14. Apr, 2016

MONDAY 4-4-15

Today we caught the bus in to Itea, the town we can see in the distance on the shores of the Gulf of Corinth. We needed to stock up on fresh provisions and some bits and pieces. The bus came at about 10:25, only ten minutes late which is good for out here. It was a very winding road in places but that didn't deter the bus driver from driving one-handed whilst taking and making calls on his mobile phone, holding the steering wheel and a cigarette in the other. On arrival we established that the return buses were either at 12:30 or 15:45, so we were either going to have to be pretty quick or pretty slow. Luckily I had spotted a Carrefour supermarket up a side street to our left as we came in to town. Salvation! We had a quick look around and were pleased we could get all we needed in there. Now the question - do we stay until 15:45 and pop in before we go, or buy now and leg it out of town at 12:30. We chose the latter and grabbed a trolley. One cool bag, one large shopping bag and one full backpack later we left the store. Having checked our bank statement a couple of days ago we noticed we were being charged 2% on card transactions but cash withdrawals were free. We understood before we left both would be free, so we decided to get some cash out of the ATM at 'Stavros Post' or whatever they call their government owned postal service.  It looks as if we paid 70p per Euro and were then screwed 4% by Stavros Bank at this end as there was a charge of about £9 to pay. So that was the final nail in the coffin for me and Greece. We're heading out of town tomorrow, and will leave the greedy, lazy sods to pay off their national debt without our help.

Today has been a bit of a result. This morning one of the Austrians damaged his vehicle on rocks on the bend whilst trying to dump his grey water waste before leaving the site. This evening the older couple in the remaining vehicle seem to have had a falling out. This evening they were both walking up the road towards the restaurant which sits up above us here. She was wearing a little black number trimmed with those fringe bits you get hanging around the bottom of lampshades. They look good on lampshades but not on the bottom of her black dress. He was dressed down in what looked like a glorified pair of bathing trunks and a short sleeved shirt. Clearly she felt he hadn't made an effort and they came back separately, and have been holed up ever since, him watching TV and her outside smoking fags. Still that fringe on the bottom of her dress should keep the flies off her itchy bits. To top it all a young Dutch couple arrived in a car and pitched a tent exactly where they were entitled to do so - slicing right through the Austrians previous land-grab.  I shall sleep well tonight, feeling that all is right with the world.

14. Apr, 2016

14. Apr, 2016

14. Apr, 2016

SUNDAY 3-4-15

We again woke to lovely warm sunshine, what a treat it was. The nights have not been as peaceful as for some reason a very loud dog down below in the village has decided to stand in for the cockerel these past couple of mornings and given us non-stop barking from about 06:30.

Yesterday we were joined by two couples of Austrians and their motorhomes. The cheeky devils have parked sideways taking up three pitches between them, then unloaded their motorbikes and parked them rather too close to us. I mustn't let them wind me up about it. I think it must be in the genetic makeup of some people from that part of the world. If it's not other people's countries they want its sun beds or camping pitches.

We decided to take a walk down to Chryso, the local village this morning. It looks rather nice from up here, but as we walked downhill along the winding road we could see that close-up it was nothing like as nice. Never mind it was a nice walk, and we could rub shoulders with the locals and see their way of life which is something we like to do. We didn't find any shops at all, and had we done so I'm sure that,as to day is Sunday they would have been closed.

On our way down to the village we were adopted by a very large, docile dog that followed us everywhere. He was panting a bit and when we stumbled across a water tap in the street I turned it on for him to have a drink, but he wasn't interested which surprised me. The Chef said he probably just wanted to belong to somebody, which was rather sad and probably true. He followed us back up the hill and we were getting closer to the campground. I was worried that he'd follow us in there and cause us all sorts of problems. Luckily for us, but unfortunately not for the dog, we passed a herd of goats, the same herd we'd seen on the way down, complete with their goat herder and his two dogs. Having seen us go past on the way down he must have seen our problem and told his two dogs to see ‘our dog’ off which they did assisted by another stray who had followed 'our' dog up the hill. It wasn't pleasant to see, but that's how life is here in Stavrosland.

This evening’s meal was again eaten outside on a lovely warm evening complete with views. We have decided to move north to Dubrovnik in Croatia on Tuesday. We had said that we'd eat one evening in the restaurant here as a treat but probably won't now as I'm not too keen on oily food. Rather than have traditional Moussaka using avocados and olive oil, I'd prefer a Shepherds' Pie with WD40 sprayed over it.

14. Apr, 2016