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. 

View from our balcony towards the sea

Southern view from balcony

Eastern balcony view

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

Huge olives with white trunks

 There were lots of banana lounges and umbrellas, as well as boats for hire.

Shaded area just up from the sand

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.

 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.

Ute selling garlic, on the way to the harbour. These would drive around the village with a loudspeaker on the roof advertsing their wares.

On the way to the harbour

Shop near the harbour

The harbour

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.

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

Sunset at the harbour