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Post by kelso on Jun 30, 2022 18:49:27 GMT
On the positive side Dennis, if you have to query a bill no waiter will dare to argue with you, as you look so hard! šš
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Post by dennisn on Jul 2, 2022 4:32:47 GMT
Oh dear, Cariad has arrived and Iāve hardly written a word. Trouble is, we are not very mobile so our wandering are limited to a short range from buses. I forgot to mention that the road to the monastery now bears evidence that the collapsed area may be under consideration for repair. There is now a āproperā closure of half the width for quite a long stretch, with traffic lights each end. Theyāre not working, but it shows they mean business! In UK the road would be completely closed, after all passing along the other side you are just a few feet away from a virtual cliff edge which has already fallen away. Another new thing weāve seen is a whole lot of beautiful wooden signposts in pale wood with (I think) carved wording coloured black. The text is often twofold, with religious destinations in apparently Ancient Greek lettering and others in normal font. Very attractive.
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Post by katet on Jul 2, 2022 8:41:13 GMT
Donāt worry, Dennis ā¦ we eagerly await whatever you write. Itās always worth reading! Times change - thereās nowt as certain - and we have to make the most of every single experience, whether itās hiking in the hills or sitting by the pool with a cold beer or frappĆ© watching the birds and butterflies š¦
I spotted a couple of the signs when we were jimny-ing around last month. More improvements, but tasteful ones!
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Post by kevb on Jul 2, 2022 17:40:32 GMT
New bus servlce from stop 18 at Troulos out to Aselinos beach starting tomorrow runs every 30 min.
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Post by dennisn on Jul 2, 2022 18:53:55 GMT
Thanks Kev. I wonder how attractive it will be? If itās only people from BS18 I canāt see much usage - they have to be aiming for people to travel to BS18 to use the service, I fancy.
In town today Vera had a hairdo (which may have gone with her first swim this afternoon)! I had Nikos Taverna Hangover Breakfast but without a hangover, very nice and tasty, especially the mushrooms and eggs.
We both went into and out of town on old fashioned green buses. They are so much better than the new ones, in our opinion. Drivers and conductors pleasant and friendly, driven gently, not F1 style. These drivers sit calmly waiting whilst we take ages getting on and off. The new bus drivers bang it into gear as soon as the last feet hit the platform, devil take the hindmost and woe betide anybody who canāt do the vaulting horse and parallel bars down the aisle whilst the bus performs serious feats of whizz.
And so we came back to try Vera out in the pool. The waterproof dressing didnāt live up to its description for very long, but when we got it off back in our room, it was waterlogged, but her injury was sufficiently progressed that she got away with it, praise be!
Vareli for tonightās meal, tsatsiki, then Veraās favourite Kleftiko whilst I had sea bass fillet. Two tonics and two beers and the total bill was our highest of the holiday to date, 51.50 Euros. Canāt grumble, it was all delicious, we didnāt have to cook it or wash up, our happy forfeit in favour of our holiday. Temperature at 7pm, by the way, was 29 degrees. Now 9.45pm and Iāve just been buzzed by our first mosquito. Efforts to swat it have so far failed - we are, after all exhorted not to mould them into the walls on pain of a bill for redecorating, so they have to be gentle efforts, aimed at stunning it for humane treatment outside. Itās a thin one at present, so we havenāt been vampired (yet!).
Nice bunch of guests, by the way, although educationally challenged - only one person around the pool yesterday knew what an air burial is. One other had a phone handy to Google it.
By the way, I tried to do the webcam pose today, but my phone absolutely refused to get internet at the Bourtzi, for me to ask if anybody was ready to look. Try again another day, but there arenāt too many left. 4G by the way is far better than any free WiFi I have checked.
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Post by dennisn on Jul 2, 2022 18:58:52 GMT
Gotcha! Whilst I was reading my latest instalment, the slim, starving mosquito strayed onto my iPad and met its end. RIP!
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Post by katet on Jul 2, 2022 21:24:27 GMT
Well done Dennis! š¦
Regarding the service from BS18 - I wonder if the bus company have done research into what the demand will be and if theyāve done much publicity? I hope itās successful - am sure the owners of the taverna at Aselinos do too!
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Post by dennisn on Jul 3, 2022 5:01:31 GMT
Congratulations were premature - soon after laying my triumphant head on the pillow I got buzzed again. I got up to start another hunt, but after a while gave up and retired to bed again, resigned to my fate. I canāt find any bites this morning and trying to examine Vera might lead to the other eye changing colour!
Actually, I already knew about the new bus to Aselinos - theyāve been announcing it on Facebook for some long time, together with a third run to the monastery. There was a timetable too and I think it might be worth being a fly on the wall to watch the last bus if it proves popular! Long walk if you canāt get on. When we drove there in the Jimny there were loads parked there, but I donāt know how many visited the taverna, it was empty for our cold drinks at 11am. Hopefully it gets busy at the time normal people eat.
Food. I have now twice asked about king prawns. They tell me they have heads tails and shells on - āBecause if we take them off the prawns will be smaller than half a little fingerā. So why king size? My imagination is much larger than prawns but just as tasty. But it seems theyāre not, end of thoughts of ordering them. Apparently they look good on a plate, but I bet they look rubbish on a fork!
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Jul 3, 2022 8:56:21 GMT
Two tips for mossies at night.
One - use a plug-in. I use the Jungle Formuke one.
Two - not everyoneās cup of tea, but keep a fan blowing air over the exposed portion of your body (usually upper torso and head). Bizarrely they canāt fly very well in strong air currents.
Good luck.
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Post by dennisn on Jul 3, 2022 18:50:55 GMT
Hurray. This afternoon I was in the pool at Villa Maria when a woman walked over and stood sideways - Cariad, recognised her immediately. Lovely lady (but no shotgun) and husband is a nice bloke too. We chatted for ages until I had to go in to get changed for evening meal (Vera was lying down with a queezy episode and didnāt meet them). We so rarely meet anyone we know and when we do I donāt know their names. This time I do - Cariad and husband.
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Post by dennisn on Jul 3, 2022 19:02:48 GMT
We didnāt do anything today, just went into town for a gyros and fruit salad at Nikos, then back with intent to get into the pool. Unfortunately, before we could take the plunge, Vera came over all rocky so we went back in for her to have a lie down. As reported above, when I went out for a swim, Cariad and her husband came calling.
We later headed off to Jasteri, but on the way met a couple who told us it has a notice saying closed on Sunday! First time weāve known a restaurant to be closed on Sunday out here. So we went to Vareli again as we had already got that far. Tsatsiki, two tonics, two beers, two kleftikos, 50.30 Euros.
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Post by kevb on Jul 3, 2022 21:49:51 GMT
Well done Dennis! š¦ Regarding the service from BS18 - I wonder if the bus company have done research into what the demand will be and if theyāve done much publicity? I hope itās successful - am sure the owners of the taverna at Aselinos do too! Apparently the system for now is that the bus can be flagged down anywhere between BS18 and Aselinos beach as there are no formal posts on the route. Hence if you were staying near, say, Christakis you wouldn't need to walk all the way back to BS18 to pick it up. The reason there's such a big cafe at Aselinos is that its a popular lunch stop off for round the island boat trips (when the winds are behaving anyway) and if you happen to get a couple of boatloads coinciding (as happened on a trip I did in 2013) there can be a lot of people looking to get fed and back on a boat before they set off again so it can get very busy. It's also why they don't open all that early as no trip boats will get there until lunch time. I walked there bright and early from Troulos in 2015 and they weren't open yet, had to sit and read a magazine I'd brought along until I could have my frappe.
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Post by katet on Jul 3, 2022 22:13:05 GMT
Yes, Kev - the first time we went to Aselinos was on a boat trip and there was already a boatful (edited!) of folk there so it took an age to even get a beer. We gave up on ordering food as wouldnāt have had time to eat it.
The second time was after a dog shelter visit and we were the only ones there! The food was excellent.
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Post by katet on Jul 3, 2022 22:14:03 GMT
Sorry Veraās been feeling unwell Dennis. Hope sheās ok again now.
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Post by dennisn on Jul 4, 2022 6:15:35 GMT
OK, so today we are staying in (well, in and around).
Vera will pack everything to go home except the kitchen sink and a few oddments needed for the rest of the holiday.
I will start the process of trying to ensure we get the Special Assistance weāve booked for the return journey, namely wheelchair from coach into checkin and lift into aircraft, then lift out at Bristol and through arrivals to Meet and Greet car park. Last September was challenging and stressful, so Iām feeling concerned already. TUI donāt inspire confidence; they advertise 24/7 support, just download the TUI app and all will be well. So if you weave your way through the app, a couple of dead ends appear at vital times and for support, or for contacting them you click through to a page which says Chat to our experts, BUT it also says chat will open on the day of departure. Elsewhere they say Chat will be answered within 24 hours - not much hope if you start asking questions outside the entrance to Villa Maria whilst waiting for the homeward transfer coach! So I shall start trying to ring the support phone in Swansea today. Last September the most successful of such calls was answered in Germany or Spain. It worked out fine, but only after Iād lost a lot of hair and turned much of the rest grey. And I remain concerned that if I hadnāt spent such effort on all the phone calls we could have been left unassisted.
I shall also have some beer today. And wine probably.
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