Greece - Finally

Warning - This is LONG so I'll do it 2 parts.

PART ONE

Departure Day - Sunday

It was only as we boarded the plane and began our actual flight to Kefalonia that it began to sink it that we were really going to be alone for a whole week. I was trying to rev myself up and I WAS excited, however I don't think I really allowed myself to relax until we were in the air.

It really hit me where we were going when I looked out the window and saw the Swiss Alps!!! The SWISS ALPS. Call me lame but I've never been anywhere further than the UK (Europe wise) and it was an momentous moment for me. Hopefully one day Andy and I will see these fantastic mountains from the ground.

We landed on the small island of Kefalonia around 7:30 in the evening local time. After clearing customs, waiting for baggage, etc., we arrived at our villa, Garbis Villas, around 8:20 p.m. I was relieved and pleased to see the villas were much the same as the photos I'd seen, however the place was very quiet and there was not a soul to be seen. We walked around the place a few times looking to see if we could see an office, or at least someone but with no luck. I had informed the Garbis (the family) that we would be arriving on a late flight but had assumed someone would be there to greet us. I was aware that we did have a ground floor unit and after about ten minutes looked down at one door to see a white piece of paper stuck to it. Upon checking, it was a note to us, with the key in the door. Hooray! We went in to our new home and were very pleased with our rooms. The Garbis had been kind enough to ensure we had coffee, bread, fruit, etc. for the morning as it was a self-catering villa and we had arrived late. There was also a bottle of wine chilling in the fridge that was a very nice touch. I wasn't sure it if was because we had informed the villas we were on our honeymoon, but it turns out this is just a nice gesture they make to their guests.

We couldn't wait to get changed and head out into the village to find a taverna, so after a quick tour around the place, we showered, changed and headed off to eat. We ended up ordering way too much food at the place we settled on (halfway down the bottom of a very long hill), but had a pleasant evening talking to young guy and girl serving us. As were were leaving they happily toasted us with a shot of local drink. It was tasty but I'm not sure what it was - definitely not ouzo. More cinnamony tasting.


Andy Relaxing by Pool at Sunset


We walked way back up the hill and had a relaxing and enjoyable night (you will have to go to my erotica blog for more information (he he);)...

Day One - Monday


The next morning was spent laying around the pool and just taking it easy. We agreed that we would hike down to the beach at lunch time to eat at a beachside taverna and spend the rest of the day on the beach. We were told by the ladies staying next to us how to get down to the beach by foot. It was a gorgeous hike down - we kept stopping to take photos. By the time we reached the bottom we were well ready for lunch. The taverna on the beach was lovely and our waiter (Niko, who we became very friendly with over the next week) was so pleasant and welcoming. I don't remember what the name of the Greek dish was that I ordered but it was yummy. The beer was flowing smoothly as well.

Our first day was mainly a quiet one as we planned on renting a jeep and doing some exploring the following day.

Day Two - Tuesday

We set off for the south-east side of the island at approximately 10 a.m. the next morning for a small town on the south-east tip of the island called Skala. We shopped for beach wear and postcards throughout most of the morning as the beach at Skala, although beautiful was quite pebbly, so it was a good idea to get beach shoes and mats. We picked this cozy little taverna for lunch and it was here, as I wrote out about a dozen postcards, that I had the best food of the trip - slouvaki on pita with a salad and tzatziki. Let me say this - I had tried Tzatziki at local restaurants back home, or packaged in the grocery store and it is NOTHING like the tzatziki you get in Greece. Gawd, I'm still drooling about it. After our fine lunch we walked down to the beach and found a small place away from other people amongst an outcroping of rocks. We then spent the rest of the day happily snorkeling and sunbathing.

That evening after showering and relaxing for awhile we made our way back up the hillside for yet another Greek feast.

Day Three - Wednesday

Wednesday morning was by far the most expectant for both Andy and I. We eagerly hopped out of bed as the day before we had hired a motor boat to do some exploring around the south/east tip of the island.

We got to the rental place right on time but had to wait a few minutes for Yanni (the rental guy) to open up shop. He was a super nice guy and once he realized I was from Canada told me of all his adventures to Canada during the years he worked on a freighter ship. In his words, I hail from the 'best country in the world'. Can't say I disagreed with him ;).

Andy took the wheel of the boat initially and we slowly made our way out of the inlet and out around the bay, heading back toward Skala. Naturally some of the views were spectacular and we stopped periodically to enjoy a swim on the beaches reachable only by boat, or to explore caves with the most turquoise water imaginable. Absolutely stunning. I was told there was a chance we might see dolphins but I only looked around half-heartedly - these things don't usually happen. We were also pretty wrapped up in watching the beautiful coastline.


Beach Break

Around 1 p.m. we made it to an inlet where a number of boats were docked and we decided to stop and have a bite to eat. The hut serving food was very basic but we were told we were in Captain Corelli land. Again it was very pretty scenery, although there wasn't another building to be seen.

We made our way back to the boat figuring we would have to put our foot down to make it back to Yanny by 4 p.m. The water had grown very calm by this time and I was happy to take the wheel (we'd been taking turns off and on all day) so Andy could sunbathe on the brow of the boat. I told him to keep an eye out for dolphins as my hope was to still maybe sight some. Andy kept catching sight of something black splashing, and would yell that he could 'see something' but it always turned out to be fish. About 3/4 of the way back, I was scanning the water facing away from land and thinking that it would have made our honeymoon sooo complete to just see some dolphins in the wild. No word of a lie - but there they were! I screamed to Andy to look and whipped the boat around in the direction of the dolphins! There had to have been 6-8 of them. I was worried that they would swim away from us as I have seen whales do, but no way - not these babies. They put on quite the show for us - swimming under our boat and jumping out of the water! I was so excited I nearly jumped in with them myself. I kept splashing the water and making noise (I'd heard that they like this) to draw their attention and it seemed to work. I was almost crying in my glee - how magical it all was. Andy used up at least two memory cards trying to get a great shot of them, he even took a short video clip of them. Of course the best pictures are those that we will have to keep in our memories - ain't that always the way.


Dolphins!

After about 20 minutes of watching them we realized we would have to make our way back to port. It was with a big sigh that we both turned the boat back, but 20 minutes of dolphin watching at the end of the trip was the best thing that could have happened. We were happy to return back with this fantastic experience.

I think we were both walking on air that evening as we wined and dined once again. I certainly didn't hold back and at dinner consumed a bottle of wine. We made our way down to our favourite taverna to have a few more drinks. The owner and bartender Nadia (a Finnish lady) was a sweetheart and had an computer with internet access. After consuming two or three of my new favourite cocktail, the Mexican, I got online and emailed a few people. God knows what I said, in my polluted but happy state - a lot of dolphin ramble I'm sure. Of course as I was well and truly 'intoxicated' and horned on to anyone who would listen that I happen to come from Canada - the best country in the world didn't you know? To give the people in the taverna credit (all British couples) they took it well.

Andy had a bit of trouble getting me back up the very steep hill that night, but all I can say was that day and night was one hell of a good time.