Friday 30th April
Leaving Paleokastritsa today
This is a Kumquat, we have wanted to taste one and drink the sticky sweet liquor they make from it for ages and so far all we've had is some of it tipped over some sliced apples with cinnamon, which was good!
We have to return to the real world today – well in our case only sort of - but Rosie flies home tonight. This is the longest we have stayed anywhere since leaving home, expect Spain over Christmas and it has been very spoiling to be based somewhere for a week. The hotel staff are very funny and hospitable and we have had an incredibly lazy week. Therefore not much to blog about except swimming and sunning and the odd trip over the island – mostly by car, cycling here is tricky.
We awoke yesterday to pouring rain which caught us out and all our washing on the line was soaked, we have also got into the habit of airing our bath towels so they were soaked too. We had arranged to hand the hire car back but decided we needed it for another day so rang Yannis the car man who was only too pleased to have another day’s rental.
We drove over to Nissaki to have a trip down memory lane. 15 years ago Alec had left his brand new swimming trunks on the wall there by mistake but sadly no sign of them today and no one was owning up to having seen them! That side of the island is so different and has a decidedly more ‘manicured’, tidy and prosperous look to it.
Very small sea plants which looked a bit like plastic bags! And a new spot on my camera lens.
Albania seems to look less barren and even closer than remembered. The only other man at lunch had arrived back after the winter away to find his house completely cleaned out of anything of value, computers, T.Vs etc and they had even taken his spectacles. The restaurateur was roundly blaming the Albanian neighbours in their boats but we don’t know if they might be just convenient scapegoats.
Father and daughter at lunch!
The sea on the Nissaki side is a good 5 degrees warmer which was a bit of a relief, as the bay of Paleokastritsa is positively numbing until you get used to it.
Alec in the sea with Albania in the distance.
Apparently there are lots of underwater freshwater springs fed by cold water from the mountains and injected into the bay which lowers the temperature. However, it is so buoyant once you are in, it is bliss.
Finance in Greece we gather from the news is pretty dire, nightly we watch riots in Athens and countless politicians all giving their own perspective. In Paleokastritsa we feel rather distanced from the emergency as the only means of payment is cash and as far as we can see people walk about with wodges of it stuffed down their trousers. Some of the locals have had trouble dealing with their banks where they don’t seem to know more than the customers about the current state of affairs.
Back to Friday!
We were sitting on the beach in front of the hotel because now the hire car has gone the choice is either here or up to the monastery. However, Quasimodo (as he’s known locally) who runs it had taken rather a shine to Rosie and had most generously not allowed us to pay for our drinks on our last visit, so we felt we couldn’t go there too often. A group of well dressed English came to the hotel having escaped from their cruise ship tour and they wanted some lunch which the hotel wasn’t really equipped to do for a few more days, so sauntered off to one of the other bars in the village. On departing they said to Craig where are you from, when he replied Nr Sherborne they admitted to coming from Bournemouth and Bishops Caundle so we threw in that we were from Bere Regis – all in Dorset, what a small world.
Anyway they were back in 5 minutes having not liked the look of the other bar (as we’d expected) so Craig knocked up some Greek concoction which appeared to go down well.
Dorset cruisers!
He is a fabulous pastry chef, it is the Greek custom to eat a pastry for breakfast every morning and each day there was a fresh warm filo pastry prepared for us to try. Sometimes filled with feta, sometimes Chantilly cream and other yummy things.
See pastry bottom right of table light as a feather and full of something very fattening!
After lunch Alec borrowed Craig’s snorkel and mask and discovered that there are some quite colourful fish out in the bay and Rosie and Vivi absorbed a little more sun. All too soon the eight days were all over and we had to start thinking about getting Rosie to the airport and us to Corfu town for the night as our ferry leaves at 7am tomorrow. Kosta had negotiated with a mate for our 3 bikes to go in a truck and us in a Mercedes Benz which made life very simple for us. Everything is good about Corfu but the willingness and kindness of everyone at the Apollon Hotel, Paleokastritsa is legendary!
We probably haven’t spent enough time in Corfu town as it is very pretty, but we explored for a couple of hours, Rosie bought a very smart handbag,
handbag shop in Corfu town.
We ate a delicious moussaka before sending her to the airport. It was a bit like the first night of the school term, and we were very sad to see her go but we were tucked up in bed by 10 pm as our alarm goes at 4.50 tomorrow morning.
Our last night on Corfu we spent in Corfu town and this yacht sailed in to park opposite just to please us!
Leaving Paleokastritsa today
This is a Kumquat, we have wanted to taste one and drink the sticky sweet liquor they make from it for ages and so far all we've had is some of it tipped over some sliced apples with cinnamon, which was good!
We have to return to the real world today – well in our case only sort of - but Rosie flies home tonight. This is the longest we have stayed anywhere since leaving home, expect Spain over Christmas and it has been very spoiling to be based somewhere for a week. The hotel staff are very funny and hospitable and we have had an incredibly lazy week. Therefore not much to blog about except swimming and sunning and the odd trip over the island – mostly by car, cycling here is tricky.
We awoke yesterday to pouring rain which caught us out and all our washing on the line was soaked, we have also got into the habit of airing our bath towels so they were soaked too. We had arranged to hand the hire car back but decided we needed it for another day so rang Yannis the car man who was only too pleased to have another day’s rental.
We drove over to Nissaki to have a trip down memory lane. 15 years ago Alec had left his brand new swimming trunks on the wall there by mistake but sadly no sign of them today and no one was owning up to having seen them! That side of the island is so different and has a decidedly more ‘manicured’, tidy and prosperous look to it.
Very small sea plants which looked a bit like plastic bags! And a new spot on my camera lens.Albania seems to look less barren and even closer than remembered. The only other man at lunch had arrived back after the winter away to find his house completely cleaned out of anything of value, computers, T.Vs etc and they had even taken his spectacles. The restaurateur was roundly blaming the Albanian neighbours in their boats but we don’t know if they might be just convenient scapegoats.
Father and daughter at lunch!
The sea on the Nissaki side is a good 5 degrees warmer which was a bit of a relief, as the bay of Paleokastritsa is positively numbing until you get used to it.
Alec in the sea with Albania in the distance.
Apparently there are lots of underwater freshwater springs fed by cold water from the mountains and injected into the bay which lowers the temperature. However, it is so buoyant once you are in, it is bliss.
Finance in Greece we gather from the news is pretty dire, nightly we watch riots in Athens and countless politicians all giving their own perspective. In Paleokastritsa we feel rather distanced from the emergency as the only means of payment is cash and as far as we can see people walk about with wodges of it stuffed down their trousers. Some of the locals have had trouble dealing with their banks where they don’t seem to know more than the customers about the current state of affairs.
Back to Friday!
We were sitting on the beach in front of the hotel because now the hire car has gone the choice is either here or up to the monastery. However, Quasimodo (as he’s known locally) who runs it had taken rather a shine to Rosie and had most generously not allowed us to pay for our drinks on our last visit, so we felt we couldn’t go there too often. A group of well dressed English came to the hotel having escaped from their cruise ship tour and they wanted some lunch which the hotel wasn’t really equipped to do for a few more days, so sauntered off to one of the other bars in the village. On departing they said to Craig where are you from, when he replied Nr Sherborne they admitted to coming from Bournemouth and Bishops Caundle so we threw in that we were from Bere Regis – all in Dorset, what a small world.
Anyway they were back in 5 minutes having not liked the look of the other bar (as we’d expected) so Craig knocked up some Greek concoction which appeared to go down well.
Dorset cruisers!
He is a fabulous pastry chef, it is the Greek custom to eat a pastry for breakfast every morning and each day there was a fresh warm filo pastry prepared for us to try. Sometimes filled with feta, sometimes Chantilly cream and other yummy things.
See pastry bottom right of table light as a feather and full of something very fattening!
After lunch Alec borrowed Craig’s snorkel and mask and discovered that there are some quite colourful fish out in the bay and Rosie and Vivi absorbed a little more sun. All too soon the eight days were all over and we had to start thinking about getting Rosie to the airport and us to Corfu town for the night as our ferry leaves at 7am tomorrow. Kosta had negotiated with a mate for our 3 bikes to go in a truck and us in a Mercedes Benz which made life very simple for us. Everything is good about Corfu but the willingness and kindness of everyone at the Apollon Hotel, Paleokastritsa is legendary!
We probably haven’t spent enough time in Corfu town as it is very pretty, but we explored for a couple of hours, Rosie bought a very smart handbag,
handbag shop in Corfu town.
We ate a delicious moussaka before sending her to the airport. It was a bit like the first night of the school term, and we were very sad to see her go but we were tucked up in bed by 10 pm as our alarm goes at 4.50 tomorrow morning.
Our last night on Corfu we spent in Corfu town and this yacht sailed in to park opposite just to please us!
No comments:
Post a Comment