We woke up to a lovely day.
The wind is still blowing, but it does seem better. So as we are here we decided to
continue to act as tourists. We
will take the other boat which goes to beaches on the sister island. It costs the same 5 euros each, so that
is good. We have a very
interesting journey to the island.
The boat goes right inland at the tip of a different island next to
cliffs which contain loads of caves.
It was a shame that we didn’t bring a camera!
We arrive at Kato Koufonisia.
The first stop is where there is a taverna, but that is not where we
want to get off. So we get off at
the far end where there is a beach.
The first thing we notice is the landing stage! I wouldn’t want to take a boat
there. It is just planks of wood
attached to rocks, many of which are sticking out into the sea. The captain of this boat really knows
just how much it draws! We manage
to get off the boat (something of a miracle given how steep the descent from
the landing stage is) and walk along to look for a place to stay. It is not a particularly sandy
beach. There is sand, but it is
interspersed with lots of rocks.
We manage to find a place to put up our umbrella, again using rocks to
keep it from blowing over (though the wind isn’t nearly so bad today). The second thing we notice is that many
of the people on the beach are nude!
So Richard has finally found his ‘skinny’ (as in skinny dipping)
beach. He can’t wait to get his
gear off. Then I notice that more
and more people are stripping off.
I put on a rather covered up bathing suit, mainly because I am still red
where I burnt on my chest the other day.
We have two hours here before the boat comes back to take us to the
taverna for lunch.
We have an initial swim.
The beach may not be lovely and sandy, but the setting is
magnificent. It is a beautiful bay
surrounded by low cliffs and the colours in the water are amazing. We sit on our new beach mats. I mainly stay in the shade. It is not long now before we need to
get the boat. So we have a last
dip and R persuades me to swim nude.
Well, I didn’t want to get on the boat in a wet bathing suit, did I?
We get to the taverna and look to see how to order food. It is like the places I remember going
to years ago. There is no
menu. There is just a slab with
all their fresh fish to choose and large dishes in the kitchen with today’s
salads, vegetables and other dishes to choose from. I would really like a fresh fish. We have been avoiding them because they overcharge so
badly. However, I choose a large
scorpion fish which when weighed up will only cost about 17 euros for the two
of us. So we order that together
with a nice vegetable stew and a tomato and feta cheese salad. There is of course a big rush to order
because everyone has come off the boat at the same time. So we are not surprised when service is
a bit slow. We get our drinks
fairly soon and then bread and our veggies and salad, but no fish. Richard says we should be patient (not
one of my virtues), but after at least 45 minutes I am convinced we are never
going to get our fish. Then
finally a waiter comes and says there has been a mistake and our fish was
served to someone else! He offers
us fried calamari instead, but we have eaten a lot of that and particularly
wanted a grilled fish. Finally he
says he can do another fish for us but it will take 30 minutes! So we wait. We eventually get the fish. By that time our hunger has worn off
and it was a bit of a disappointment.
But I really think that had we got the fish in time, it would have been
one of the best taverna meals we had.
After lunch we try to find the beach. It is on a path behind the taverna and down a steepish path
through the cliffs. The beach is
all stony. There is nowhere to put
up our umbrella, nor put out the mats.
We just find a big rock each to sit on. Really we just want another swim. This beach is not skinny, so with swimsuits on we have a go
getting into the water. The beach
is so stony that I cannot walk on it barefoot. So as we both have waterproof sandals we go swimming with
them on. Even then we have to walk
along the beach to find a place where the stones are further apart to get
in! But we have a nice swim and
just about dry off in time to catch the boat back to the main island.
As we wait for the boat, I decide to take a photo. The only way to do that is on my old
iphone, which we have our Greek sim card in. I turned the phone off and when I went to turn it back on it
said that the sim had been locked and I needed a pin to unlock it. The only pin Richard and I know of was
0000, which we were told was the pin on all new cards. But that doesn’t work. You only get two goes before you are
locked out. So after the second
attempt doesn’t work we decide we will have to get to the boat and see if we
can find any info on a pin. But we
can’t. We asked a friend by e-mail
to phone us, but the phone won’t even take incoming calls. What a nuisance, particularly as we are
trying to meet up with friends tomorrow.
That is not the only problem here in Greece. As we feared all along, Grexit (Greek exit from the Euro)
appears to be imminent. Our friend
has e-mailed us to say that the island he is on has run out of money. I hear someone on the phone saying
there has been a run on the supermarkets.
When we go shopping for our next few days food, we find that there is
stock on the shelves, but they won’t take a credit card, only cash, even though
we paid by card at the same shop yesterday. Back on the boat we look up the news and find that the banks
will all be closed tomorrow. So it
begins. We have cash enough for a few
weeks, but if things get really bad we may have to go on to Turkey. Interesting times, as they say!
So we shall see. In the
meantime the plan is to move on to the next island to try to meet up with
friends tomorrow.
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