miserable' weather

Assos (and its narrow isthmus)

One of our evening visitors

Making our way to Makriotika

Day 61 (Sunday)

After two weeks at Georgia villa in Trapezaki it was time to move on today.  The villa was ours until 10:00am so we closed the door behind us at 09:59:59 and began our journey over the mountains to the village of Makriotika [makri-ott-ika].

We had been sent google earth files locating the cottage but we still couldn’t find it so we rang the owner (Gerry) who said he would be there in five minutes.  While we were waiting an English lady (Amanda) came up to us and asked us if we were looking for Polyanthi, we said we weren’t but we still had quite a long chat with her about the village and bored her with our travel stories.

Makriotika has one taverna and one shop, the shop sells cartons of wine for 1.50 euros and the taverna is open every evening.  After about thirty minutes she went on her way and Gerry still hadn’t made an appearance.  We went for a little wander and had a chat with the taverna owner (Petro Angelos) and discovered that roasted suckling pig was on the menu for tonight (the pork chops we bought yesterday would have to go in the freezer).

There was still no sign of Gerry so we gave him another call and discovered there had been a mix up in the family, each of them thinking the other had gone to meet us.  Katerina (the mother) turned up five minutes later and we followed her to the cottage and began to acclimatise to the altitude and village life.

Kalivaki Cottage is very cute and very ‘Cath Kidston’ (according to Tracey).  The suckling pig at the taverna was delicious, Amanda and her partner Russell were there and we chatted further about life in Kefalonia.

Day 62 (Sunday)

After a slow start this morning we spent an enjoyable hour or so translating the instructions on the washing machine.  I don’t know why we spent so long over this but it was one of those jobs you just had to finish once you had started.  If you ever need to know the Greek for ‘squeezing’ and ‘pumping’ then you know who to ask.  Once we’d finished translating all the words on the dial we decided we were no further forward.

It might be our last sunny day for a while so we went to Mirtos Beach (a ten minute drive away) for a swim followed by supper back at the cottage.

Kalivaki Cottage

Coffee and Breakfast area

 Supper and journal writing area

 Indoor flushing toilet (photo for the mothers info)

At Loggerheads with Each Other

Day 58 (Thursday)

Although Tracey and I have been to Kefalonia six times now we’ve never really explored the southern end of the island so today we decided to correct this.  We drove down south and visited the resort of Katelios followed by the larger resort of Skala.  At Skala we found a giant chess set so mum challenged me to a game.  It was a close fought match but needless to say I won (if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have mentioned it in the blog).  The next resort we visited was Poros where we listened in to a sailing group having their induction meeting.  Now that we are experienced sailors we made sure the correct information was given out.

On the way back to the villa we caught a brief glimpse of the sunset which is all over very quickly here and had almost disappeared by the time I got my camera out.

We took the mothers to one of our old haunts for supper tonight and it was almost cool enough for the cardigans to have their first outing.

Day 59 (Friday)

It couldn’t be put off any longer, with three women in tow we had to go for a shopping trip to Argostoli.  Once the shopping had been completed and we’d been revived with coffee and frappe we walked back along the harbour front.  As I mentioned earlier Tracey and I have been here six times and on those six visits (and numerous harbour front walks) we’ve never seen a loggerhead turtle.  Tracey’s mum has now been here twice and seen loggerhead turtles twice!  There were two of them (about 3 foot long) hanging around a fisherman’s boat that was throwing small fish into the sea.

We spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing by the pool before heading out to Enastron (the local tavern) for supper.  The mothers both had mousaka which was huge and very rich.  As we had already had a meze as a starter they were both unable to finish it and were mortified when Tracey asked for a doggie bag.

Day 60 (Saturday)

Time to say goodbye to the mothers today.  We had another stress free time at Kefalonia airport and had plenty of time for the customary breakfast at Icarus taverna between checking in the suitcases and getting through security.  If only all airport check ins could be this way.  We bade the mothers a tearful farewell (well at least Tracey did!) and made our way to the supermarket for our weekly shop.  We have had a very enjoyable week showing our mums the island and we hope they have enjoyed it too.

The afternoon was spent catching up on our chores, washing and ironing mostly, and mooching about around the pool and enjoying the sunshine as we do not know how much longer it will last.

Tomorrow we move on to our last location in a village in the mountains just beyond Aghia Efimia providing we can actually find it as the directions are a little complicated.

Loggerhead Turtle

Even more shades of Grey

Spassky vs Fisher

 Sunset over Trapezaki