We woke early, 7am to be precise and cautiously flung the balcony doors open. Well, what a surprise. We were greeted by a warm sunny morning with white fluffy clouds billowing across the sky and a mere whisper of a breeze. Is this it then? Has the brewing storm decided to stay on the other side of the mountain and leave us in peace? It certainly looks that way.
After yesterdays busy breakfast session we felt that an early breakfast was in order this morning. We enjoyed our al-fresco breakfast and were back in our room blogging by 8am. We say this every time we blog but we get so frustrated with the website as there’s always issues with uploading the photos or videos and it throws us out of the system so many times, honestly it’s infuriating so say the least. If we were more IT savvy we’d probably know where we’re going wrong but unfortunately we’re not so we just have to make do!
So what’s our plan for today now that we have some good weather.? Well, we have to report that it goes something like this……frappe, sunbathe around the hotel pool, lunch, Aperol Spritz, supper. Gosh, when did we suddenly turn into creatures of habit? We got ourselves ready to pop down to Ipanema and bumped into Maria, one of the cleaners who gave us a massive hug. Honestly all the cleaners here are absolutely lovely. They’re so friendly, well they are to us but then we do chat to them each day and Maria is always pleased to see us.
There’s been a change down at Ipanema’s. Emma, who does front of house during the day is doing the evening shift for the next two evenings so the woman whom we think is the second sister (we don’t know her name) who was the bartender is now doing front of house and in her place there’s this guy who is the new bartender who unfortunately doesn’t make the best frappes, not the way I like them. Maice was happy with her’s but I was very disappointed with my frappe today. Ah well, better luck next time!
Back at the hotel we selected our sun-beds and sunbathed until lunch time. Ah, it was bliss. It was hot, it was sunny and there was a ripple to the breeze that made it bearable. Yes, it was perfect sunbathing weather. At 1pm we walked the twenty steps to the pool bar and ordered our daily Greek salad, without onion and Mythos beers which as usual I ordered in Greek. Well, the Greek couple on the table opposite us, we think they may be friends/colleagues of the owners asked where I’d learnt my Greek as I spoke it so well. Ha, I was rather chuffed with that. After lunch we returned to our sun-beds and spent the next few hours sunbathing before we changed our plan last minute and went for an ice-cream before our Aperol Spritz.
We didn’t quite know where we were dining out tonight but we thought we’d have another ‘meze’. We decided to take a slow ‘βόλτα, a walk, and promenade ourselves down the Main Street and check out the taverna’s on the way down to see if any took our fancy. We were talked into Gregorys Restaurant by Gregory, the friendly owner who enticed us in by his cheeky chat and positioned us on a table at the front of the taverna. We sat down and were offered ‘cushy cushy’ seat pads as the chairs were those typical Greek style chairs, you know, uncomfortable. The restaurant was a typical Greek taverna, a bit shabby looking but it’s usually these places that serve the best food and we weren’t disappointed. We chose a ‘meze’, a collection of small plates which were ever so tasty and totally delicious. The view, although overlooking the back of the Rooster cafe had views of the beach and the sea and was the perfect place for people watching, bird watching and cat watching. The birds had two nests up in the corner of the restaurant so we watched them fly in and out of their nests, and the cats were either sat in the road, on the sidewalk or just observing from any vantage point. They’re all so gorgeous and they’re so laid back. They saunter along the road at a very leisurely pace, will just plop down anywhere, have a wash, laze about and they saunter on again. And when they’re sat upright they do what we like doing best, people watching! After our meal, Gregory came and sat and chatted with us and we found out he’s a French Canadian Greek who was brought up in Canada and lived in Montreal for 28 years. He’s a really nice chatty guy with a big personality and we had such a laugh with him. We both concurred we’d made an excellent supper choice with Gregorys restaurant.
We made our way back up the Main Street ending up at Ipanema, no surprise there then. If the truth be told we had contemplated going ‘off piste’ and finding another bar but the majority of them were showing the football on big screens so we said ‘no’ to that and ended up back in Ipanema for our evening cocktail after which we thought we’d go and check on Nikos, the barman back at the hotel. We were once again ‘reunited’ with Lutz, whom today had gone on a six hour walk! ‘What did you two do today’ he enquired. ‘Well, in our heads we walked six hours, but in reality we spent all day on a sun-bed!’. Being two of only a handful of English guests at the hotel we seem to be a talking point for the German guests. Obviously admiring our beauty and youthful looks but also our ability to have a good laugh which is what we did with Lutz. The first day we met him he was quite serious, now he’s softened and has a good sense of humour and we did have an enjoyable evening.
Λοιπόν, so, καληνύχτα…and see you all on the morrow!
M&A xx