Day 3 - We had to resort to Plan B……!

It’s amazing what a blanket each can do for one’s sleep. We both slept well, being nice and toasty beneath our blankets and woke up later than intended. After our lovely warm sunny day on the beach yesterday we flung the balcony doors open to find a sky full of clouds, it was very, very windy and it was so much cooler than yesterday. We had planned on spending the day on the beach but wondered if this was a wise choice. We’d make our decision after breakfast and go to Plan B if we had to, whatever Plan B was! Breakfast was busy. There were no available tables outside so we had to sit inside and I must say it was a tad on the chilly side as we seemed to be sat in a wind tunnel. So what to do? We deliberated over our boiled eggs and weighed up the options. We could either go for a) Plan A which was to spend the day at the beach where we’d be sand blasted due to the winds and end up full of cold due to the low temperatures or we could go for b) Plan B which was to take the bus into Kos Town, visit our friend Yvonne’s Greek friends and do a spot of sightseeing. It was a no-brainer really, so Plan B it was. Great, decision made we leapt into action and back at the room completed our Day 1 blog. As always we were having issues with publishing it as it was so slow, in fact it was very, very slow but then hey presto Maice pressed the magic button and away it went, around the world to all our thousands of followers. Ha, ha if only!

As you can imagine there was a queue for the bus but we managed to find a seat and for €2.10 per person we set off to Kos Town. We arrived at the bus station twenty minutes later totally unprepared for this trip into town. Of course, this being Greece there was a serious lack of signposts so using our intuition we wandered off in a direction which we hoped would bring us to the sea. What we should have done was followed everyone else, but of course we were too busy faffing and deliberating to notice where everyone else was going. We regrouped on a low bench in the local gardens to figure out where we were on the digital map but we couldn’t figure that out either so we headed off once more in what we thought was the harbour. It was quite by chance that we ended up on the promenade and being blown about it was that windy. I soon realised I’d worn the wrong dress, a short blue billowy dress which the wind kept blowing up and exposing my knickers whilst Maice came out in her slippers/flip flops so we weren’t wearing the best attire for a windy walk around Kos Town. We put it down to still being under the influence of jet-lag! Not having come prepared with a map we weren’t sure where the castle, the old town or the harbour was and presumed it was to the right so we walked down the promenade and knew we were going in the wrong direction when we came upon Summer Memories, the shop owned by Yvonne’s friends Popi and Michalis (P&M)……the blue table and chairs outside was the main give away.

We popped in, introduced ourselves and were made very welcome. We sat on the pavement outside their shop on the blue table and chairs and drank frappes and were plied with ouzo…..it was only 10.15am but hey, what the heck, we’re just going with the flow! P&M’s friends from Norway, Edgar (we’re not sure of his real name but it was something like that) and his lady friend who we don’t think told us her name also joined us at the table and we had a lovely conversation, the six of us huddled together on the pavement. We spent a lovely hour with our new friends but decided to leave and head off into the town whilst we were still sober! We said our goodbyes and hoped we’d pop back later.

To say it was blowing-a-hooley as we walked along the promenade was an understatement. It was a case of hold onto everything, skirts, hats, bags…..honestly we looked like we’d been pulled through a hedge backwards we were that windswept. We’d only walked some 500 metres along the promenade when we decided enough was enough and another frappe was in order, in a cafe with comfortable chairs and out of the wind which is when we came across the Hippocrates tree, surrounded by scaffolding, but in a square, out of the wind and there like a vision before us was this lovely cafe in the sun. It was like we’d entered a different world, it was hot and warm and sunny so we found a table beneath the lamp stand and ordered two frappes. It was gorgeous. So there we were, just soaking up the sun when along came Mary, Mary Martin from Staffordshire and sat on the table next to us. Of course being the friendly souls that we are we got talking and spent a lovely hour chatting and laughing about all sorts of things. We had such a lovely time and what an absolutely lovely lady she was. We’re so glad we met her and naturally we told her about our website….so who knows, we may have another follower! Welcome Mary.

All too soon we had to leave our new friend Mary and set off to do a spot of sight-seeing. We wandered around the ruined castle in what seemed like a gale force wind, walked around the old town where I bought a large egg-timer for my new lounge, as an ornament, then feeling peckish we decided to find a nice taverna for lunch. I’d met up with Yvonne before we came to Kos and she sent me all these places to visit in Kos Town, you know nice tavernas to eat in but unfortunately the battery on my phone was practically dead and Maice had removed her SIM card so we had to try and remember where they were and what they were called. We wandered through the little streets and alleyways and eventually made a snap decision for lunch. Somehow we found ourselves in a taverna with the smallest tables, where the tables were so packed together that you felt crammed in and where the waiters were running around in a very chaotic fashion. Our Greek salad wasn’t the best we’ve ever had but at least the Mythos beer was chilled. To get to the toilet you had to squeeze your way sideways down a spiral staircase…..honestly, it wasn’t the best experience we’d ever had. Of course we blame the early morning ouzo for muddling our brains and forcing us to make such a rash decision!

We continued our sight-seeing and well, can you believe this. Literally just around the corner from where we just ate was the taverna Yvonne had told us about, The Fish House and it looked lovely, and very Greek. In fact it was very Shirley Valentine. We contemplated having a second lunch but thought better of it as we needed to be back at the bus station to catch the 4pm bus. By now it was 2.20pm! Even though it was too early to be going to the bus station we made the decision to do just that as we needed to find it first and then we could sit in the cafe opposite and have a drink. Neither of us could agree which direction to take to the bus station as we didn’t know where it was. Maice was certain it was ‘this’ way and I was certain it was the ‘that’ way. We asked in a cafe and were told is was neither way and were given clear directions of how to get there. We arrived some ten minutes later to find the place packed with buses and people and wondered if there was an earlier bus to Tigaki. There wasn’t, so we found a nice sunny spot in the cafe where we were served by the lovely Vasillis, Billy in English, ordered a small giraffe of wine and admired the view……a load of Greek buses! Well, there we were minding our own business when Lisa and Mick, from Ashford in Kent came and sat at the table next to us. Of course being the friendly souls that we are we got talking and spent the next hour and a half chatting and laughing about all sorts of things. Ah how we laughed. And can you believe it, their favourite place to visit in the UK is the Waterside Holiday Park in Weymouth….how about that. We’ll definitely keep our eyes peeled when we’re up that way walking Sir Winston! They were such a lovely couple and who knew you could have such fun at the bus station! Two carafes of wine and a plate of chips later we managed to get the bus back and took ourselves straight to our beds for a well deserved siesta!

We woke two hours later and headed out for a spot of supper deciding that we only wanted something light so ended up eating pizza, a Greek salad and drinking water before heading back to the hotel for a night cap……Metaxa 12. Us ‘party animals’ were back in our rooms and in our hufflepuffs by 10.30pm. Yes, we certainly know how to live it up on holiday!

Καλυνυχτα ……χχ