Jeepster McBuggy

We had resolved yesterday that today would be a getting a feel for the island day where we would mostly be just sorting out plans for the rest of our time here. So with that in mind, we slept until after 9 this morning, which is almost unheard of. Lily was first awake of the girls and soon enough I heard an anguished raised voice from the kitchen asking why we hate her so much and wondering if we even loved her. Our crime, buying multifruit juice that we know she doesn’t like, rather than a single fruit juice that we know she does. Sometimes as a parent you just know that you have done the wrong thing by your children even though your intentions might have been good and all you can do is hold your hands up and apologise. I will leave it up to anyone reading to decide which side of that particular line this episode fell on.
Gradually everyone else woke up and gradually we got ready to head out. This involved plaiting some hair, applying some eye make up and of course deciding which particular outfit would work best for an island meander. I found myself wondering if the Kirkwoods had the same problem for their day in Vienna. Soon though we were ready and off walking into town to get sorted. I was leading the way and directing and inadvertently took us about 50 metres the wrong way, only to suffer an onslaught of invective questioning not only my parentage but also my worth as a human being. I resolved to lift my game. As we were walking down the hill to the port I spotted a cherry red jeep outside a car rental place and casually remarked that if I was going to hire a car that would be what I would get. Now Jess has never knowingly passed up an opportunity to take a bull by the horns so 30 minutes later we had hired that cherry red jeep, plus another vehicle (as the jeep only seats 3) and also booked a sunset snorkelling trip for a few days time.
Our plans for the day had done a u-turn so we headed back to our villa to grab all our swimming gear and set off to explore the island a bit. It was fun driving Jeepster McBuggy (as I had christened it), feeling the wind blowing around as we cruised the windy island roads, although it was squeaky and bumpy this was more than offset by the envious looks we were receiving, we are nothing if not posers. We parked the cars at a spot near a beach then went in search of some suncream, which we found, although we were a bit short of food. There were a bunch of tavernas and while looking for some pastries Lily spotted one that had Aperol and said she had been serving them at work all summer and really wanted to try one. Any excuse to get on the sauce early in the afternoon, not sure who she gets that from. So we sat down to have some lunch and Lily enjoyed her Aperol spritz, which is Aperol, Prosecco and fizzy water, a perfect euro summer drink.
We had some food which was tasty and then it was beach o’clock, I for one was feeling very hot. It was only a short walk and we were very pleasantly surprised when we saw that it had plenty of shade, and even more importantly, was very sparsely populated. We had been expecting it to be rammed but Alonissos has continued to impress us. Needless to say, the waters were calm and crystal clear and we were all cooling off in no time. We stayed for quite a while, chilling, snorkelling, skimming stones and just generally enjoying being together and hanging out doing nothing. There is literally nothing in the world I love more.
I could have sat there for most of the evening but Jeepster McBuggy was calling. So after a while we packed up and jumped in the cars, which you literally have to do as there are no doors, and headed off for the Chora (old town) at the top of the hill with a plan to have an ice cream and watch the sunset. It is a magnificent spot, with views over the Aegean, and as the sun was going down the colours of the sky were changing. We wandered around, it was truly the Greece we had been hoping for based on all the travel guides, a hilltop village but a staircase or alleyway around every corner. Not only that, it had a lovely ice cream shop so all our dreams were coming true. We wandered as we licked, taking photos as we went, it was the sort of place we felt would have been perfect just to sit at and have few drinks and spend an evening. But I couldn’t do that to Jeepster, plus being such a picture postcard spot the crowds were starting to build up so I think the ambiance would have changed if we had stayed any longer.
It was time to head back to our villa and rest up after a very full day, apart from poor Jess who had some work she just had to get done so that she can properly enjoy the rest of our time together. We have the cars for tomorrow as well so we shall explore Alonissos some more, I am at the point where I think it could not be anything less than awesome.Читать далее