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It’s all Greek to me

July - August 2024
  • M. Pául Simpsôn
  • Jessica Simpson
A Simpson summer in Greece Read more
  • M. Pául Simpsôn
  • Jessica Simpson

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  • It’s all Greek to me

    If you can’t be good, be Corfu.

    July 10, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    It's been a while but we're back. Not since the Barbenheimer release date last July has there been such an anticipation for an event. We've been to Asia, we've been to Norway, we've been to the Alps so what next, “How about Greece”, Jess said? And since she is the organiser, we were all forced to agree. Not that there was realistically any argument, who wouldn't want to spend four weeks doing a bit of Greek island hopping. One massive drawback was that for the first time in our lives we are having to travel as a five rather than as a six because Lily has less interest in spending all her time with her family and we are no longer able to force her to do what she is told. But we did manage to persuade her to join us for a week at the end, so we all have that to look forward to. Enough of the preview, on with the travels!
    Day 1 was nothing much to write home about, so mostly I won't bother. Suffice to say, there was last minute packing and cleaning to do, and a little stressing about whether we had everything we needed, almost certainly not because we are trying to travel light, we were under strict instructions. Apart from one of our group being called an effing unhelpful so-and-so who doesn't do anything, although in the interests of anonymity I will just call him 'Annoying P', it passed without event and everything got sorted and we set off for Toulouse, our departure point. Now everyone has seen an airport, they are pretty much the same the world over so nothing to report there. Same with the flight, smooth sailing all the way, but we did all keep our seatbelts on the whole way, just in case of any turbulence. We got off the plane and a bus was waiting to take us to the terminal, and although it was very hot, even at eight at night, I feel like it may have been overkill since it was literally 100 metres away.
    A hire car was next stop, and this was also very simple, apart from the guy trying to sell us insurance that we might need in case the insurance we had already paid for made us claim. I didn't really understand what he was on about and we were starting to get tired so i just said no, signed whatever he stuck in front of me, and we were on our way, we had football to watch, so needed to move quickly. As anyone who knows Jess can attest, she loves a challenge, so this is what we like to do. Tonight’s challenge was to navigate the mean streets of Corfu and drive us to our accommodation. Actually, the navigation part was down to me, and I delegated it to Google maps, so that wasn’t too much of a problem. So, to make it more challenging, in the dwindling twilight, she needed to do it in her sunglasses. Google maps threw up some obstacles, I think it may have taken us down a few dodgy options, made us hang a left at a no left turn intersection, and basically just waited until the last possible second to tell us when to turn, but we overcame them all and got out of town and on to the dark and deserted country roads, that seem to have been created before they knew how wide cars would be. Luckily, as we drove the final stretch there was nothing coming in the other direction so Jess was free to bomb along at 25mph and we arrived at our destination just after the start of the match. The taverna was shut but they said they would make us dinner anyway which was hugely appreciated as we were all starving. Very quickly we realised that being vegan was not going to be an option while we are here, if it doesn’t have meat it’s going to have cheese, and it is all sooo good. We managed to catch the end of the football and were very happy when England scored in the last minute to see off the crazy Dutch. We were all pretty worn out by this time so there was just time for a quick call to Lily to make sure she wasn’t missing us too much, which she wasn’t, and then it was time for bed. The real adventure starts tomorrow.    Read more

  • It’s all Greek to me

    Ipsos factos

    July 11, 2024 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    The dinner we had last night was so good we thought there was nothing else for it but to go back to the taverna for breakfast this morning. It is fair to say that a full Greek is a much healthier option than a full English! We had juice, cheese, tomato, cucumber, olives, a small amount dead pig and what seems to be some obligatory feta. Wrapping up the savoury side was some omelette and toast. Then there was a variety of fruit and nuts with some Greek yoghurt (just called yoghurt here), honey and a strawberry and a fig marmalade. I was hoping for some figjam, but instead had to make do with telling the girls just how good I am. A couple of coffees to wash it all down and it’s hard to imagine a better start to the day. Time for a rest after that, though not for Jess who had to battle a rubbish internet connection to join a work discussion that went on way too long. The girls and I had a short stroll up to the village to check it out, there was not much to report, but we did manage to pick up the first fridge magnet of our travels.
    Soon enough Jess was done and we could go out for the afternoon. First port of call was a supermarket, we hadn’t brought suncream with us because of plane liquid rules, so this was vital in this heat. The first place we stopped all they had was 30+, we bought some and started lathering. Then got back in and headed for the delights of Ipsos. Back in 1995, Jess had spent a summer working there and to this day we hear new stories about she got up to in those wild and carefree days, quite a few of them are not suitable for a younger audience. We wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and the short answer is not much. The long answer is fairly similar. But there were shops there and we managed to pick up some 50+ suncream. You would think that would resolve our suncream issues for quite some time to come, although as I will explain later, you would be wrong.
    We were all getting hot and bothered so it was back in the car and heading a bit further up the coast to a beach so we could finally get into the water. It was nothing special but bloody amazing at the same time, the water so cool and clear and just what we needed. After a while we decided to move on and drive a bit further around, we had a bit of a plan but nothing concrete. Jess then decided that the 2 bottles of suncream just weren’t going to be enough and I decided that we would stop at the first mini-mart we saw. So we did this, but it was rubbish and there was no luck on the suncream but we picked up a few supplies we needed. Then back in the car, and 5 minutes up the road we came to a large town with a large supermarket so we stopped again, luckily our 50+ dreams came true. At this point we decided to head for home which involved some more very narrow, windy roads but we made it safely and enjoyed a cooling off swim in the pool here. It is an infinity pool that seems to have a view of half the island, it’s very cool. For dinner we thought we might wander up to the village but when we got there it didn’t seem like anywhere was doing food so we just came back to our trusty taverna. We proceeded to gorge ourselves on Greek salad (funnily enough not just called a salad) and way too much cheese, including several slabs of feta. A cold beer to wash it down with goes without saying. One of the servers is a young boy of about 10, I assume part of the family who own the place, and last night Jess was full of the joy of being here and in her kindness gave him a €5 tip. Tonight she seemed to be busy trying to partner him up with one of the girls, telling him their names every time he was at the table for no apparent reason. Anyway, at the end of the meal he came over and gave us all a complimentary ice cream, so that was €5 well spent, and needless to say he now has his choice of bride.    Read more

  • It’s all Greek to me
    22

    A day out in Carfu

    July 12, 2024 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    A leisurely wake up this morning, there was no need to rush so we all enjoyed a bit of an extra lie in. I whipped up a lovely breakfast of crumbled cinnamon biscuit, banana and (Greek) yogurt plus a gallon or so of coffee to set me up for the day. An awesome bit of news greeted us early today as Ruby got her results for her French bac. She checked it online and the smile spreading across her face was a good sign, 18 out of 20 in both her written and oral exams. Nothing less than expected of course, and a reward for all the hard work and procrastination throughout the year. So well done Ruby.
    One of reasons we are able to spend 4 weeks on holiday is that Jess and I work remotely, one of the drawbacks of working remotely is that we have to work when we are on holiday. So that was what the rest of the morning entailed. Luckily in these situations the girls are pretty good at amusing themselves Ruby and Allegra normally read and Tate just sleeps until she is told to get up. Crappy internet makes working more difficult than it needs to be but we get it done so we can get out. The destination today was a spectacular monastery on a hill and one of the nicest beaches on the island, as recommended by a Google search of things to do in Corfu. We set off for a 45 minute drive, appreciating the aircon in the car. As we got close to our destination the traffic started building up, it was very slow going negotiating the windy, narrow roads, other traffic and pedestrians. I’m not sure how, but it seems that word had got out about the spectacular monastery on a hill and one of the nicest beaches on the island. I blame Google. Or Instagram. Either way, and I do appreciate the irony, there’s not much I dislike more than tourists, why can’t they stay away from the cool places I want to visit. So a u-turn was in order, as well as a new destination required. First off we stopped at a Taverna for lunch in some random village, it was tasty, but our standards have been set unrealistically high so no more than a 6 out of 10.
    When we got back to our car we noticed we had a screw in one of our tyres so that caused a bit of worry, but it wasn’t flat so we decided to drive on and see how it held up. Another 45 minutes of driving to get to a different beach (search term - fairly average beaches in Corfu) on some pretty rugged roads, we really wanted to test out our tyre. We were nice and hot and ready for a swim by the time we got there, and not overly concerned that our search terms had been spot on. The water was cold and clear and that was all that mattered. After a dip we gave Lily a call, she was sitting at home resting between shifts drinking hot chocolate and feeling tired. It sucks that she is not here with us.
    After a bit longer we headed back to our villa, we realised that in order to have a 6/10 lunch and under an hour on a fairly average beach we had probably spent over 2.5 hours driving so agreed that we probably needed to plan things a bit better. Once back at the villa another end of day swim was in order to refresh and the some time to chill out and, if needed, have a bit of a nanna nap. Toasted sandwiches was the order of the day for dinner, how about a bit of feta in there, don’t mind if I do. Very tasty. We sat outside as it was a perfect evening, and the girls started working on their own blog, ‘Somebody call John Travolta’. If you can find it you may need to put it into Google Translate unless you speak teenager, I didn’t understand a word of it, and I have been doing the same things they have.
    Corfu has been a good introduction to Greece but I feel like I have seen all I really need to hear so tomorrow we are moving on to a new island.    Read more

  • It’s all Greek to me
    Waiting at car hire place
    Waiting at ferry portOur ferryOn the ferryWalking to villaThe view from our villa

    Paxi maxi taxi

    July 13, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Goodbye to Sokraki Villas, which we loved, and Corfu which we are fairly ambivalent about. Today was moving day, always quite strenuous and potentially stressful as we travel from one place to another. Packing was first up, it seems like we have barely had time to unpack but it is what it is. We haven’t accumulated anything more than 3 bottles of suncream so it all fit into our bags, but we were transporting quite a bit of water so that weighed us down a bit. We had a ferry booked for 2pm so we worked backwards from there, drive and drop off car, bus to town for a bit of a stroll, bus to port with time to spare , catch ferry to next island. A 10.30 departure it was to be, and we were off in time so what could possibly go wrong?
    Well we were never actually running late but it always felt like we were. We got to the car hire place and did all the checks and they handed me the paperwork to sign when I told the guy about the screw in the tyre, we had discussed it beforehand and decided that it would be morally wrong not to say something, what if it caused someone else a problem.? Then I was told I could take it and get it fixed for €15 or go through their system which would cost maybe 5 times more. They offered to drive me to the place to get it done so that’s what we did. On the way he told me I really shouldn’t have said anything, they would have picked it up later. I tried to explain morals but he just looked at me with pity. He also explained that if we went through their system it would have cost about €120. It took about 10 minutes or so to fix and in the end they only charged €10, so I felt like that was a small price to pay for my moral superiority. Once that was done, they took us in the shuttle so we could catch a bus to town, and during this ride he explained to Jess that if we had gone through their system it would have cost about €250, I did not want to find out how high it might have gone if he had kept talking.
    This had all slightly delayed us so the stroll about town was aborted, it was hot and we thought it best just to get to the port. The bus dropped us and the rest of the passengers off, and not knowing where to go we just decided to follow the crowd as everyone was going the same way. Unfortunately this was towards the ferries for Italy and Albania, not what we wanted at all. We had seen a boat from the same company we were travelling with so headed towards that and asked someone on board where we should go. He knew nothing and pointed us further around so we kept going. We saw a ticket office so asked there, they knew nothing and pointed us further around. We saw the port authority… I think you probably have the gist by now. We walked all the way to the other end of the port and saw what we thought was our boat so Jess went to check, only to be told our boat had broken down and been cancelled but that we could catch the later one at 3pm. We weren’t filled with confidence so managed to find the offices of our ferry company across the road and went and asked there. They told us we would be put on a bus at 2.30 to take us to a port on the south of the island and we would go with another ferry company from there. It’s always good to get two different stories in a situation like that, that way you can never be sure if either of them know what the hell they are talking about. We actually had quite a bit of time to kill, as I said we never were actually running late, it just felt like we always were. None of us had any inclination to do much though so we just hung around waiting.
    At 2.30 the bus turned up as promised which I never doubted for second, and although it had definitely seen better days, a bit like a lot of Corfu, it got us to the other ferry port and the ferry turned up after a bit and it was all good, we were off to Paxi. We rocked up about 5pm and needed to get to our accommodation, and as we are not hiring a car here we thought we could catch a cab, but as there are 5 of us a small one just wouldn’t do, unfortunately there was no Paxi maxi taxi waiting so we decided to walk. Apart from the walking part, none of that is true, our accommodation is only a 10 minute walk from the port. 11 minutes later we were in the swimming pool cooling off. This villa is the only one we are staying at on our trip that has a pool so we want to make the most of it. We chatted to Lily who told her work today that she was going to stop working there which had been a little stressful but it sounds like she handled it pretty well.
    As we had no food we had to wander down to the town to pick some up so it was just a short swim. The town is very different from Corfu, there are plenty of yachts moored up and a lot of money around I think. We found a bakery and picked up some spinach pies and cheese pies, I hadn’t eaten since a bit of yogurt and fruit for breakfast almost 10 hours earlier, I was starving. Then a shop was found, supplies were acquired and it was back to the villa for another swim. It was almost 10pm by the time we had dinner and we were all pretty knackered, though a couple of beers had taken the edge off for me. Not sure what adventure tomorrow will bring but it is definitely time for bed.    Read more

  • It’s all Greek to me
    1

    A dayos near Gaios

    July 14, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    All sorts of potential plans were discussed this morning for what we could get up to today but after a long day yesterday we wanted to let the girls sleep, which they did until about midday. Then when they did stir they weren’t keen on doing much, saying it was too hot to go out in the midday sun. So we didn’t push it and I had a bit of a swim, Jess did some work and the girls gradually came to life. We had some lunch at home and then began the process of getting organised to go out. This is not a quick process at the best of times but when putting suncream on is added to the mix it takes forever.
    Eventually we were done and our intention was to stroll into town, maybe buy some dresses (not for me obviously), get some food supplies and see about hiring a boat for tomorrow. Part one was not as easy as it sounds. Jess had seen a dress yesterday that she liked but couldn’t remember where so we needed to retrace our steps, all the while checking other shops in case they had anything nice. Shopping in hot weather is not much fun, svitzing like a putz while trying on clothes, or even while standing around waiting for others to try on clothes, is not that pleasant. Even worse if you can’t find anything you like. We were in and out of every dress shop on the island, but we still couldn’t find the elusive dress that Jess had seen yesterday. We did manage to get the good supplies we needed, and we did speak to someone about a boat, although we can’t hire that one until Tuesday. One last lap looking for the dress and there it was, hanging outside one of the shops we had already been in to. Unfortunately upon trying it on it just wasn’t right so most of our trek was for nothing. Only Allegra got something, she picked out a long white skirt, the benefits of being decisive I guess.
    Back to our villa to drop off shopping and the girls took advantage of this time to have a quick swim but we weren’t here for long as we set off to a beach not far from here. A nice, chill spot it is, very smooth and round white stones, and most importantly, clear, cool water. My heat levels had been building up across the day and possibly my tolerance levels had been falling in an inverse relationship so I may have been getting a little grumpy. One of our group told me I was patronising and condescending and that they had thought to themselves ‘I hate you’. Even though this was communicated to me before I had managed to get in the water, I didn’t take it too personally, the heat affects us all. Who was it I hear you ask? I won’t say and leave it up to you to guess, answers on the back of a postcard, or in the comments if you prefer. The swim cooled us all down and we shall never speak of this again. We did manage to book another boat trip for tomorrow while sitting on the beach , so that will be a couple of days we are on the water, which we are looking forward to.
    We came back home with excitement building, only a few hours until the big match. We had a good chat with Lily to properly catch up on her news and tell her that we miss her several times and then I made dinner, Jess worked and Allegra swam 200 lengths of the pool. A useless digital television meant we couldn’t watch the match as it kept freezing so we had to go into emergency mode and set up a stream very quickly, and by go into emergency mode I mean I sat on the sofa stressing about it not working and Jess sorted it all out. Without going over all the details, she needn’t have bothered, England lived up to all their previous performances and couldn’t get it done. Never mind, when we are out on our boat tomorrow enjoying the crystal clear Greek water, we won’t give a rat’s.    Read more

  • It’s all Greek to me
    This could be white sands beach
    Crystal clearLoving the boat lifeSwimming in PaxosAmazing viewsBoating in caves in Paxos

    All aboard

    July 15, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    An early start this morning and we got organised to go boating. Breakfast, bags and the all important lathering and we were good to go. As soon as we stepped outside the door I started sweating, it seems it doesn’t matter if it’s 9 in the morning, or the scorching midday sun, the heat is equally unbearable. A walk to town and then snacks and extra water were bought and then we were good to go. Or at least we were as soon as our skipper had finished his breakfast ice cream. Spiros was to be the captain of our vessel, the Kenneth 23 (or at least a Greek version of this). I didn’t really want to find out what had happened to Kenneths 1 through to 22, just in case it put us off.
    We set off from port in a northerly direction with the wind blowing gently from the southeast, probably only 4 or 5 knots, so it wasn’t going to disturb the calmness of the waters. The way the boat hire worked was that he would take us around and show us the spectacular sights and whenever we wanted to have a swim we just had to tell him. So after maybe 15 minutes, for no real reason other than the fact that the first one had to be somewhere, we asked him to anchor up. Funnily enough, the anchor had a bar on either side and a bump in the middle, very much resembling a W. It was also huge, so we were travelling around all day with a massive W anchor. Now that I have got that out of the way, where was I. Oh yes, we were all treading water in lovely crystal clear water, just taking it easy for 10 minutes or so. Then back in the boat and on we went. This was pretty much the pattern for the next couple of hours, although the scenery got more spectacular as we went, huge cliffs, massive caves, rocky beaches with large smooth rocks, it was awesome. We were in and out of the water loads of times, the W anchor was up and down all day like a…no the comparison escapes me for the moment. For some reason it is very easy to just bob about in the water, lazily treading water, or swimming from the boat to shore, not sure why but it was not tiring at all.
    We had done three quarters of the way around Paxi and then we made a crossing to the neighbouring island of Antipaxi, I am not sure what they have got against the good people of Paxi, but the island is lovely. We stopped at a beach with the most pristine sand and water that seemed even more crystal clear than everywhere else we had been so far. We sat and had a drink in a taverna and then sat on the beach and ate the lunch we had picked up this morning, which was very tasty. It was so chilled on the beach, there were boats parked out at sea and there were people around but it didn’t feel busy at all. So it was nice just to relax there for a bit. Then it was back to the boat to carry on as before. Over the day we must have been in and out 10-12 times, and although the sun was blazing the whole time, I never really felt that hot, any time we started to warm up, we just got Spiros to stop again, had another swim, and all was good. It was an amazing day out.
    We got back to port having completed our circuit, and although it hadn’t felt like hard work at all, I think we were all fairly worn out. By 10 minutes into our walk back to our villa we were all also very hot again, the fresh feeling didn’t last long. Everyone was tired, Jess had to conduct a 30 minute webinar with an inconsiderate family being noisy in the other room, then there was dinner to prepare, dishes to be done and clothes to be washed, which no one could really be bothered with so we were all very thankful our trusty manservant Juan was here to take care of all that.
    After covering all the highlights today, and realising that we would just be repeating them again tomorrow, we decided a second boat trip would be overkill, no matter how much I was looking forward to everyone calling me skipper. So we cancelled that and I will just take back the Captain’s hat I bought myself. It means we don’t need to get up too early, but it also means we need to come up with something else to do.    Read more

  • It’s all Greek to me
    1The rock that nearly fell on Ruby's head
    1Ruby poses to show how close the rock was1Dinner of champions1End of a great night out1We love PaxosThe perfect setting1Our lamp light dinner1Dinner pose1Paul looks good in GreeceDinner in Paxos1Every beach is a good beach here

    Between a rock and a hard place

    July 16, 2024 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    After a full day on the waves yesterday we were all obviously worn out, although I find it very difficult to have a lie in when it is so hot. As I have mentioned before, this is not a problem that Olivia suffers from. So all of us were up at reasonably early times, making a regular amount of noise, and Tate just slept through it all and didn’t wake up until almost 12. We didn’t want to rush anything today, it’s our last day on this island and we will be travelling tomorrow so really it was just a case of relaxing and taking it easy. We had a leisurely lunch and then began getting organised for a trip to a beach. This involved the usual gathering of all beach type stuff as well as getting ourselves lathered up, we all got slightly burnt yesterday, nothing serious but we did need to protect ourselves. Ruby was not keen on going to the beach but we made it clear that she did not have a choice and so she begrudgingly agreed, well maybe not agreed but realised she did not have a choice.
    The beach was not too far away, just a walk, but as I may have mentioned previously, it is hot in Greece. We found a place to sit on some rock, but we needed to make a shade for ourselves because the sun was beating down. So we used the beach umbrellas that we bought, although because it was not sandy they wouldn’t really stay in place. The rocks we were sitting on were stepped, so Jess rigged up an ingenious system with some large rocks I collected to weigh down the umbrellas and keep them steady. It was not particularly windy so we weren’t really concerned about them blowing away, it was mostly just to keep them stable, Once that was all sorted we could finally enjoy the water.
    We had bought some snorkelling equipment as we figured that with such clear water that this would be something fun we could all do, so the twins and I started off doing this. I really love snorkelling, just floating around and watching fish doing fish stuff, although mostly they are quite camouflaged here, not the colourful ones like we have seen in the Whitsundays or the Gili Islsnds, but it is still loads of fun. The twins got a bit bored, Tate was having issues with her mask, so they just started mucking around and Jess took over snorkelling. Ruby was not particularly keen and she didn’t come in the water today, she just lay around reading. While she was doing this she took her case off and saw that the back of her phone had somehow got some cracks in it, she swears she didn’t drop it at all and that it is a mystery how it happened.
    We were all a little mystified by this and were sitting around coming up with theories on it all, Ruby had sat up from her lying position, I think she was slightly upset by it all. At this point there was a gust of wind that just picked up one of the umbrellas, and caused the rock that was being used as a weight to fall down from the upper step and land pretty much on the towels Ruby had been resting her head on. The rock was almost as large as her head, and very heavy, we are very thankful for her cracked phone, otherwise we would have been dealing with a cracked head. Ruby then decided that this rock needed a name, somehow she came up with Alfredo. She also decided that Alfredo might like to see a bit more of Greece and should come on the rest of our travels with us. We left the beach not long after this and came back to our villa to rest up before dinner. Mostly it was a rest, although Jess decided she wanted to match Allegra’s effort of 200 lengths of the pool, and even I managed to churn out 40.
    As it was our last night here we decided a dinner out in town was in order so wandered down in the evening warmth, at least the sun wasn’t still at its peak. We found a restaurant on the port and sat outside overlooking the water as it slowly darkened. It was a lovely meal we had, washed down with some cold beer, and I thought that I should have my first ouzo of the trip, it was incredibly tasty, although none of the girls were a fan of the aniseed flavour. Still, when in Greece and all that. When we got home we needed to pack, we gave an early start in the morning. This led to an argument, as Ruby was very keen for Alfredo to come with us and Jess was adamant that he was not. I figured if Ruby was happy with the extra weight in her bag then this was up to her. But I could see the sense in what Jess was saying, and eventually we were able to make Ruby see sense too, so she went outside with her sisters and beat Alfredo like a ginger stepchild until she managed to get a reasonable size stone from him, which we are all happy for her to bring with us as our travels continue.    Read more

  • It’s all Greek to me
    Nearly there but been on a ferry for too long
    Donuts as big as your headThe one food Ruby likedEntertaining ourselves on a 7 hour FerryNot the most comfortable journey

    Ferry good

    July 17, 2024 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    It was moving day today, and it was a big move so we were travelling most of the day. We were up early because we had a ferry to catch and it was going to be quite a long trip. We had mostly packed last night so it was just the final bits and pieces to organise . Our bags are so full that Jess said I had to leave 2 cans of beer. This was quite a wrench, I had become very attached to those beers and it was not easy saying goodbye, but I realised that some times in life you just have to move on. So we headed out into the heat and walked down to the port to wait for our ferry. We had really loved Paxi and I think we wished we could have stayed a bit longer, it is such an amazing place, so relaxed and incredibly scenic, but we were booked on a boat so that was our plan.
    The ferry actually comes from Corfu and makes several stops at a few different islands, so there were already people on board and not loads of seating so we had to share a table with a couple of 18 year olds. We did the whole ‘so where are you going’ and ‘what are you doing’ conversational chit chat and at one point covered the fact that they had been to Berlin and we also had been to Berlin and we all thought it was a really cool place. It made me laugh though when they asked if we had gone clubbing while we were there. The trip on the ferry was mostly uneventful, we got to see a few islands from the viewpoint of the boat but obviously not much else, it was hot but there was a nice breeze where we were on the top deck. It was fairly boring, 7 hours on the boat which I mostly spent reading, so it was nice when we finally arrived at the port of Sami on the island of Kefalonia. We picked up our hire car and drove to our accommodation, which is in quite a rural location in the middle of the island so is definitely not the coolest of spots. Where we are staying has a very strong smell, Jess describes it as being like a really cheap perfume that you would use to cover up cigarette smoke or cat piss, that you can taste and which permeates every part of your senses. She is not a fan. The hosts live next door, the property is actually divided in two, and they very thoughtfully left us a home made chocolate cake in the fridge which was massively appreciated as it was incredibly delicious. It was polished off very quickly. Apart from that we have just relaxed, it is very tiring travelling all day so we were not up for anything else really, we can start checking out the island tomorrow:    Read more

  • It’s all Greek to me
    The amazing tavernas we ate at
    Food was sooooo goodStrike a poseShopping in a ghost townWe love Greek food

    Tsipouro and a turtle’s head

    July 18, 2024 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    After the long day of travel yesterday we needed to take it easy to start today so we let the girls lie in. Taking it easy means me doing a little bit of work and Jess trying to clear a mountainous backlog. This is what we did and just let the girls wake up whenever, as always this means just after 12 for Olivia. This was all fine and we just had our lunch and got organised (suncream, water, towels, miscellaneous beach stuff) and then headed out.
    The town of Argostoli has a pretty good reputation so we thought we would start there. As we walked along the bay Jess thought she saw a turtle’s head, but I told her I had gone before we left. Then she saw it again so we all stopped to look. It wasn’t close enough to shore to see anything more than just a head, but it was definitely a turtle, apparently the bay is well known for them. Apart from that, it is possible the town is overrated. Not sure if it was the time we were there, but half the shops seemed to be closed and there were very few people about. We did still manage to pick a few things up, Ruby got a dress and Jess got a hat and a beach top but that was it. Then we drove around looking for a beach to cool off at, but I’m not sure we were sufficiently motivated got this as every option we came across we managed to find something wrong with. Do in the end we didn’t go for a swim, I don’t think anyone was that bothered, and we just headed for home. Kefalonia is no Paxi and it’s possible we may have been a bit spoilt there.
    No one could be bothered making dinner, and by no one I mean me, so we decided that after a little rest we would go out for dinner to the local taverna. Before going out though I figured that I really should shower and shave. I normally use a blade razor and of course I could not take that on the plane so we decided that we would just bring the girls’ ladyshaver and I could just make do with that. So I showered and then got down to shaving. Interestingly enough there is a bit of a difference using a ladyshaver, it seems like it has way more lubricant on it and so it really just glides across the skin. In no time at all I was done with my legs and bikini line and I got cracking on my beard and moustache and then I was ready to go. Not the girls though, 40 minutes was not enough of a warning, they needed at least an hour.
    The local taverna was amazing, it was just on the street but had vines growing everywhere providing shade and it just seemed very calm and chill. We ordered some drinks, the beer was ice cold which was just what the doctor ordered, and then he went and ordered a tsipouro, which is a spirit distilled from the leftovers from making wine, and in all honesty it could probably start a car. Throw a little ice in there though and it’s just about drinkable. We ordered some food as well, which was tasty, we are all in agreement that a Greek diet is not too bad at all. We had a little stroll in the night time heat around the village and now are back at our villa. Although Kefalonia doesn’t have what Paxi has, there are still plenty of highlights, we just need to have patience and plan our day a little better.    Read more

  • It’s all Greek to me

    Sven + 3

    July 19, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    We realised today that it was the three year anniversary of the night our beloved Sven caught fire. That was obviously a fairly traumatic event for us and it led to big changes in our holidays, we certainly wouldn’t have been on this trip if he was still around. We didn’t do anything to mark the occasion but we did all stop and think for a bit.
    Today we just decided we would spend a bit of time on a beach, to enjoy some of what is so nice about this island. Jess had read about a beach that had free sunbeds and although this potentially sounded too good to be true we figured we may as well check it out. First we stopped in town to sort a few things out, number one being to get some cash from the ATM. There were a couple of guys standing nearby chatting, in a completely normal way, but as I walked up to the machine Jess decided that she needed to stand at my shoulder reading a large map of the town she had unfolded, just to protect my pin. We all knew she was doing this but she wouldn’t admit it, she said she was genuinely trying to work something out. We are still not sure what, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her the map was upside down. We also spoke to a guy about hiring a boat tomorrow so we can really check out some otherwise inaccessible beaches. For today though, accessible beaches it was, with free sunbeds apparently.
    Of course if a beach is accessible for us, it is accessible for the whole world, and as we drove down to he hill towards it we could see the rows and rows of sunbeds which didn’t look so appealing. Fortunately we could also see that beyond that there was plenty of beach that was nice and empty. When we parked the car and walked through the ‘free’ sunbeds it was chaos, sunbedlam if you will, it was fairly mobbed, those that were free were many rows back from the water and there was certainly no chance of getting five together. Very quickly we decided that was not for us, so we walked through and along the beach with crowds thinning out as we did so. It is impressive just how lazy most people are, they would rather be crammed into a tiny space than walk five minutes along the beach to find a secluded spot. I think we ventured further along than anyone else, and Ruby found us a nice spot with a little alcove in the trees providing us with plenty of shade.
    We were pretty hot by this time so we were very quickly into the water to cool off. We spent a bit of time just relaxing, we had some food, tasty spinach and cheese pies, read books, did some snorkelling and swimming, all with very little disturbance from anyone. I even managed to get comfortable enough, with a perfectly shaped rock as a pillow, to have a little nap. I did wake up with pins and needles in my head though, making Jess briefly concerned that it could be an aneurysm. We managed to do all of this without one of us thinking to take a photo, most unusual, so it is possible that it didn’t actually happen. After a while of relaxing, with some further swimming, we decided it was time to head off.
    We stopped off again in the town with the intention of getting an ice cream, amazingly after ten days in the heat of Greece we had not stopped for one ice cream, I had imagined that we would be having at least one every day. We chose a cafe on the waterfront and decided on smoothies and some cake, so still no ice cream. Again, no one thought to take a picture, so it is possible we just imagined it all. After that we picked up a few things and headed back for home. We did fun stuff like wash our clothes and get stuff for dinner, or in Jess’s case, work. Then we had dinner on the terrace when the sun had gone down and it was a little cooler. A little bit of planning of our day had gone a long way.    Read more

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