Sivota, Greece
June 21, 2012
Having
arrived back in London early in the morning, there was much to do: laundry,
packing, downloading Swedish photos and doing the bones of the Swedish
post...and getting to the airport
Soon we
were off in the air again, on a very small aeroplane with Small Planet, owned
by a Lithuanian company. Some people across were chatting to the air hostess.
'Where was she from?' turned out she was Latvian, so when she was serving us I
said 'Mani vecāki ir
arī no
Latvijas' (my parents are also from Latvia), and she almost fell over
backwards! For a moment she wasn't sure where she was.
Generally
it was smooth sailing, and we reached Preveza close to the correct time. We
were bundled off into different coaches, ours taking 90 minutes to get to
Sivota which is on the mainland, and quite close to Corfu.The guide pointed out
the sights and recounted some myths but soon it was too dark to see. We settled
into our room, then joined others for a drink and to watch the soccer, Portugal
v Czechoslovakia.
June 22 - June 27
Our room
at Mourtemeno Hotel had a lovely view, and even a glimpse of the beach.
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| View from our balcony towards the sea |
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| Southern view from balcony |
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| Eastern balcony view |
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| House across the road and pink houses up the hill |
It would have been quite a
good view, but an old olive tree blocked much of it. Nonetheless we could see
the sunset and the balcony was bathed in sunshine, perfect for afternoon
drinks.
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| Sunset from our balcony |
Our task
was to find the short cut to the beach, which turned out to be a dried up creek
bed, so we scrambled along it like mountain goats.
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| The creek bed...our track to the beach |
Funnily enough one afternoon
on the way to the beach we did see about five goats being herded across the
creek bed by an old lady. They busily munched on blackberries.
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| The Cove- Zavia Beach |
The
little cove was about a five minute walk, though it felt much longer as it was quite
hot, between 30 to 35 degrees. Huge olive trees with white-painted trunks
shaded the area near the beach.
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| Huge olives with white trunks |
There were lots of banana lounges and umbrellas,
as well as boats for hire.
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| Shaded area just up from the sand |
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| Sunny spots on the beach |
A kiosk and a restaurant were available for
refreshments, and an iced coffee was the perfect way to break up the day, sit
in the shade and view the beach activities.
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The beach
was popular with both tourists and Greek people from nearby and further afield.
Much of the usual beach activities were engaged in...swimming, making sand
castles, ball games, boating, reading and sun baking. There was more swimming
than sun baking as the sun was very intense.
After a
few hours on the beach we'd head back for a baguette in our room, with
fruit...delicious cherries, peaches or honey dew water melon, followed by
pastries...often ending up being lunch as well as dinner..
Most
evenings we were entertained by the soccer, followed by a walk to the harbour
for a meal or to meet others for a drink.
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| Ute selling garlic, on the way to the harbour. These would drive around the village with a loudspeaker on the roof advertsing their wares. |
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| On the way to the harbour |
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| Shop near the harbour |
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| The harbour |
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| Restaurant on the waterfront |
On
Saturday night we went hunting for a restaurant and decided to dine at 'Mama
Mia's' as there was a bouzouki player and guitarist, playing there. They were
entertaining a Greek party, and the men and some of the women were dancing.
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| Bouzouki player and guitarist |
One
man could dance with a glass on his head! After the party left we joined the
musicians for a while, and George tried out both instruments.
As many
of us had arrived the same time and were staying nearby we got to know a few
people which was good. We got to know more English people in Greece than in
England!
June 28
We had an
early start for the airport, only to find out that the plane had been delayed
by two hours, however nearby there was a shady taverna where we sat in the cool
with people we’d
come to know, eating, drinking, listening to music, until it was time to go.
On the
way we’d had
the pleasure of seeing a few stork nests on the top of lamp posts, with baby
storks perching in them. Lots of the coastline is very beautiful, and the road
was never far from the sea. Olive trees grow like gumtrees...they are
everywhere and some are absolutely huge, said to be 2000 years old!
June 29-30
Time now to
get ready for the trip home tomorrow.
It has
been a very relaxing holiday, meeting new people, seeing incredible
sights, reading...and an opportunity to
reflect about the present.
As Pascal
Mercier says, travel enables us to expand externally, to undertake expansive
excursions in ourselves...discover who and what else we could have
become...(Night Train to Lisbon p.244).
Thank
you, particularly to Peter and Genief, Màris, Eva and Tommy and Kicki for their contribution to
making this a wonderful, memorable holiday. On the home front thanks to
Natasha, Costa and Alexander for enabling us the freedom to travel, knowing
that all was in good hands; on the work front thanks to Anne and Mary and all
at work for competently taking up the baton.
Finally
to readers of the blog thank you for reading...and I have very much appreciated the
comments that have been made. Ah the pleasures of a responsive audience!
Adieu...until the next trip...
Laima
Laima
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| Sunset at the harbour |
