Aegean Odyssey

http://www.blurb.com/books/2677451

Greece 2011, Koufonisia and Beaches and Silent Relationships

Each time we travel to Greece for the island hopping holiday we have to make room in the itinerary for a day or two of beaches and by the second day in Koufonisia it was clear that this year this was it.

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Greece 2011, Katapola and the Chora (Amorgos)

Katapola was tranquil, peaceful and perfect and at this precise time might possibly have been the most wonderful place on earth and we looked forward to our three days of perfection because apart from concrete, mobile phones and air conditioning this place probably hasn’t changed a great deal in a thousand years.

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Greece 2011, Piraeus – Planes, Buses, Taxis and Ferries

In the weeks and days before flying to Athens to start a holiday in the Cyclades I began to wonder if it really was a clever idea to fly into a city in the grip of economic crisis and social disorder with regular demonstrations and disruptive strikes by the transport sector which we would be completely reliant upon to get from the Greek capital to the islands.  But we put on our holiday blinkers and ignored the concerns and reluctant to spend more money on an alternative flight to Santorini went through with the original plan.

On a previous arrival at Athens airport I was metaphorically mugged by a taxi driver and paid a fortune to get to the city and the last time we left Athens Kim was literally robbed on the metro so we didn’t want to chance either of those options this time and took the only alternative form of transport available, the X96 express bus to Piraeus.  The man in the ticket booth was rather terse and didn’t have his ‘welcome to Athens, nice to see you’ head on this lunch time but I suppose anyone would be grumpy if it is their job to sit in a stuffy wooden box all day answering the same dumb question over and again.  The cost was €5 which was an eye watering 56% more expensive than two years previously and I hoped this wasn’t indicative of an average inflation rate over this time or else this would put the holiday budget under extreme pressure.

A bus ride in Athens is a unique experience, it has to be said.  The roads were busy but the driver of the Solaris flexibus seemed totally oblivious to other vehicles as he charged along at high speed, switching lanes, clattering over tram lines and tossing the passengers about like the Saturday night lottery balls on hard unyielding plastic seats.  It was like being in a car chase at the movies, anyone in the way had better watch out and at one stage I had to take a look to see if Sandra Bullock was driving.  Corners didn’t slow the bus down and the only respite from the madness was a few infrequent stops on the way to the port, which we reached after about fifty minutes.

The metro would have been preferable but you get mugged on the metro and as this was our first time back in Athens since the robbery we were understandably on edge.  We had taken improved precautions to protect our possessions but we still felt nervous and slightly anxious.  We continually scanned the bus for potential robbers and pickpockets and held on tight to our wallets, cameras and bags and after every stop we suspiciously scrutinised every new passenger that joined us.

In our experience dining options around the port are seriously limited and after we arrived in Piraeus there was about four hours before the ferry to Paros so we had made plans to visit a taverna/bar that we knew and to have a long lunch to fill the time.

This involved a walk along the busy harbour front and this was not as easy as it sounds because Piraeus simply has to be one of the most traffic crazy places in Europe that makes an Italian city look like Emmerdale on a late Sunday afternoon and there was a mad confusion of snarling traffic that almost defies description. Cars, buses and lorries were all growling aggressively through the streets with absolutely no regard for traffic lights, lanes, rights of way or pedestrians (especially pedestrians).  Swarms of yellow and black cabs drove around with complete disregard for anything else and for anyone foolish enough to irritate them it was like poking a stick into an angry wasp’s nest.  The madness was being ineffectively choreographed every now and again by traffic police blowing madly on whistles and waving arms in a totally manic way that quite frankly was completely unintelligible to absolutely everyone whether in a car or on the pavement and all in all didn’t seem to be helping a great deal.

It is easy to imagine that Piraeus is simply a suburb of Athens but it is in fact a completely separate city, the third largest in Greece, with an interesting history all of its  own.  Most of this we fail to appreciate because we just hurry through on the way to somewhere else.  In 493 BC, taking advantage of the natural harbour and strategic geographical position, the Athenian politician and soldier Themistocles initiated the construction of fortification works in Piraeus to protect  Athens, ten years later the Athenian fleet was transferred there and it was then permanently used as the naval base for the powerful fleet of the ancient city.

Themistocles fortified the three harbours of Piraeus with the Themistoclean Walls turning Piraeus into a great military and commercial harbour. The fortification was farther reinforced later by the construction of the Long Walls under Cimon and Pericles, with which Piraeus was safely connected to Athens. Piraeus was rebuilt to the famous grid plan of the architect Hippodamus of Miletus to a pattern that has been replicated in many cities in the USA and in Milton Keynes in England.  The walls were destroyed after the defeat by Athens to the Spartans in the Peloponnesian war and the port of Rhodes assumed predominance in the Aegean.  Later the walls were rebuilt but destroyed again by both the Romans and the Goths and during the Byzantine period the port completely lost its trading status.

Today, Piraeus has regained its importance and is a mad world of taxis, trams, back-packers and local people all competing for the same piece of tarmac.  This should not have been surprising because it is the largest passenger port in Europe and the third largest worldwide in terms of passenger transportation where nearly twenty million people pass through every year. There were certainly a lot of people about this afternoon and there was a long queue to get on board the Blue Star Paros and in the usual way foot passengers were competing for space with cars and commercial vehicles.  We didn’t want to sit inside so we made our way to the top deck and found a seat outside at the back of the boat to catch the sun and we made ourselves comfortable in preparation for the four and a half hour passage to the island of Paros, one hundred and eighty-five kilometres to the south east.

Island Hopping 2006, Blue Star Ferry to Piraeus

I woke especially early today and I sat with my tea on the balcony to watch the building pantomime. The men arrived early and had their thirty minutes together organising the day’s chaos. Surely it would have made sense to begin work straight away because this was the coolest part of the day but instead they sat around under a tree, a thoroughly disorganised debating society that became steadily louder as more turned up and joined in. One man had most to say so I guessed that he had some sort of seniority but despite expansive arm waving and shoulder heaving the others didn’t appear to acknowledge his authority.

I learned later that they were in fact not Greeks but Albanian migrant workers many of whom come to Greece every year in search of work that is not available or simply does not pay enough in their own country.  When they did finally get going they seemed to work quite hard and walls got built quite quickly.  In England we are obsessed with workplace health and safety so I was amused to watch these men work without even the most basic protective clothing or equipment to protect them. I am convinced that we are the only EU member state that abides by all the rules and regulations that emanates from Brussels.

My ferry was due to leave at half past ten and against my better judgement I was talked into relying upon the water taxi that was scheduled to start its shuttle service at ten o’clock. I was a bit nervous about this but went along with Sally’s arrangements. We walked to the taxi quay in good time and arrived with a lot of it to spare. I anxiously scanned the sea for any sign of the little boat crossing the bay but it stubbornly refused to appear. After a while, ok actually only a short while, I began to panic especially when the Blue Star steamed into port bang on time! By ten past ten I was certain I would miss my boat and even when the ferry finally appeared at quarter past. I remained deeply pessimistic.

Of course it was full of the slowest people in Greece who took ages to disembark and we finally set off for the ten-minute journey at eighteen minutes past. Sally was cool and tried to persuade me that my watch was fast but I was not convinced and it got very, very tight and I paced the deck nervously. Finally the boat arrived and tied up and I made a dash for the ferry with the girls shouting encouragement from behind and imploring me to run faster. I made it but I was disappointed that I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye properly. And then the boat was ten minutes late leaving so I needn’t have panicked after all. I waved goodbye to Sally, Charlotte and Paros and then settled down for the three and a half hour journey to Piraeus.

I choose a seat on the top deck sharing a table with some good looking French girls. After only a short time they turned out to be full-on lesbians, which made the journey even more interesting that I could have hoped for.

It was a good voyage and it was interesting to sit and watch the arrival into Piraeus. From the sea Athens was laid out before us, nestling beneath the mountains to the north, east and west (Parnitha, Pendeli and Hymettos) and the Saronic Gulf to the south. Out at sea, where we were, the expanse of grey concrete, which formed the outer environs of the city, shimmered brightly in the strong sun and it looked much more attractive than I guessed it would from up close.

The Ferry steamed into harbour, docked and I made my way off the boat and onto the busy dock. My plan was to get a taxi back into the city so that I could maximise my time there but finding one willing to take my fare wasn’t that easy. There were lots of them about buzzing around like bees in their black and yellow livery but most seemed to be looking for someone else for their business.  Eventually I found one that was available and enquired the price. Lucky I did! The driver quoted me €25, which I thought was a bit expensive as it had only cost €10 to come the other way. I queried this but he explained that it was always twice the price to go back. This didn’t seem at all logical to me so I continued to press him for a more reasonable price but he wouldn’t budge on his quote. I found another taxi and enquired the price and he wanted €25 as well. Clearly this was a conspiracy and the only ‘knowledge’ an Athenian taxi driver needs is ‘how to rip you off’.

Taxi drivers in Athens are notorious for ignoring regulations of the Athens Taxi Association and If I had taken that cab it would have probably been the biggest taxi swindle that I had ever suffered, worse even that £10 to go half a mile in Riga, or even the €25 on the Venice water taxi to take a journey that would have cost about €3 on the Vaporetto. It seems to me that taxi drivers are outright bandits wherever you happen to go. 

 

Island Hopping 2006, Paros, Naoussa

I had a restless night full of wild and vivid dreams and I woke early.  I like to start the day with tea so I made some and went onto the balcony overlooking the hotel garden building site.  At about eight o’clock the builders started to arrive and were clearly perplexed about where they should move the rocks to today.  Without any sign of a supervisor to give sensible instructions this required thirty minutes or so of volatile chatter which became increasingly louder and excitable as the debate continued.

I was so pleased that we had a car and we had planned a trip to Naoussa on the other side of the island. I think the construction workers (and I use this description in the loosest sense) were somewhat surprised to see a room in occupation and I was convinced that this was the reason for the frequent outbursts of mocking laughter.

Eventually a truckload of stone arrived which prompted more animated discussion about a suitable place to unload it. Presumably the idea was to find the most difficult and inaccessible place on the site so that later the digger driver could move it to where they really want it to be. It actually all became rather amusing.  I could spend a lot of money to watch a farce at a West End show but it wouldn’t be nearly as funny as this was.

We took our drive to Naoussa and dropped down into the village and into the bustling harbour. It was a lovely place, a genuine combination of tourism and local industry with fishermen mending their nets and preparing last nights catch next to their gaily painted fishing boats of assorted shapes and sizes that were laid up bobbing gently and resting against the harbour walls. This was a much nicer place than Parikia with lots of charming little streets and hidden nooks of interest. We had our breakfast in a side street bar and then walked the length of the village and around the harbour.

Next we drove out of Naoussa and found a beach on the northern tip of the island.  The beach was wide and sandy and we found a spot in the sand dunes to put down our towels and sunbathe.   I went into the sea and when I was far enough out to be discreet I slipped off my swimming trunks and enjoyed swimming without them for a while.  After a drink at a beach side taverna we returned to our apartment stopping on the way back to buy some drinks.

Back at the Bates Motel the dog was still there.  Now, I don’t like dogs and they don’t like me either.  I certainly didn’t like this one.  It was an untidy looking thing that had that annoying habit that a dog has of wanting to stick its nose into my groin for a sniff.  I’m actually very picky about who sniffs my genitals and I am never very comfortable about the close proximity of a set of canine jaws to a part of my anatomy I am very fond of.   And it left that smudge of dribble on my cream shorts, which until it dried made it look as if I had an incontinence problem.  I really hate that.

 We walked back to the beach, past the nice hotel with no vacancies, and we spent a leisurely afternoon swimming, snorkelling and sunbathing and at one point I spent thirty minutes at the bar with a beer.  Back at the apartment Sally and Charlotte completed their post card diaries and gave them to me to post to boyfriends and families when I returned home.

Later we went back into town to return the hire car and to have our last evening meal together before I had to go back to Athens to return home.  We walked through the town and the girls used the Internet once more.  I checked the Easyjet site again, just in case, but the airfares remained stubbornly high and I was resigned to having to return home according to my original schedule and not enjoy the enticing two extra days that had been beckoning me.  We had dinner on the sea front in a friendly little taverna and I had my first and only moussaka of the holiday, the girls tried the vegetarian versions and then I shared mine with the cats.

Island Hopping 2006, Paros

We had a really early start, it was still dark when we got up and packed for the trip to the harbour. Then I had a panic attic when the transport didn’t arrive at the arranged time but the girls displayed admirable calm. My low patience threshold was tested and after phoning the apartment owner (waking him up!) and just about to drive to the port myself in his car the driver turned up twenty minutes late and reeking of last night’s alcohol excess in Thira. I spent the short journey constantly checking my watch and we arrived at the ferry with just about ten minutes to spare and that was close because these boats, believe me, don’t wait.  Back to Blue Star today so a big boat to take us to Paros.

We cruised out of the caldera, past Thira and then Oia and this time we were accompanied by a sunrise instead of a sunset. I don’t understand why but a sunrise doesn’t stir the emotions like a sunset but they can be just as dramatic. This one leaked out over the town of Oia and spilled into the sea just as we were leaving the jaws of the caldera.

The water was calm and the day became progressively warmer as the sun rose in the sky.  We had a very good journey to Paros that took about four hours including a stop off in Naxos.  We finally disembarked at Parikia and found a taverna for food.  Now, if there was an Olympic event for serving the slowest breakfast then this place would win gold, silver and bronze but to be fair the town was only just waking up properly and it arrived eventually.

We arrived at the apartments and then things went badly wrong!  What a DUMP! newly built the web site said.  Newly built, my arse!  There was also a huge dog and an owner with a severe personal hygiene problem. This was the Greek equivalent of the Bates Motel and as we checked in I made a mental note to remember to sleep with one eye open tonight.

The apartments were not just next to a building site; it was a building site! and we are clearly the only mugs staying here, probably the only visitors all season!  The room was adequate but nothing special, the shower didn’t work and neither did the fridge so I had to call the owner in to make repairs.  It was one of those rooms that had electrical sockets in unusual places, some close to the ceiling and uselessly out of reach, and others with wires dangling alarmingly from the wall. The view from the balcony was not the sea as promised but a construction site with a mechanical digger moving rocks from one side to the other and then returning them back again to their original position again for no apparent good  reason!

I was seriously cheesed off.  I was convinced that I had let the girls down in some way.  And it was overpriced.  I tried to negotiate a discount but the owner wouldn’t budge so I had a deliberately untidy shower and nuked the bathroom so that he had to earn his extortionate room rate when cleaning up after me.

I won’t be recommending the Capricorn Apartments to anyone!  That’s the Capricorn Apartments on Paros!

The girls were good and tried to cheer me up and we went to the beach, which was a really very nice beach but it was very, very hot and I couldn’t settle down so I walked back to the apartment to get my snorkel and then went back to the beach for a bit of a swim and then I walked back to the apartment again to get my book and went back to the beach again for a bit of a read.

To keep going back was a big mistake because each time I just got more wound up about the place.  Then I had a brilliant solution, there was a hotel just down the road on the way back to the beach so I’d book in there and move out of this substandard hole.  I walked there and swept through the lush hotel gardens, past the fabulous Olympic sized swimming pool and the well stocked poolside bar and into the air-conditioned reception and enquired about the price of a room for three. One hundred euros, brilliant, this was a seriously nice hotel and my spirits were lifted immediately. “OK I’ll take one” I said and then my spirits were immediately dashed when the desk clerk said “sorry no availability”. With no result I had to return to the beach defeated.

So we decided to go back to Parikia by the water taxi to try and cheer me up but then we went and missed the first available taxi because the girls decided to go for a bit of shopping just to get a bottle of water without checking on the boat times.  I wasso  irrationally pissed off by now and went to the bar to sulk alone and for a quick Mythos.  That helped and hey, what was the problem?  The next taxi arrived and we made the trip across the bay and everything seemed a whole lot better!

Parikia, it has to be said, is not the most picturesque of Greek island towns, it has a very functional appearance and the first and lasting impression is a harbour front given over to ferry booking operators and car hire offices.  But the streets leading off the busy front were much nicer and we found an agreeable bar with twenty minutes Internet with every drink so we bought three and the girls amused themselves for an hour.

Then we hired a car and went back to the Capricorn.

Well, the situation did start to improve I have to confess, I had a Mythos or two and sort of got used to the room and when I reflected upon the state of affairs this place did have a very good beach and the snorkelling was the best yet.  It wasn’t that bad after all and things always seem more cheerful viewed through the bottom of a beer bottle and this state of unfortunate affairs was no exception.  Then we got ready to go out and went back into the town.  It looked like there would be another good sunset so we sat in a seafront bar and watched the sun go down while the ferries came back and forth into harbour. No one came to take our order so once the solar entertainment was over I woke the girls up and we moved off to find somewhere to eat.

We drove out of town, stopping to buy some supplies, and we found a beachfront taverna that looked very nice, so after a bit of a parking fiasco when I changed my mind at least three times, we pulled in and went inside.  It was a pizza restaurant with the compulsory cats for company. T he food was very good; we had a substantial meal and free drinks to finish and then went back to the apartment.  And had another early night.

Island Hopping 2006, Santorini – The Island of Atlantis

We had a quiet day today. Woke to more blue sky. This was becoming so predictable that I was in danger of my first job of the day becoming unnecessary. I worried that I might get a letter of redundancy.  I had a cup of tea and enjoyed an amusing incident when a Greek family set up for breakfast around the pool and the eldest son, of about ten, pushed the younger one, of about eight, in the water.  Did he howl!  I couldn’t help but laugh out loud and his mother thought that it was really funny as well.

Today for breakfast I went to the bakery that we had used last time we were in Santorini (more routine), it was exactly the same, with the same owners and the same free bread sticks and I bought some bread and pastries and then returned and prepared our breakfast, which we ate on the balcony. Sally wanted to climb the mountain at the back of Perissa and she talked Charlotte into it but it looked like hard work to me and I declined.  I watched them go and charted their progress for as long as I could follow them and then I settled down to read. I had some Mythos as well of course.  They were gone longer than I expected because they got lost but they got back safely and this time I didn’t consider calling out the air sea rescue service.

After they had returned and we had had a swim we drove into the mountains and rummaged around the village of Pyrgos in the middle of the island but to be truthful it wasn’t very exciting so we moved on. I had been there before and this is the problem with going back to a place more than once, it never really is the same; I knew there was nothing to see but I went there all the same.

The same with the next place on our itinerary, Kavala, which was nice enough, but nothing special and we went on the beach and reminisced, walked about for a bit, had a drink and drove back to the apartment.

We spent the rest of the afternoon around the pool, Sally and I played swimming against the Jacuzzi flow and Charlotte read her pottery book. This wasn’t the best day of the holiday but it was restful and I suppose on reflection I enjoyed it really.

We showered and changed and got ready to go out and then we went into the village to return the car and Sally and Charlotte spent some time on the Internet.  With nothing else to do but wait I went to a bar and left instructions where I would be.  The waiter at the bar that I said I would be in was on a go-slow so I moved next door keeping my eye open for the girls when they came looking for me. Unfortunately I was distracted whilst listening in to a conversation between a young couple that had seriously divided opinions about dining arrangements for the evening.  It got quite heated and one thing was very clear and that was that she hadn’t “come all the way to Greece to go to a cheap Chinese”. I think he got the point because a little later I saw them going into a taverna!

When the girls came looking to the arranged rendezvous I missed them and we lost each other for a while.  Luckily we had made plans and we caught up again at the taverna that we had decided to go to that night and we had a nice meal and some more Mythos. I had a lamb kleftiko, which was really very good and I expect the girls had a Greek salad? We definitely had complimentary ouzo and I had to deal with all three as usual.

We went home early because of an early start the next day and a quarter past six ferry to Paros.  I had enjoyed Santorini, not as much as I had expected but better than I had hoped for when we first arrived.  It is a lovely island but I have been there too often and will not plan to return again too soon.  It was a real shame about the ‘Boss Bar’.

Island Hopping 2006, Santorini, Oia and Thira

 

I had a great nights sleep and woke early as usual. I carried out the early morning weather check and satisfied that the sun was shining already I made everyone a cup of tea and I then went to the village to buy some fruit for breakfast.

There was a mini-market with a good selection of  curiously shaped fruits. Although ugly they looked interesting and I bought plums, peaches, grapes and oranges none of which would have made it through fruit police quality control at Tesco. Having selected my breakfast purchases I encountered a problem. It is difficult to buy €5 euros worth of groceries with a €50 note so early in the morning. The till was already almost empty and after scratching around for my change it looking as though Dick Turpin had paid a visit and left his calling card!

The euro is useful because it has simplified travel to Europe but I miss the old pre-euro currencies. To have a wallet full of romantic and exciting sounding notes made you feel like a true international traveller. I liked the French franc and the Spanish peseta and the Greek drachma of course but my absolute favourite was the Italian lira simply because you just got so many. When going on holiday to Italy you were, for just a short time anyway, a real millionaire.

Then on impulse I decided to hire the car. This was another interesting challenge as the woman at the hire desk insisted on trying to deal with three people all at once including a Greek Orthodox Priest who, presumably because it wasn’t Sunday, had a completely free day on his hands, no apparent sense of urgency and a query on a ferry ticket to Athens next January that needed sorting out immediately. There was a loud and animated exchange and I could feel my impatience kicking in again so went for a walk to calm down while they sorted things out. When I returned the Priest’s problem had been resolved and he was shuffling off down the street in search of filling his next empty fifteen minutes or so.  She hadn’t processed my transaction at all and it took a while but I eventually got the car and went back for breakfast that we ate on the balcony and I washed it down with a beer.

Later we drove straight to Oia and strolled through the town stopping infuriatingly frequently to look in the many shops that lined the narrow route into the town. The place was full of wealthy American tourists off of the cruise ships that were slumbering in the caldera and the shops were stocked to tempt them with expensive souvenirs. The sort of souvenirs that the minute you get home you wonder why on earth you bought them? Sally and Charlotte stopped at most of these shops along the way and I tried to remain interested but the truth is I don’t like shopping so I found myself walking almost continuously one hundred metres ahead of them.  I should have remembered Jonathan’s trick for getting me quickly through a museum by always claiming that there was something much more interesting in the room ahead. Once, we did a museum in York in about twenty minutes that way! We bought some bronze statues of Greek Gods and moved on.

I might not care too greatly for shops but on the other hand I do like bars and tavernas and I found a nice friendly place with a good view of the town where we had some drinks and something to eat, I had tomato fritters, a Santorini speciality, which I heartily recommended to all of my fellow diners; I hope they enjoyed them as much as I did.

It was very, very hot in Oia and the wind had dropped completely. We walked right to the end of the town and saw some headland windmills and then we walked all the way back again and the girls took the opportunity to take a second look in every single shop once more as we passed by.

We drove to Thira and in the town we walked aimlessly through the narrow meandering streets and up and down the endlessly winding flights of steps. We had some considerable time to kill because I had it in mind to see another sunset. But this was a good place to kill time. Every viewing location looked out over the wide caldera and an indigo blue sea withholding lavish secrets in the depths below.

Everywhere there were impossibly bright whitewashed buildings, giddy steps raking down to the sea and blue domed churches that you see on every other Greek postcard and calendar. Looking over Thira reminded me of the joy of opening a brand new box of watercolour paints with all the attractive pastel shades that reveal themselves when the lid is opened for the very first time.

We had dinner on a roof top terrace with a good view of the caldera, the town and the mule trains transporting tourists back and forth down a precariously dangerous hairpin track consisting of five hundred and eighty numbered steps to the harbour below. Actually it was the same place that we ate in two years ago and we all recognised the two extravagantly extrovert waiters who served us on that previous occasion and they were flattered by that. We were lucky to get front row seats, which gave the best views, and we watched another fine electric red sunset and left.

The journey back to the apartment was interesting. Once we had got the car going the drive was truly terrifying! Truly terrifying! It was a dark night and the car headlamps had all the power of a failing thirty watt bulb and there was no improvement on full beam, in fact that was worse because the headlight alignment was so out that they shone directly down only about five metres ahead of the car. I could have worn a blindfold to make it easier! With no white lines to guide me I could hardly see a thing (actually I couldn’t see a thing) and we were flashing past dangerously adjacent stonewalls and oncoming traffic. It was like being on the black-hole roller-coaster ride at Disneyland, the only difference being that on this occasion I was supposed to be in control of the vehicle! And wasn’t!

Boy was I glad to get back home. And I think the girls were too! I settled my shattered nerves with a Mythos. It had been a good day.

Santorini 2008

Island Hopping 2006, Fiftieth Birthday and the Boss Bar Santorini

On arrival first impressions were disappointing. It was noisy and busy and I couldn’t find our transport.  The place was full of pushy, impatient taxi drivers who all wanted to take us to the town.  It was clear to me already that we are now on an island with an airport and the ambiance was quite different.  One driver even nearly convinced me that he was our lift but he wanted 10 euros so I knew that it wasn’t right.  Sally and Charlotte climbed aboard a taxi van full of beefy Australians and were disappointed when I eventually found our arranged transport and they had to pick up their packs and get off again. I think the beefy Australians were disappointed too!  Now that we had our lift things were looking up.

Temporarily!

We were driven to our accommodation, which turned out to be exceptionally good even though it seemed a bit remote.  I was a bit disorientated because it wasn’t where I expected it to be and for the first time this holiday I was a bit disappointed.

Never mind ‘Boss Bar’ tonight!

Actually the accommodation was really excellent, nice and spacious and on two floors with an upstairs bedroom and a double bed for me.  The best bed so far.  There was an Internet, which didn’t work but it was the thought that counts, and a lovely balcony overlooking a swimming pool and terrace.  It was very quiet and it didn’t seem as I though anyone else was staying there.  We tried the pool immediately and afterwards I walked into the village to get some essential alcohol supplies.

That cheered me up even more and ‘Boss Bar’ time was getting much closer.

We were all eagerly anticipating our evening out and we showered and changed and walked into the village.  The apartments were very new and there was no proper road into the village so we had to walk across a field and past a snarling guard dog kept chained up in a little shelter on the edge of the field.  I can’t imagine what it was doing there, there was nothing to guard.  Its jaws were salivating and it eyed me up and down as though it was choosing a main course off of the pedigree chum menu at a top canine restaurant and I quickened my pace just enough to pass by quickly enough without giving away the fact that I was actually bricking myself.

We were all in a very good mood now and we walked all along the busy seafront trying to pick out what we recognised and what had changed in the two years since we came last.  There were a couple of new tavernas and some different shops here and there but essentially it was much the same, but nothing could have prepared us for what was to come.

‘OMG’ the ‘Boss Bar’ had gone.

In its place was a cheap cocktail bar with plastic furniture and tacky lights and no Greek bouzouki player either.  I was devastated, for a moment I hoped beyond hope that I was mistaken and was in the wrong place.  I walked on for a while in absolute bewilderment hoping that I had misjudged our position and the bar would be just around the corner.  But after a few metres I realised that there was no mistake, it had gone and in a day of disappointments we had to endure another, and the biggest and bitterest of them all.

The ‘Boss Bar’ really had been an excellent place, the staff there were friendly, the food was good, the beer was cold and the prices were reasonable.  There was always complimentary ouzo to finish the evening (except when there was complimentary melon which quite frankly wasn’t so good) but the place had my fullest recommendation.  On my 50^th birthday a very substantial meal for nine cost only €85, I left a hundred, the owner refused such a generous tip, I insisted, and he completed our meal with at least €25 worth of complimentary sweets and drinks

With chins dragging along the floor we walked back along the front and had to settle for an alternative taverna. We were in such a state of shock that we didn’t really know where we were or what to do next but we came across a bustling busy little place and found a table to sit and try and recover.  It wasn’t so bad but it wasn’t the ‘Boss Bar’.  The food was nice, they served Mythos and there was a bouzouki player and his mate on the accordion and they were very good.  It was cheap too, so no complaints there.  Unfortunately there was no complimentary ouzo!

At the end of the end of the day I was a bit despondent so resolved to hire a car tomorrow. We were sure that things would get better.