Fifty One Shades of Grey

Day 56 (Tuesday)

Had a lazy day by the pool.  Tracey wasn’t quite so lazy as she baked a loaf of bread.

Day 57 (Wednesday)

After our lovely day at Mirtos Beach last week we decided to pay another visit.  Although it was another hot day when we got down to the beach we noticed that the waves were much higher than last week.  We couldn’t understand why most people were sitting well back from the sea.  After a couple of minutes we understood as a large wave came crashing down causing us to jump to our feet and leap back twenty feet.  The last time I saw old people move that fast was either St Margaret’s Christmas Market or the first day of the Damart sale.  Getting into the sea was quite tricky as the waved kept throwing you back, getting out again was even trickier as the current just sucked you back in.  We did eventually manage to get out without the need of a rope or lifeguard.

A day at Mirtos Beach is always followed by coffee in Assos, it’s the law.

Apologies for the lack of updates recently but we've had a lack of internet access and demanding guests to look after.  Hopefully, normal service will resume next week.  I should also be able to update smugmug.

 Tracey's Bread

Fifty One Shades of Grey at Mirtos Beach

We're Going to Need a Bigger Font

Day 54 (Sunday)

As Sunday was changeover day the villa was due its weekly clean so we thought we’d be helpful and go to Lassi to update the blog so we wouldn’t be in the way.  Updating the blog took a while because the waitress in the taverna could only grant us a few minutes access to the internet at a time.

When we got back to the villa the cleaner had only just arrived, typical.  While we were waiting for the cleaner to finish I received a text message from mum saying that their flight had been delayed by a couple of hours so they wouldn’t be arriving until 8:30pm.

At the airport there were lots of people and it looked as if more than one flight had been delayed.  The flight arrived at 8:37pm and the mothers (aka Janet and Heather) stepped forth onto Kefalonian soil.  They had talking to a Greek girl on the way over and she was surprised to learn that they had no idea where they were staying on the island.

Day 55 (Monday)

Started the day lazily with a swim in the pool before we left for a trip to Aghia Efimia for a late lunch at Paradise Beach tavern followed by a short walk and a swim (for two of us) in the sea while the other two of us read.  I think this is the first time we have been in the sea during October.

The Mother's have Arrived

 The Kindle Generation

And then there were (briefly) Six then Two Again

Day 51 (Thursday)

After yesterday’s exertions a lazy day was called for so we lazed around the pool without even having the energy for another round of Lilo Wars.

Day 52 (Friday)

Jane wanted to go and see the beach where the Italian soldiers marched up and down in the Captain Correlli film (Mirtos Beach).  We drove along the stunning coastline stopping to take lots of photos on the way.

I kept saying that Mirtos beach was great to look at from a distance but terrible to actually visit.  Happily, I was proved wrong, the beach was beautiful and the crystal clear sea was very warm.  I can’t believe it’s October next week.

A visit to Mirtos has to be followed by a trip to Assos (and its narrow Isthmus) for a cup of coffee.  Cris and Jane decided that Assos could be a potential holiday destination.  We travelled back to our villa for a quick shower before heading out to our local tavern (Enastron) for moussaka and kleftiko washed down with vanilla and chocolate ice cream (for some – Jane and Tracey).

Day 53 (Saturday)

We can’t quite believe that our week with Cris and Jane is over.  With heavy hearts we loaded the little Hyundai and set off for the airport.  While we were queuing to check in Tracey spotted her friend and (former) colleague Diane with her partner Ray further back in the queue so it was good to have a chat with them.  Once Cris and Jane had checked in we could go back up the hill for breakfast at a taverna.

The taverna was all abuzz with the news that Craig Revel Horwood from Strictly was on the flight.  Ray was particularly excited about this.  It sounds like they are going to have an interesting flight home.

Once we’d waved our fond farewells it was time to do some shopping and get ready for the arrival tomorrow of ‘the Mothers’.

View from our Villa

 Mirtos Beach (Assos in the background)

Assos (with its narrow Isthmus)

Assos

Easyjet Daahhling..

Now We Really Do Need a Bigger Boat

Day 49 (Tuesday)

We couldn’t hold back any longer!  Today was time for ‘Lilo Wars’.  We raced each other up and down the pool, Cris and Jane were victorious although I later discovered that they’d cheated by over inflating their lilo.  A steward’s enquiry resulted in their disqualification.  Their complaints about the integrity of the steward (me) fell on deaf ears.

Later on in the afternoon we went to Argostoli which is the main town on the island and took the ferry to the town of Lixouri.  There wasn’t much open in Lixouri so as it was happy hour we had a cocktail at the cocktail bar.  We asked for mojitos which was fortunate as it the only drink the cocktail waitress was confident about making.

The ferry seemed to sway a lot more on the trip back to Argostoli but that could have been the mojitos.

Day 50 (Wednesday)

We couldn’t quite believe that Cris and Jane still wanted to go through with the boat trip despite hearing about all our seafaring mishaps.  A free cool box was supplied with the boat so we went to a shopping first for food and drink to fill it with before a brief training session with the laid back Vasilli.

Once we were underway it wasn’t long before we found a beach to have breakfast.  Cris volunteered to be first off the boat to tie us to a rock.  There was a short ‘yelp’ as he disappeared over the side of the boat followed by a longer scream when he hit the water, the sea was rather deeper than he was expecting.

We enjoyed a pleasant morning of swimming, sunbathing and snorkelling before it was time to get back on board the boat.  Cris got back on first, Tracey was next.  Cris pulled from the boat and I pushed from behind.  I thought she was safely aboard but then I saw her bottom heading toward my head at great speed and we were back to square one.  Although I had sustained another head injury there were no Croatian women to pour vinegar all over me this time.

When we were all safely on board the anchor was weighed and Jane took over the helm on the way up the next bit of coast.  I’m sure it was nothing to do with her helmsmanship but we all got very wet as the boat bounced across the waves and we had taken on so much water we had to bail out with a plastic beaker we’d borrowed from the villa.

The next beach provided us with a good location for lunch and we then slowly made our way back to Aghia Efimia for a well earned Greek beer (Fix).

Two Salty Old Sea Dogs

Stop for Breakfast

And Then There Were Four

Day 47 (Sunday)

Awoke excitedly to the thought that other people would be joining us today.  Tracey and I had run out of things to talk about six weeks ago so it will be nice to have someone else to converse with.

The little girl had returned again and was hanging around expectantly.  After we had packed the car we asked her if we could pay, fully expecting her to get one of her parents but she took us into her office, pulled open a drawer of her desk and handed over our bill which we duly paid.

We went to our favourite spot in Aghia Efimia for lunch (the Paradise Beach Taverna as frequented by the Gibsons) and then headed off to Trapezaki to find the villa where we will be staying for the next two weeks.  The villa wasn’t due to be ready for us until 4pm so when we arrived at 2:30pm we fully expected to be turned away but there was no one around and the key was in the door so we moved in and got ourselves settled before going to the airport to pick up Cris and Jane.

Kefalonia airport is quite nice because you can sit in a taverna just outside the airport and watch the planes come in.  When we saw TCX1248 arrive we just walked down to the arrivals hall.  Tracey had been practising her waving and put this to good use when we saw Cris and Jane coming through passport control.  Jane told us tales of wind, rain and cold back in old Blighty but we didn’t believe her.  Off we went back to the villa for Chicken Pastitstada and to catch up with all the gossip.

Day 48 (Monday)

It was a nice warm day today so it was a good opportunity to try out the pool.  Someone had kindly left two lilos behind and we had great fun learning how to balance on these but we were much better at falling off of them.  The sea was calling so we drove to Aghia Efimia to find a quiet beach and followed it up with a late lunch/early dinner at Paradise Beach Taverna.  On the way back through Aghia Efimia we stopped and booked a motor boat for Wednesday (one with a steering wheel this time).

Leaving Gatwick

 A Warm Welcome

The Pool

Lulu and the haaaiiiirrcut

Day 44 (Thursday)

Arrived in Patras at about 6:30am.  Patras is Greece’s third largest city and literally means ‘door’ as it is the doorway to southern Greece.  The ferry terminal was quite a modern building where there were little offices for lots of ferry operators.  The ferry to Sami in Kefalonia was operated by Strintzis ferries, this was the only ferry operator we could not find.  I set off to find the elusive company and found their ticket booth about 1km further along the port but it was closed but there were lots of cafes around where we could have breakfast.

I returned to Tracey and reported my findings and we decided to decamp there, have breakfast and wait for the ticket office to open.  I’m going to have another rant about the Greek ferries now.  Why don’t they put all the ticket offices in one place?  Or at least provide signs to point you in the right direction.  The information desk was also unmanned (rant over).

During breakfast we were offered watches, dodgy DVDs and lottery tickets.  After a while we were visited by various small children holding out their hands and rubbing their tummies which was rather harrowing.  The children did look well fed, well dressed and clean and you could see their mother in the distance looking on.  Unfortunately they wouldn’t take no for an answer and only ran off when chased by the café owner.

The ferry office opened at 9:30am so we bought tickets and trundled the long way back to the ferry terminal.  At the terminal we discovered a lovely rooftop café where we could have stayed. Doh!

At 3:30pm we finally arrived in Kefalonia.  I assured Tracey that I was pretty sure where our accommodation was so I left her again and went off in search.  After 45 minutes I admitted defeat and we got a taxi.

Regular readers of our blog will not be surprised to learn that our accommodation in Sami is rather strange.  We were met by a 10 year old girl who showed us to our room and again we seem to be the only guests.

Day 45 (Friday)

Last night I started to feel a bit peculiar and put it down to the long ferry journey but today I am no better so I’ll have to take it easy.  However, from my sick bed I managed to negotiate a deal on a hire car to be delivered this evening.  I started to feel a little better as the morning progressed so we went downstairs to discover that the little girl has been replaced by a small, scruffy, white, cute dog who greeted us enthusiastically and walked with us part way along the road to Sami.  Tracey is feeling fine and managed to polish off a full English while I just had toast.

Tracey refuses to let me cut her hair so we went in search of a hairdresser and eventually found one.  We went in and Tracey asked for a haircut, the lady couldn’t speak a word of English and seemed reluctant to do it there and then despite the fact that it was empty of other customers.  After lots of hand gestures we booked an appointment to have something done tomorrow afternoon.

Upon our return to our apartment we were greeted by Lulu (we know this is her name from other people’s reviews) but still no sign of any humans.  I’m a bit worried about who I hand over the cash too.  Will the little girl return or do I just leave it with the dog?

Day 46 (Saturday – HAIRCUT DAY)

There are other guests in the hotel!  They are two cats who must be German because they were first to the sun loungers.

Off to the supermarket this morning to get supplies for the arrival of Jane and Cris tomorrow.  Beer and wine were the main purchases.

Today is haircut day.  Tracey entered the salon and discovered the hairdresser had been joined by another younger lady who had obviously been drafted in to translate but her English wasn’t much better.  I think Tracey is pleased with the results although when she came out she went straight into the shop next door and bought a hat.

We are very much looking forward to seeing our friends tomorrow and we are hoping the accommodation we are moving into will be a little more normal.

the German cats

 Sami

 Lulu the receptionist

 the Jamie Lee-Curtis cut

Auf Wiedersehn Corfu Pet

Day 42 (Tuesday)

The only beach resort that the local buses went to was Dassia.  To get to Sidari you would need to get on a long distance green bus (sorry Gayle, we didn’t do it).  We looked at the beach and the sea, had a coffee and went back to Corfu Town for a bit more of a wander.   Before we arrived in Corfu we managed to avoid any mosquito bites but the recent storms seem to have brought them out and we are being eaten alive.

Day 43 (Wednesday)

Our ferry wasn’t due to leave Corfu Town until 11:15pm so we had a lot of time to kill today.  We had to be out of our room at midday so we closed the door behind us at 11:59am and went to sit at the bar for a couple of hours to read.  The barman was only too happy to call a taxi for us (and see the back of us).

We were dropped off near the Liston and we went to have a late lunch.  Before we could even sit down a retired couple from Newcastle on the next table asked if we’d just arrived so we told them all about our travel plans.  For the next two hours they told us all about their holidays.  They showed us their mosquito bites and we seemed to have got off lightly!  They told us they were staying in the Club 18-30 resort of Kavos where it was busy last week but had gone very quiet this week.  We seem to have made quite an impression as when they finally left it was handshakes and kisses all round.  We were exhausted but it did help to pass the time.

The walk to the port was longer than expected, we stopped at a café and when it was time to leave the waiter asked us if we were going to the airport and we said we were catching a ferry to Patras so we could get to Kefalonia.  He said that this ferry journey did not exist which worried us for a little while until we worked out that he thought I said Paxos (the ‘s’ in Patras is silent).  We asked him where he takes his holidays and we talked for a good thirty minutes about his favourite places in Greece, this all helped to pass some more time.

There are lots of things we love about the Greek islands but the ferry ticketing system is not one of them.  Having purchased our tickets on Monday we had to walk 500m to the ferry operator’s (Anek) office to check in.  When we got there the girl behind the counter tore off the bottom portion and gave them back.  What was the point in that?  The ferry finally arrived and we spent an uncomfortable six hours trying to get some sleep.

Dassia