Santorini Love

Last day in Crete visited Elafonisi Beach like a lagoon again really nice saw a sea slug was ick and had a nice last night chatting to our neighbours (Hi Jess & Gav!) and listening to french students kareoking which drowned out the crickets for once.

Got up early (6am)to get the ferry boat to Santorini, packed up our tent in the dark and turned on Jane who told us we would get to port at 9.30 which was no good to us as the boat left at 8.50 so we raced!! off to the port in Heraklion. Saw the sun rise on the way.


Hardly any petrol left in Gordon and with about 10 mins to go before the ferry left we got lost and sort of resigned ourselves to not going. Then finally found a port sign, parked gordon, legged it over to the ticket desk and the lady said "boat is delayed it might arrive about 12 or 1 or 2 or 3 ... maybe." So turns out being in Greece does work out sometimes when you are really late and disorganised. So the 8.50am ferry turned into the 2ish in the afternoon ferry and we spent about 5 hours sitting in the port waiting room with loads of backpackers and dogs and this little boy who kept whacking our suitcase for some reason.




Finally boat arrived although nobody told anyone (it was so enormous couldn't believe they could have missed it) so then there was a mass rush for it and so many people were trying to pour onto it the cars waiting to get off couldn't even move. The backpackers kept knocking everyone over when they turned around and one man looked like he was dragging a dead body up the stairs or it might have been bricks. We sat on patio furniture on top deck of the boat and spent a nice few hours sailing along, saw some puppies and everyone was drinking beer and eating massive plates of gyros.

Finally got to Santorini port and got picked up and taken to our hotel. It was the cheapest but still nice with a pool and having a bed is llooovveeelllyy.



First night we went out to get some food in Perissa and there was a blackout everbody went oooohhh and one man fell off his bike. It happens nearly every night.

Have visited Perissa Beach, Black Beach and Red Beach and the sand is so hot it really does sizzle. Hired out a quad bike on the second day (got given helmets mine has a cat trying to shoot a duck on it, mat looks a bit like mr potato head in his) and have been to Thira and Oia both gorgeous all little white winding streets packed with tourists, shops and donkeys.

Back on the Road again ..

Left Kefalonia in the early hours and took the ferry boat from Poros to Kylinni, drove through the messini mani winding rural back roads, through lots of tiny villages in the mountains off roading which slowed us down and almost killed gordon when he fell down a massive pot hole. Arrived at the Meltemi campsite in Gythio and set up home between 4 olive trees for the night. Campsite was lovely with its own pool and private beach. Loved our little pitch we set up, using the olive tree branches to hang towels from and boiling water on the little gas cooker to make coffee in the morning.



Next day boarded a huge ferry boat from Gythio to Kissamos took about 9 hours and stopped at Kythira and Anti Kythira before we got to Crete. We nearly got off at Anti Kythira as we thought it was our stop luckily realised beforehand. No dolphins seen the whole way - where have they all gone? Hopefully to Santorini.

Kriti

Now we are at camping nopgia for a week in Kissamos where we have billions zillions trillions of crickets in the forest tree tops which are deafening to wake up to and make noise all day. The fattest cat lives here and eats all the bar leftovers and walks you to the showers and back in the evenings. We have english neighbours at the next tree and as usual everyones tent is bigger than ours. Lots of tent envy going on.

Our first trip - we found a sign to Balos Beach which is a shallow water lagoon you get to by literally hiking up and down a mountain,
takes ages but the view is worth it. There is an island opposite the lagoon called Gramvoussa where the revolutionaries lived as pirates for 3 years when Crete was under siege. Apparently lots of seals and turtles live around the lagoon but we didn't see any at all.

Went to see Chania, the former capital and walked along the city wall of the venetian harbour to the lighthouse and back, really pretty, saw an art exhibition in an old mosque and had lunch in the old town.





Went to Falanarsi beach on the way back where the waves were huge.


We were going to go to the Samaria Gorge today but instead I fell over and cut my big toe open so now can barely walk let alone do a 6 hour hike. Yuck!

Yassou Kefalonia!

We are packing up the little greek house now, today on our last day our landlady made Mat chop all the trees down in the garden in 40 degrees heat and then stole one of his beers - that would never happen in england...some pics of the trip ...











...the way back looks something like this...if the petrol strike doesn't stop us..
Crete - Santorini - Gythio - Ioannina - Butrint - Saranda - Durres - Budva - Kotor - Dubrovnik - Split - Plitvice Lakes - Ljubulana - Bled - Salzburg - Munich - Malaga - Beerfest - Black Forest - Luxembourg - Home!

Mat Stat - Mat is now on 4th pair of sunnies. 1st lost from diving into an inch of water, 2nd pair crushed playing football, 3rd lost amongst a herd of goats in a fountain. Thankfully you can pick up a nice pair of raybans for 8 euros here.

One Lung Does Greece

Steve's visit in June seems years ago but some pics from the trip...there was fishing off a rock, beer, talk of fishing, more fishing then off a boat, mud, more beer and football...











Mat Stat - One lung is scared of fish.

Sima's visit

Sima arrived on Tuesday morning her flight was early so we were late to pick her up and then there she was looking like a supermodel as only she could after no sleep, a trip to the aiport, a long flight and a 2 hour time difference.

We had a brilliant week being tourists and went all over the island to the beaches, the lake, where we got married and the lighthouse in Argostoli we had wedding pictures taken at.



Whilst she was here we had 2 exciting (for us) events...

Our cat Sukie turned up one morning covered in curry powder she was bright orange from her head all down her front to her paw. She's so greedy we think she either was in the rubbish bins eating through bin bags and a curry exploded all over her or someone has thrown the powder at her to stop her coming into their house maybe. She spent hours trying to lick the curry off her fur and then the next day came over with it completely gone.



So now our house smelt of curry powder we decided to make one and Sima taught me how. She made the nicest curry we ever had and we found all the ingredients at our local supermarket.

Our new washing machine was finally delivered and we only had to wait in for about 6 hours for it. Finally heard the delivery van coming down the track.. then heard a crash.. the van managed to sort of half flip itself over on the track leading to our house. Then a tow truck had to come and drag it out. Then finally the new washing machine was here! Then the nice but stressed delivery man said he had forgotten his tools and that the drum of the washing machine was bolted in and has to be undone with a spanner (which we didn't bring with us amazingly) so we now have a brand new washing machine we can't use.

Roll on another week and we still have a brand new washing machine we cannot use!

Sima - we miss you x

Life from a Greek Island - Earthquakes, Snakes and Floods

We had our first and hopefully last earthquake in the first week of May. It measured 3.4 which isn't much apparently but it still felt like somone picked up our house and shook it backwards and forwards a bit. Luckily we were sitting on the sofa watching the 9 o clock film in english so we didn't fall over. They predict more for the summer so hopefully they won't get any bigger.
Mat ran over a snake - twice! It was lying in the road and he did think it was a tree branch but he still managed to run it over with the front and back wheels of the car. It's well and truly dead now - so one less venemous adder on the island.
So the sun is reaching about 34 on the hottest days here but we have also had some huge storms. It rains differently to the UK the raindrops are huge and the air is still warm, all the animals go mad beforehand - sheep, goats, chickens, dogs and cats all around. The track next to our house floods which looks something like this ..



imagine walking that uphill! I lost my only pair of shoes that I brought with me to it - they very sadly drowned!
We discovered 3 kittens living in a hedge at the side of the house in our garden where we sunbathe. We kept hearing noises and thought it was a bird/snake/lizard but when I looked there were 3 little faces looking back at me. Their mum Sukie started making friends with us and then her husband Rocky and boyfriend Sami turned up too. So we now occasionally have 6 cats with us usually for breakfast and dinner. The kittens are Cleo (short for Cleopatra she has eyeliner on an eye, Dio (greek for two has two spots on his back) and Oscar (who sima originally named rainbow and then we found out he is a boy). They are a lot of fun but get a bit demanding everytime you open the fridge.

20th April - Early start in Parga

Drove from the ferry through Igoumenitsa to Parga a little sleepy place with a church on an island in the sea.

Found this message on the beach...


Our hotel the Acropol was amongst the backstreets and we both fell asleep for hours as soon as we got in the door. We woke up to explore and then sat by the sea with some lunch. Got back to our hotel though to realise our electronic card didn't work and couldn't get into our room neither was there anyone in the hotel at all. Solved this problem by going down to reception and taking every card they had for every room in the whole hotel and finally found one that worked and let us in!
Later that evening we got some take away greek gyros and sat on our balcony watching the sun go down.

21st April - Parga to Vasiliki via Lefkada

Left Parga today and drove via Lefkada and some delish crepes to Vasiliki where absolutely nothing was open. Managed to ask a gardner about a place to stay and found a litle room overlooking the sea for the night about 1 minute from our ferry for Kefalonia the next morning at 9am.


22nd April - Captain Astridies Ferry to Kefalonia



Boarded the Captain Astridies ferry this morning and set sail for Kefalonia. Sadly didn't see any dolphins just lots of greek men shouting about coffee and smoking on deck. Arrived in Fiskardo about 10am and we were on our island! Drove to meet our estate agent lady and then followed her to our house in Lourdas which we are renting for the next 3 months before the next big trip. Our landlady is lovely a greek lady called Lena who used to teach english so she can just about understand us. She has even said she will buy us a new washing machine even though we are only here for such a short time as the one here is broken.

From 23rd April ...

Our house is tucked away down a steep winding path and to get to it you walk up stone steps past our bbq with hundreds of plants, trees and flowers everywhere. There is a nice patio outside the house with a glass table and chairs that we can sit on and we have started trying to grown some poppies and tomatoes. Have been cutting away at weeds trying to free up all the branches of the plants around us and it does seem to be making a difference.
We have a big kitchen (with an oven that doesn't work but a hob that does) which leads onto the front room and then we have a huge bedroom with bathroom and a second bedroom with another bathroom off of the front room. The hot water is hugely tempramental and you have no idea in the morning if you will get a 1 minute hot shower or 5 minutes.
We started off gardening so we had a patio to sit on at the front of the house where the sun goes across each day from West to East and Mat started building a shaded area at the side of the house with palm leaves for when the weather gets even hotter. 27 today! Lena had given us a broken door curtain which keeps the flies out so we mended that and put that up and Mat found some wire in the abandoned house next door and made a washing line in the garden.
When looking for an internet cafe we bumped into our wedding photographer, Neil, who we bought a second hand tv from so now we can watch some english tv they show 2 movies a night at 9 and 11 usually in english but nearly always with rubbish reception so we can sometimes make out what is happening other times not really.
Using the hotels for libraries is going to keep us both in books and with no late fees so even better! Hopefully the English tourists will start arriving with new things to read.

Lidl is our new supermarket instead of Sainsburys and it does seem to be absolutely random as to what you get each week. At the moment they have pink glittery crocs but never any chicken.
Getting used to doing nothing after travelling for a month is strange and something that will take some getting used to. Sunbathing and reading isn't exactly too difficult though ...



Will continue with the News from Kefalonia updates as soon as something exciting happens!