Last day

Well, the Greek Islands have not let us down. They are everything we remember and more.

3 inebriated ladies and various teenage children were partying on the beach late afternoon; lots of dancing and singing and falling over in the sea! One of the lovelorn Greek songs they were singing along to (loudly) Jacky remembered from some 30 years ago and could sing along to it herself! The beach bar music is somewhat behind the times, but we like that.

Lunch in Andros town was a winner, stuffed tomatoes, squid, fava bean nuggets, potato croquettes and carafe of local wine in the prettiest taverna shaded by styled trees (don't know what type) , surrounded by a marble topped wall engraved with visitor's initials in the corner of the main square above the sea and a river which greened its surroundings. Couldn't get much better places to while away a couple of hours. The local priest was there enjoying his lunch too. A good sign, we thought.

Late afternoon swimming as the hills turn golden, then into the port for dinner. A taverna by bobbing brightly coloured fishing boats at quieter end of town.
A wonderfully helpful waiter/owner talked us through all the goodies and we eventually settled on local fish and pastistio - none of us wanting huge quantities of food......wine however; even the waiter raised his eyebrows but entering into the spirit we were in, brought us a half carafe on the house to end our meal. Jacky and Pete mused over a group who came in.....a girl on her own first, who kissed the waiter ( we guess she knew him) telling him that 'he' (some revered member of her party) wanted some meat tonight was it on the menu?! and asked him if he could seat 6, whereupon 4 other ladies and one man appeared. Was he an artist with his fawning followers? Flamboyantly dressed with a powder blue pashmina casually draped around his neck. After Simon had observed some graceful hand posturing by him and a couple of the girls, we decided he was a dancer and they were his troupe. Either that or he was a very lucky man with a doting hareem.

Greeks talk very loudly. On a beach one day a lady held a whole conversation pretty much all afternoon with a friend who was 3 yards away and it was loud! And Greek always sounds slightly angry to me. Why she couldn't have just gone and sat with her I don't know, but she would still have been loud I suppose, they all seem to be. We have encountered some very helpful friendly people however - wandering along the front at a port looking for the ferry ticket office, a man on a moped stopped and showed us where the bakery was, very kind and thoughtful of him seeing some dozy tourists that obviously need a hand, but unfortunately bakeries don't sell ferry tickets!!

Before we hired a car we wondered why people were driving in the middle of the road, we soon discovered the reason - the road edges are pot holed and ragged. Its a pretty bumpy ride in Fiat Puntos and Chevrolet Matiz - roller skates. The first car we hired in Kea had broken or missing hub caps and was thick with road dust......wonder why? As with everything, the hire car companies seem totally laid back - not a lot of inspection of scratches etc goes on, we just trust they are road worthy! Anyway these two little cars got us around fine.

Back to Panos' taverna (facebook.com/thiriotrofeio) for a local sausage and lentil salad lunch, before boarding the Fastferries to Rafina. Don't want to be seasick on an empty stomach after all! We now have more information on our mystery man in pashmina that makes us think it was a photo shoot for Elle magazine, but this is gleaned from Panos' Mum whose English isn't as good as her son's (who apparently used to be a fashion photographer).

Ferry at 2.45, boarded with Jack and Simon, late leaving therefore its 5.15 before we disembark having said our goodbyes on the ferry because J and S flight later than ours. Taxi to airport, arriving 5.50, bags checked in and through in time for flight at 6.50. Flight made up time despite not leaving until 7 (Greek time) because a bag had to be found that had been put on the wrong flight. Arrive Heathrow on BA at 8.20 (UK time). Taxi home by 9.45. And the UK weather is wonderful.

Great holiday.

Efharisto and kahleeneekhtah.

Money

During our time here it's made sense to split our cash 50/50 between us, alternately paying for meals etc and divi- ing up the following morning.
After last nights meal however, which was ok apart from one piece of kalimari which was off, Sara was getting short of money and needed some more insisting we sort it out there and then. I offered her the left over kalimari - saying, here's the sick squid you wanted!

Canoeing

I've managed to get in a couple of paddles in the Aegean Sea to add to my list of places I've canoed over the years. At Kypri, Andros I hired a little plastic sit on top number, quite decent compared to some of the rubbish I've seen for hire in other places ,it even came with a set of asymmetric paddles for the bargain price of 10 euro for an hour. It reminded me that It was a far cry from the kit I started out on.

My first canoeing experience was in a double wood and canvas job ( I say double but it would hold at least 20 sea scouts and and a teepee) It weighed the same as a land rover and even had a name 'Swift' which it wasn't ,and had the handling characteristics of an iceberg! The paddles were cut down telegraph poles with a lump of lead on each end the life jackets must have come from the titanic surplus stores filled with kapok. Even as 12 year old kids the question often arose of why something that was supposed to keep you afloat weighed so much. And what sort of animal was a kapok anyway. The kit itself however was a mere trifle however ,the real challenge was to get all this stuff the 400 yards from the scout hut,up Bold Street ,across the Runcorn road ,through the alleyway and into the Bridgewater canal .the first section was fairly easy, a day and a half would do it easily,admittedly some of the lads would have to go to A and E to get their hernias and bad backs sorted out, but then came crossing the Runcorn road,timing was everything and I can't remember the number of times we had to go and apologise to the local bus company because ' Swift' had been in the middle of the road and once again written off one of their double deckers. Next came the launching, dropping the boat into the murky waters was always satisfying ,it was only later we realised that the resulting tsunami nearly sank the Runcorn to Widnes ferry , and I think we can be proud of the fact that it led to the building of the bridge- at least I think that's why they built it.

I have also for the the first time tried my hand at paddle boarding . It is without doubt the most pointless canoeing related activity and ranks alongside the Brevill sandwich maker, the Sinclair c5 and the Corby trouser press for stupid ideas. In fact the aforementioned trouser press is not as far from paddle boarding as you might imagine. Paddle boarding was invented by a bloke called Derek who lived in a hut on the north Norfolk coast. He was by all accounts putting the finishing touches to a pair of socks he was ironing when the ironing board fell apart, so angry was he, he threw the board into the sea and to his amazement it floated ! Quick thinking Derek then taped an oven glove to the end of an old mop and paddled off to Norway. Derek's invention has since spawned thousands of watery ironing boards now made from fibreglass or tuppaware. I don't think there that there is any historical evidence for this type of craft . The canoe came from the north american indians, the kayak from the eskimos. I can't imagine an Inuit tribe on the shores of an arctic island wondering how to get half a ton of whale blubber back across a raging arctic sea having a conversation along the lines of, I know lets put it on a flat board , then we stand up on it and use our harpoons as paddles. I don't think so. The other observation is that most of the people having a go (other than smart arsed kids) wobble about ,and with the first breath of wind have to sit down thereby turning it into a , well..... a canoe. Paddle boarding then has caused untold misery and sent most self respecting canoeists crying into their spraydecks. Derek is a millionaire but will spend the rest of his life in a padded cell just outside Kings Lynn with just a broken ironing board and a mop for company.
My canoeing will be of the sitting down variety from now on.

Home tomorrow, bugger, although on the plus side I can finish reading the latest copy of Paddle Board Weekly on the plane back.

Location:Aegean Sea

Friends

On Wednesday, we took a trip out in our hire car across the island to Andros town, which is very picturesque, affluent and lively. Took the longer route back through pretty hillside villages set in more verdant foliage and received a text from our friends Jacky and Simon who we were coming to meet us from Tinos. We worked out we could be at the port to meet them and as we drove back along the coast road, we could see their ferry coming in. Were they waving from the deck?

Met them and sat in a taverna with a bottle of wine overlooking the harbour and had a good catch up. Simon at one point convinced he had been here before in his wild 20s and slept on the beach with a couple of mates for 2 weeks until money ran out, but when he went to investigate the exact spot he decided it must have been a different island, the name of which he has long forgotten! The Greek islands hold tales for all of us.

After a late swim, we drove into Batsi and the Dolphin restaurant to have dinner. Authentic Greek food and I have finally found the right kind of aubergine salad here and a good moussaka, but ironically we think it is run by a German!

We sat up until 2am on the pretty outside terrace 'chill-out' area, grogging on as is our way with J and S; great to have them here to share our last few days.

Their son has told Simon not to come home looking like an 'old handbag'. Too late, Holland, he is as brown as a nut already!

Getting to Andros

On Monday, we left Kea to come to Andros. As there is only one ferry a week between the two islands and that runs on a Thursday, we were forced to go via the mainland and took the 10.45 ferry from Kea to Lavrio, then a bus to the airport, that stopped short of the airport, so we shared a taxi with a very nice man for that stretch. Then we were redirected from the bus station outside arrivals to the hotel opposite where we boarded a bus that went along the coast up to Rafina port. Here we bought tickets for the 17.25 ferry to Andros, which was packed with people, some of whom were going on to Tinos and Mykonos. We arrived at Gavrio port at 19.45 and found our transfer to the hotel.

By 20.45 we were sitting in the restaurant overlooking the Aegean Sea. The day's wind had dropped and the food was good. Another successful trip on Greek public transport, albeit 12 hours door to door in a very long round about way when you can almost see Kea from here!

Kea architecture

When we first got here, I wasn't sure about the newer buildings that are dotted around - they seemed very boxey and dull compared to the older white washed terra cotta pitched roofed typically Greek stuff. But as we've travelled around this very dry island, I've realised that the dry stone wall effect built from local stone is very sympathetic to the surroundings and some buildings blend in so much as to be camouflaged, which is quite clever.

There doesn't seem to be much in the way of grand villas and I have only seen one swimming pool, which contributes to the feeling that Kea is unspoilt and carefully maintained that way.

Trees, herbs, heat, singing neighbour

Kea is quite barren, but we are staying in a place with a garden full of flowers including roses and carnations and many trees; mandarin, lemon, lime, olive (of course,everywhere), almond, fig. The owner is a keen gardener.

On a walk where we were going the wrong way, Pete realised that the purple flowering shrub I ludicrously thought was heather was actually wild thyme. Abundant everywhere, as is oregano. Luckily on this walk, we were told by 2 workmen in their truck who kindly stopped ( obviously knowing that we were bonkers heading down a red dust road in searing heat ) that we were not going to end up where we hoped in Poles bay and at the ruins in Karthea. They redirected us and eventually we found the right path, but after 15minutes of uneven and steep downward trekking, I decided that an hour there and whatever it took back up was annoyingly going to do for me and my knees, so we abandoned the idea.
This path was lined with sage plants, gorgeous.

We ate at our apartment with a singing neighbour accompanying our al fresco dining - she'd obviously had a good day. Salad dressing made with lemon from the garden, lamb with mint from the garden. Goats watching from next door!