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Post by katet on May 22, 2023 17:07:00 GMT
As I’m here three times this year I’m labelling the threads part 1, 2 & 3 …. so imaginative!
We arrived this afternoon … me plus my youngest son and daughter in law … no hold ups, apart from a short delay at Manchester due to stormy weather somewhere en route. We disembarked at 2 pm Greek time, and were at the Alkyon by half past. The rooms were ready, so a very smooth arrival.
Am very impressed with the hotel so far - although we did splurge on two of the front, sea-view rooms. We’re in adjacent rooms on the ground floor, which is great as we can sit outside together on the terrace. I wasn’t expecting the ground floor rooms to have a view, so a nice surprise.
We ventured out earlier for a beer at Pecan and a gyros at No Name before coming back to unpack and are now ready to go out for a cocktail and dinner. It won’t be a late one, though - we’ve all been up since daft o’clock as it was an 8am flight. Will update soon 😎
PS- the weather is warm (around 20C) but with quite a breeze. Bring a jumper YM!
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Post by dennisn on May 22, 2023 17:44:12 GMT
Hooray, a professional seamless take up of the baton passed by Dave. Yeeee Haaaaaa!
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Post by *Di* on May 22, 2023 18:30:07 GMT
Enjoy Kate! Looking forward to hopefully frequent updates. No pressure though! 😁❤️
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Post by yorkshiremouth on May 23, 2023 11:18:18 GMT
I’ll be with you this time tomorrow, keep the beer cold.
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Post by katet on May 24, 2023 5:35:56 GMT
I’ll be with you this time tomorrow, keep the beer cold. I may just be avoiding beer today - we had a late one in the Blind Dog last night 🫣
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Post by balddave on May 24, 2023 15:51:32 GMT
Kate , the words last and famous spring to mind
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Post by katet on May 24, 2023 20:42:21 GMT
Well, it’s Day 3 already - sorry I didn’t manage to post yesterday, but it turned out to be a really busy day. I hadn’t been away with my younger son for three years and had forgotten what he’s like when he gets his party head on!
Just to round off Monday, we had a cocktail at Venue and then decided to see if we could get a table at Paraxenos. They were fairly busy - I think we got the last one, so were lucky. The father and daughter who run it gave us a lovely welcome and the food was excellent, as ever. I shared a baked feta starter with Martha and Robert had prawn saganaki - both delicious. I had penne arrabiata, which was lovely and spicy, Rob had a pork dish, which he said melted in the mouth, and Martha had sea bass on fava purée … also delicious. With wine and beer it was just under €100… a little pricey, but a special evening.
We ended the evening with a hot chocolate in Gerani before turning in after an extremely long day … but how lovely to be back!
TUESDAY It wasn’t really sunny enough for a beach day, so we had a lovely wander around town with a couple of coffee stops (More/Mythos and the Bourtzi) and did some essential shopping - as you do! I really love the shops here. They seem to have nicer clothes/pottery/‘stuff’ than at home. I bought a sweatshirt as I’ve made the mistake of not packing a warm enough top and it’s still quite nippy in the evenings. A bit silly of me, but I was trying to pack light this time. We had a lunch stop at Mam near the bottom of Pap Street - salads for Martha and me and a gyros for Rob.
Back at the hotel we spent a convivial couple of hours on the pool terrace with drinks, then back to Rob & Martha’s terrace for a couple of games of cards. (Our rooms are adjacent on the ground floor and there’s a lawn in front, about 8 feet higher than the road - meaning there’s a lovely view over the water.) Later, we had dinner at Scala overlooking the old port. It’s such a lovely restaurant, with very good food. I had pasta - again - a lovely steak and mushroom penne. Martha chose prawn linguine and Robert started with pan fried squid, then sea bass. I can’t remember what the bill came to, as the kids paid, but imagine it was on the higher side as Rob and I had consumed a few glasses of wine with the meal.
We headed into town via Totem where I had a quick look to see who was on. A new band playing something fairly bland didn’t attract us in, so we trooped off to the Blind Dog instead. As usual, it was very lively and all three of us enjoyed a spot of singing and dancing to the classics. A couple more drinks later, we decided to call it a night and made our way back to the hotel, following a coffee stop at Gerani. I slept very soundly but was a touch delicate next morning!
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Post by yorkshiremouth on May 25, 2023 7:57:48 GMT
My dad says the swordfish at the Scuna is the best he’s ever had.
Looking forward to bumping into you - hot to happen sooner or later.
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Post by katet on May 25, 2023 22:17:44 GMT
We looked for you at breakfast, YM! Will be quite early tomorrow as going to the dog shelter.
WEDNESDAY I’d made some notes, but they’ve vanished so this may be a bit sketchy as yesterday was a long time ago! The weather has improved a lot, so after a late and lazy breakfast we went into town for emergency flip flops for Robert and then walked round to the tennis club, where we spent a lazy and delightful day. All morning there was only us and one other lady by the pool. We had pizzas and salad for lunch (no alcohol after yesterday!) and stayed until about 4 pm. It was so peaceful and Yannis, who is front of house, made us feel very welcome. As we were leaving my friend Ann arrived with her family and we made loose plans for a meet up. (I’ve winter-holidayed in Tenerife for the past two years and met up with Ann and her daughter.) We decided to eat at Vesuvio as Alex who was at Mythos is now there. We had a really lovely meal: warm bread and dips, a shared grilled Greek halloumi with beetroot starter, gnocchi, bolognese and a pork meat-fest (Robert’s), beer, Pepsi and rosé for €68. Excellent value! Tiredness had set in, so we went for a walk down club strip to help our digestion, fed pork leftovers to various cats and then retired to bed - all shattered 😴
THURSDAY Another beautiful morning, so we decided it was time for a beach day. We walked up to bus stop 4 and then on to Café del Mar for a coffee and a day on Siferi beach. It was so lovely and peaceful there - all the beds got filled, but there’s no jangly music - just the sound of the sea (& the occasional snore!). We had a smallish lunch at del Mar and stayed until late afternoon. The morning temperature was nice, but it suddenly felt as though the sun had ramped up its intensity this afternoon. Even Dimitris in the restaurant was saying how hot it was!
A short rest and shower back at base and then out at eight for a cocktail or two and some dinner. We went to the V bar on the old port first as a friend who used to work at the Myrtia is now barman there. It was nice to have a quick catch up. After that, we ate at Kabourelias and all opted for fish - sea bass for Martha and I and swordfish for Rob. It was light and very tasty and we all really enjoyed our meals. We then decided to have a further cocktail at Andersson’s, but were quite disappointed by the poor service. The setting is beautiful and the quality of the drinks excellent, but no one seemed particularly interested in serving us so we left after one drink and decided to finish the evening at Gerani. No service issues there and it really is a perfect wind-down spot. Martha and had hot chocolate (the best ever!) and Rob had a piña colada. Back at the hotel by midnight … dog walking in the morning 🐶
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Post by exgreekgod on May 26, 2023 3:34:12 GMT
Great reading Kate, nice to hear the weather is warming up. Who's the barman from Myrtia?
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Post by exgreekgod on May 26, 2023 3:37:08 GMT
Stephanos ?
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Post by balddave on May 26, 2023 4:47:02 GMT
I must agree with you about Anderson’s, we actually left after waiting for an age for service. I also argue against their claim of serving the best cocktails on the island, expensive yes, good not so
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Post by yorkshiremouth on May 26, 2023 10:14:49 GMT
Great stuff Kate, I’ve posted you on FB messenger.
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Post by katet on May 26, 2023 12:02:29 GMT
Yes, Stephanos. His friend owns the bar, so he’s doing the season there before deciding whether to rent a business himself.
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Post by exgreekgod on May 26, 2023 12:16:24 GMT
I'll pop in and see him in a couple of weeks
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