Indeed I have, Kev!
OK, a final push to finish this as I've got an hour to spare while I wait for my seemingly inept car insurers to call me back. I'll pick out the highlights of my final week and not dwell on the irrelevant detail (although that's always tempting!)
I made a bit of a gaffe on the Monday evening, thinking I was dining at Alexandros with a load of other Boomers - organised by the lovely Welsh lady, Judith J. I saw that the time for the pre-meal drink had changed to an hour later and so did myself up and wandered to the old port to find no one around. After a solitary cocktail, I made my way to Alexandros to find it jam packed, but no friends. The elderly guitar player summoned me to sit with him - in the middle! I did and he sang a love song to me (at least, I think
Agape Mou is a love song!), whilst I tried very hard not to look at all embarrassed. The diners thought it was hilarious! 😂 After the song finished I asked Alex, the waiter, where everyone was. ... 'Oh, it was moved to tomorrow as we are so busy' he blithely said .... Grrrr - my fault entirely, as I had seen the time change, but not registered the change of date!!! Oh well, I was starving, so walked to Dionysus where it's never too busy and then bumped into the lovely couple I'd met the previous evening when we went to Olive Thea. They asked me to go the the Astoria for a drink with them, as it was their last night, so we had a very convivial couple of hours.
Tuesday was a special day, as I met Dennis and Vera again at the submarine service. I hadn't realised that Vera had just before taken a tumble Dennis - sorry. The service was the first one I had managed to get to and I found it very moving and so well executed. Skiathos does ceremony very well when compared with the UK. The town I live in is approx 20,000 in population but the Remembrance Sunday service is sadly lacking compared to this. (One thing that amused me that day was the dress uniform of the lady sailor, very smart in her whites - but what a short, tight skirt! Us onlookers were speculating how she could possibly hop on board her boat in such attire.)
That night I ate at Lo and La with Karen and Tony, friends from home who were staying on for their third week (having originally intended just two). The food was lovely - we shared a grilled vegetable platter and an aubergine parmigiana bake to start and then Karen and I had Penne Lorenzo (pork and blue cheese) and Tony had seafood spaghetti - 20 euros each, including water and wine. We finished the evening at the Lobby Bar at the Bourtzi which serves amazing (and reasonably priced) cocktails.
On Wednesday Karen & Tony were in town early to do their going home tests at the clinic, so we met for breakfast at the Foodie café before heading beach-wards. We decided on Vromolimnos, as none of us had been before, and we were first there at 10.15 so no worries about a sunbed! We also booked a table for lunch in the large and impressive restaurant and had a lazy and lovely day there. The sand is really white and soft and the sea was warm. The only slight negative for me and Karen (who are wimps!) was the three feet width of large pebbles that you need to cross to enter the sea. Sea shoes are a must for next year. For lunch, I chose the moussaka, which was really delicious. A big thumbs up for Vrom!
On Wednesday evening, after a very quick shower and change, I had arranged to meet up with some ladies from the Skiathos Solo Boomers site for a cocktail or three. We met at Goldfish - ok, but I prefer GinFish as the music was really loud and made it difficult to converse. There were seven of us and we have since formed a Messenger group to keep in touch and (hopefully) meet up again in the future. Three of the ladies had been there for a few months - I think Kevb may know one of them - Ann?
The following day I had a lift up to the dog shelter with my Skiathos-based friends and handed over the bag of dog goodies I had brought over with me, mainly puppy stuff as they had said they were running low. It was lovely to see that they have a really low number of dogs in at the moment as re-homing is going so well. This time last year they had around 100 dogs in - this year the number is 30 and half of those are awaiting transport to their new families. Brilliant work! 🐾🐾
On Friday I took the bus to Koukounaries beach (as the first water taxi wasn't going until 11 am and I didn't want to hang around). The bus was full - but no one had to stand. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the bus stop end of the beach was fairly empty and I managed to get an end of row bed, which I like as there's more scope to manoeuvre it about. The sea was beautiful ... no assault course of stones there! I lunched at the Agustera and had a nice chat with Elsa and a few grumpy words with Dino, who soon disappeared home. It wasn't at all busy - a shame as town trade was so brisk. I feel for the business owners in Koukounaries, being the furthest away from town and mainly us Brits there, it seems to have really suffered these past two years. I nipped up to the Mandraki hotel to book a table for dinner that evening, as the band from Totem (and Cookoonari) were on at 8pm and one of the Solo ladies from the previous evening wanted to join me there.
After a pleasant horizontal afternoon and a quick bus back and shower/change I was at the bus terminus to meet Jean - who messaged me as I arrived there to say she was feeling unwell - possibly sunstroke - and wouldn't be joining me. Oh dear! I deliberated for about two seconds, than caught the bus anyway and carried on as planned. There were very few guests in the White Bar, but those who were there really seemed to enjoy the music (which was excellent) and the food was also very good. It was a bit like a private gig! The guys seemed really happy to see me and played lots of songs I like, so I was glad I'd made the effort. I caught the 10.30 bus back to town (empty) and went for a cocktail to Anderssons to see a friend who works there. I only intended have the one - famous last words - but ended up staying until about 1.30 am. The musicians came in and it was nice to be able to have a proper catch up.
Saturday - I was up early-ish (with a thick head!) to meet my long-time friends from home, Jill and Nick, who had arrived on Friday afternoon after a fairly last-minute booking. We breakfasted at Foodie and then drove to Vromolimnos ... a repeat of Wednesday!! (Though I had souvlaki and not moussaka) Karen and Tony are friends I met through Jill and Nick - so they had told them about the lovely food at Porto Paradiso (the restaurant at Vrom). We ate at Ricchi and Poveri that night - beautiful, though we hadn't booked early enough for a front table. I had crispy belly pork and grilled asparagus - couldn't manage anything else after the long, late lunch.
On Sunday I went to the clinic at 9 am for my pre-departure test - very quick and simple and then I met up with J&N and we decided to go for an adventure into the hills (as Nick was driving) and headed for Kehria and then Ligaries. There was the big endurance race on - we passed lots of very crazy, sweaty people toiling up the hills from Kehria and up into the mountains. Well done to them all - wish I could do it! We decided to drive round to Mandraki Xerxes - the lure of the chips! - and spent a very pleasant afternoon there. Maria now has her daughter helping her and they were both really happy to see us and chatted for ages. The daughter (Mado, I think) gave me a bit of a history lesson about Greek girl's names.
That night - my last - Jill had booked the Final Step, which was a first for us all and didn't disappoint. I think I found the easiest way up there (via the donkey steps) but J&N didn't seem too convinced!!! We had a lovely meal ~ Nick had steak and Jill and I went for sea bass (the nicest I've had for ages) and then we shared a couple of puds. We had wine and water and it was very reasonable (though I can't remember how much - sorry). We walked down to Gerani for a nightcap and that was almost it!
Oh, I forgot to say, before we went to the restaurant we went down to the rocks on the Bourtzi to commune with Paul. It was very emotional, particularly for my friends, as they hadn't been able to come to visit him in those last weeks, for various reasons. So we all shed a healing tear and took some photos to look at over the winter months.
Monday - the dreaded last day! But saying that, it was probably the nicest last day I've ever spent in Skiathos. I checked out of the hotel at ten am, promising to return at some future time. I really loved the hospitality and professional management style of the two brothers, Dimitris and Yannis. Dimitris insisted on helping me with my case up to the top of Papadiamantis Street where Jill and Nick picked me up. I was very grateful - as that case has a will of its own. Anyway, a smooth collection and we spent the day at Nostos/Tzaneria beach and lunched at the Baracoa bar/restaurant. The beach was quite lively - progressively so as the day wore on. We were amongst the first there (again) and most beds were reserved so we asked a waitress and said we also wanted to make a lunch reservation and - hey presto! - four well-placed beds were immediately found. These beds have the thickest and newest mattresses I've ever seen on a sunbed. Impressive!
So, we swam and sunbathed and then lunched and I left the beach at about four thirty so I could get a shower at J&N's studio before heading for the airport. We said sad goodbyes - although we're going to be all together again in Skiathos next May - and I checked in at an almost empty airport. There was only the Manchester Jet2 flight leaving, it seemed so it was all very easy-peasy. The check in lady needed to check the passport, my pre-flight covid test and completed UK PLF and that was all. Passport stamped again, but no queue and then I was through. Manchester was similarly swift and I was through after only a slight baggage delay (the belt broke) and being whisked home by my youngest.
... And that was how my second fortnight in Skiathos went 😎 Hope it didn't bore your socks off, but I've quite enjoyed re-living it. If I can ever figure out how I'll add some pics to this to alleviate the words, but thank you for reading!
The daughter (Mado, I think) gave me a bit of a history lesson about Greek girl's names.
Hello Katet, the Girl's name is Mando and she is a bubbly, beautiful person, one of life's wonderful souls , I think we may have seen you a couple of times during August and September xx
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