We were awake by 7am and all seemed quiet on the outside world. Had the wind finally settled down we wondered. Very cautiously we drew back the blinds and opened the balcony doors only to be greeted by a sky full of thick ‘iron grey’ clouds and there was a coolness hanging in the air, but hey the wind had dropped to an ever so gentle breeze so that was a result. We wondered if the impending storm that had been forecast was arriving a day early. We hoped not as we’d have to review our ‘plans’ and decide what to do today now that there was no sun around. We’d deliberate over breakfast we told ourselves. The walk to breakfast told us everything we needed to know. It was a cardigan type of day and there was no sign of the sun so after our morning frappe we thought we’d walk to the resort of Alikes to the salt lake to see the flamingos. Who knew we could make a decision so quickly! Most definitely a first on this holid
After breakfast we executed our plan of action and headed off to Ipanema for our frappe then started on our walk to Alikes and the salt lake. Can you believe it, as soon as we started walking the sun came out and the temperature increased by at least five degrees. But no, we were going to stick to our plan, we were off to see the flamingos. We’d googled it to see how long it would take to walk there and it said 30 minutes however, no sooner had we walked five minutes along the path we came across the lake. We wondered if this was ‘the’ salt lake or if there was another one further along the way…….who knew, well we certainly didn’t. The weather changed as soon as we progressed along the banks of the lake, the sun came out and it became hot and muggy…..there must be a storm a-brewin’ we thought!
We had a lovely walk around the lake although we were a tad disappointed we didn’t see any flamingos except those painted on the walls of the derelict salt mine buildings, and we didn’t see any big geckos or hairy caterpillars aka turtles according to Edgar from Norway (think his translation got lost in translation!) but we did see some cows, possibly an Eurasian Oyster Catcher, the jury’s out on that one as we don’t have our bird book with us, but to be honest we‘ve never had a bird book with us, and we saw Amy Winehouse graffitied onto a derelict building which was very Banksy! We captured our walk on video although it took a number of outtakes to get to a professional standard, you know, one worthy of making in into the blog!
Our walk finished by the bakery so we decided to forgo our usual Greek Salad and Mythos beer and bought some provisions from the bakery so we could eat lunch on our balcony. Returning from the bakery we encountered a blind man walking down the road using his ball stick as a guide, we said ‘hello’ and got chatting to him. Apparently he’s been coming to Kos twice a year for the past eleven years and loves it here so much its like a second home to him plus he’s made a lot of Greek friends. Well, good for him.
Back on our balcony with our table laden with spinach pies, cheese pies and donuts, suddenly….
*****Breaking News***** ‘M’ went to fetch the wine from the fridge but when she opened the fridge door one of the bottles fell out and smashed onto the floor sending shards of glass and wine everywhere! ‘A’ was sent in search of a mop and bucket and returned with a mop, a bucket, a broom and a dustpan and between the two of them they cleared up the mess!! Now they only have one bottle of wine left in the fridge which has now been used for their lunch and now they have no wine in the fridge!
We drank our final bottle of wine and ate our lunch, making sure not to drop any crumbs on the floor as we didn’t want to feed the ants that had suddenly appeared in our room yesterday. Talking of ants, this morning when we went to breakfast there were lots of flying ants on the ground, hundreds of them….must be a storm-a-comin’. There are also lots on what looks like miniature limpets attached to the other side of our balcony…...yep, must be a storm-a-comin’ and all the cows in the field opposite are all sat down…….most definitely there must be a storm-a-comin’!
After lunch we made our way to the sun-beds at the hotel poolside to catch the last rays of sunshine and spent a good two hours topping up our tans. The gentle breeze was actually quite nice although by the time we left the pool it had started to whip up again. Yes, there’s a storm a-comin’!
We decided to eat out at the Vasiis taverna tonight with its blue check and red check table clothes so all dolled up we set off down the Main Street only to be hit with a few splodges of rain! So it’s true then, a storm is a-comin’. We made it into Vasilis Taverna before it got any worse, ordered our food and drinks and partook in a spot of people watching. People had obviously come prepared for the impending storm as they were dressed in big jackets and coats with hoods up shielding from the wind. At least this year we thought to bring a bigger selection of cardigans, you know, to cover all weather eventualities. After consuming our usual mini-giraffe of wine, moussaka and grilled octopus that looked like it had come out of the Masterchef kitchen plus a complimentary ouzo on the house we popped across to Ipanema for a final cocktail. Pam, one of the owners remembered us from the first time we went for cocktails on Thursday because as soon as we walked in she said ‘your table is waiting as are your espresso martinis’…….what an excellent memory….she’d remembered where we sat and what we drunk although I decided on a different cocktail this evening. Ipanema is owned by two sisters, Pam and her sister and they certainly manage it very well. We’re very impressed. We left after having two complimentary shots, one was a daiquiri and the other a pina-colada and very nice they were to.
It was raining when we left and we did get a tad wet but fortunately our hotel is only across the road……yes there’s definitely a storm a-comin’!!
Καληνύχτα ….
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