Having been picked up at 10am this morning by our private transfer to the airport it’s taken us just shy of twelve hours to get back to Dorset. It didn’t help that we missed our slot back in Gatwick so the flight was delayed out of Lesvos by thirty minutes and it didn’t help that the pilot had to do an aborted landing on arrival back in Gatwick so we had to fly around in airspace for another twenty minutes and hoped it was ‘2nd time lucky’. Fortunately it was. But we’re here now, back home, and it was a lovely drive back in the English sunshine. How about that!
We were up early as we had a busy morning ahead of us. First thing was our ‘Yoga for Travel’ which we thought was appropriate since we were travelling home. Next up, a trip to the bakery to buy some rolls for our journey. Cheese, hummous and pringles, mmmmm, our favourite! Hopefully this was enough food to last us until we got home. Next up, breakfast and the last time we’d see our lovely view. We made the usual ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ sounds as we peeped under the lids of the tureens to see what hot food was on offer. Lugaretzia, we call her that because she reminds us of Lugaretzia from The Durrell’s, always gives us a despairing look, probably wondering how we can get so excited about a few slices of spinach pie! And then back to the room where we arranged and rearranged our bags at least four times to make everything fit. I’m sure it won’t be the last rearrange we do today.
As always we’ve had an amazing holiday but from now on we’ve decided to follow suit with work buddies Simone and Jim who go away more times ‘than what we do’ apparently all in the name of research! And of course aren’t we the same when we go away, always researching, sending important snippets of information back to our readers so they may follow in our footsteps if they ever decide to pay a visit to wherever we go. So here’s a few observations, and a few do’s and don’ts if you’re thinking of heading this way for your summer holidays,
1. It’s practically litter free. Hard to imagine I know, this being Greece and knowing the Greeks penchant for tossing anything and everything out of their car windows, but the place is spotless.
2. The locals are very friendly and will always greet you and say hello wherever you are or whatever the time of day. So embrace the culture, learn a few words and phrases in Greek and they’ll appreciate that.
3. Always take some sort of water sandal/shoe to wear in the water. The sea bed is full of shells and grasses so if you have delicate feet like us this will help.
4. Don’t walk barefoot on the sand as some parts of it are the cats and dogs toilet. We’ve witnessed them squatting on many occasion, disgusting I know, so be careful where you walk. In fact this applies anywhere in the world where dogs and cats roam freely.....you have been warned.
5. It’s always windy in the afternoon so get to the beach early to make the most of the calm air and sea.
6. Greek Salad and a Mythos beer is an excellent choice for lunch and very healthy. Remember the Greek diet has been recognised as the healthiest in the world.
7. Pop in and see Yan, Saskia and Rosa and enjoy a Pina Colada like we did. They’re such a lovely family and they’ve only had the Vista Bar for a few months so we wish them good luck in their new venture.
8. Check out Love Holidays. We’ve booked with them for the past four years and think their brilliant.
So that’s it. Holiday now over. We stopped off at the Winchester Services for our supper where we had a fish finger burger and chips which surprisingly was really tasty. We’ve eaten so much cheese and bread this week that the no cheese, no bread diet starts tomorrow!
Our next holiday together isn’t until Cyprus in November to celebrate Pearls 50th birthday. There’ll be at least nine of us so we’re really looking forward to it but it’s five and a half months away! Will we last that long.........?
On that note, night all and see you in Cyprus.....