So, we had a plan. We had decided last night, when walking down the long and winding road that we would walk to Kalithea again, along the other long and winding road but this time, instead of going when the sun was quite hot, we would set off walking early. The plan was to get everything ready before we went to breakfast so that all we had to do after breakfast was pick up our bags and go. It almost worked like clockwork and although there was a bit of faffing going on we made it out at 9.30a.m. which was quite good for us. We did feel tired though but never mind we were looking forward to our favourite pastime of snoozing on our sunbeds! We had our credit cards with us 'just in case' as there are lots of shops in Kalithea and we thought we may be tempted to make some purchases. We set off up the hill, down the hill and up the hill again until we came to the long and winding road and started walking in earnest. We didn't bring any form of device for telling the time as we were 'going with the flow' and thought we'd rely on the positioning of the sun to tell the time!!!!!
It seemed much hotter walking today than it did last week but we eventually came to the 'Koktal Cafe-Bar' where we enjoyed a lovely cold Frappe and sat and mused for a while.......it could have been thirty minutes, it could have been an hour and a half, we had no clue as Pearl and Dianne weren't with us with their phones!
At whatever time it was, we set off down the 105 steps to the beach. We walked almost to the end of the beach and set up camp close to a nice beach bar, you can tell it's coming to the end of the season as everywhere is so much quieter. Our beds were well positioned, there was no-one else around, if was lovely and quiet and then this woman comes along and plonks herself in the sunbed directly behind us, with just inches between sunbeds. Honestly, there must have been at least 30 empty sunbeds around us and she sits practically on top of us! We think maybe we were sitting where she usually sits, well, we weren't budging, and we were here for the duration.
We had a lovely day, the temperature was perfect, there was a light breeze and we were in and out of the water, swimming, dozing, reading and in my case daydreaming.......I have now decided what music I'm having at my funeral......I know, a bit morbid, funny isn't it how your brain works when it's relaxed. 'Sunbed-Woman' continued to sit as close to Maice's head as she could and every time Maice moved her sunbed, she did too. It was all very odd behaviour.
We tried to deduce what time it was by where the sun hung in the sky and it was telling us it was time for lunch so off we went to the beach cafe. We ordered Greek salad, Mythos beers, which they didn't have so ended up with Amstel, still very nice beers and played a few hands of cards. It was a really lovely afternoon and after lunch we returned to our sunbeds for some more 'chilling'. Ah, such is life.
At what we thought was about 4pm we packed our bags and went to the shops. Well, when we got into the back roads there were hundreds of them, honestly, no kidding it was bigger than Dorchester. I was hoping to find a nail bar as two of my lovely 'Greek Flag' nails had broken......the same two that broke last time (I reckon they weren't put on properly) but no such luck. We went into a few tourist shops, which all sell exactly the same stuff and each time got followed around by the shopkeepers (they obviously suffer from shoplifting here), so not enjoying this 'shopping experience' we headed off home along the long and winding road. Last time we did this walk it was super hot and we treated ourselves to an ice-cold frozen yogurt back in Afitos. This time the experience was totally different as it was much cooler with more shade on the road, making it a really pleasant walk. Still not knowing what time it was we thought we'd get in at 5.30pm, but imagine our surprise when we got back and checked our phones to find it was 7pm! Yes, folks, 7pm! Well, that scuppered our plans of any siesta, G&T's on the balcony and our rummy tournament. A quick turnaround was required again and by 8.15 pm we were sat in our rendezvous bar with two glasses of wine. We got chatting to an English couple from our place who we see about from time to time and the conversation got around to the postcode lottery. He was telling us his postcode was chosen for the £3million prize draw and that he and other chosen postcode holders were invited to Wentworth Woodhouse for the day to see what money prizes they had all won. He was given a golden envelope, very Willy Wonka-ish and inside was a cheque for £4,500......not bad at all. He said the whole day was amazing. They got picked up from home, taken there for the day and it was free food and drink....including Prosecco all day! Maice has now decided to join! As we all know, you've got to be in it to win it!
We were in a dilemma as to where to eat tonight, now that the decision was all ours. We wandered the streets and came across a nice taverna in the backstreets that did stuffed peppers, which we both fancied, and in we went. We were sitting at our table overlooking the street when this scruffy heinz-variety dog walked past, stopped and literally did a double-take at Maice......he had such a funny face it looked like he was laughing. Well, what a find this taverna was. We had such a fabulous meal. It was absolutely gorgeous. We had Bourgourdi, which was Feta, Gouda and Tomato cooked in the oven and although very stringy, it was really tasty and we also had stuffed peppers and tomatoes and a prawn saga ski (sorry, predictive text, meant to be Saganaki) all washed down with a μισό κιλό giraffe of white wine. Absolutely .........Gorgeous!
It's been great not knowing the time and it's been such a lovely day. The great thing is, we're only minutes from home and we don't have to walk down any long and winding roads, only up 31 steps.....but that's another story.
M&A xx