Itisallgreek2me

Sitting outside at Delfinia – Spetses

Here it is, Sunday afternoon and I have just one night remaining on Spetses for now … the realization of it all has not registered with me yet.  Perhaps that is partly due to the fact that tomorrow morning at 1135 hours, Costas and I will depart the island together on the Flying Dolphin bound for Athens.  We have booked a hotel in the city centre for a two night stay … Costas has things he wants to do in Athens and we both wish  to visit the new Acropolis Museum.  On Wednesday, Costas will farewell me at Athens Airport, my Emirates flight departs for Dubai at 1550 hours and by 1700 hours, Costas will be on the Flying Dolphin returning to Spetses.  A great plan actually, as it means I have avoided the very early departure time of 0615 hours from Spetses on Wednesday and a subsequent lengthy wait for most of the day at Athens airport … all very civilized!

This past week, Costas has continued working at the Bar.  With help from Roger painting, Tea cleaning, Costas varnishing tables and chairs etc and the occasional help from me … in a few more days all will be ready for opening night on 21 December, through to about 6 January and the Greek will be feeling extremely pleased with himself.

Many days I have continued to enjoy the opportunity to cook … it is so nice to do so and to sit down and share a meal with someone.  One day I made a very nice fish soup, another day I cooked chops with potatoes in the oven – loads of lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, mustard, rosemary, salt and pepper then yesterday, I made a most impressive spaghetti bolognese.  The day too was impressive and so when Costas came home early afternoon suggesting we take a walk together down to the Old Harbour, I jumped at the opportunity.  On the way back we stopped at a seafront establishment to sit right on the waterfront in the sunshine and share a nice cold beer.  Then Costas suggested we should have a salad with calamari and another beer … the spaghetti bolognese would keep for today.

During the week we were out a few evenings … one night to Mayo, Thursday first to Delfinia and then on to Votsalo where Mike and Nick were playing.  Last night once again to Delfinia, then on to Votsalo, keeping company with Panayiotes and Christos.  The best movie of the week would have to be “Sling Blade”.  Our best takeaway of the week, a tie between souvlaki from Cockatoo and pizza from Filippos.

I had been wanting to visit Costas’ mum’s grave and on Wednesday we went together to the cemetery at the Monastery of Agia Pantes.  On 19 January it will be a year since her passing and Costas has a need to be on the island at that time.  However, all things being equal, he will visit me in New Zealand around late January/early February.  In any case, I plan to be back in Greece next year, arriving just in time to once again spend Easter with my family on Crete before moving on to Spetses and Costas.  Tentative date of 2 May departure and a late June return, enabling me to be on Spetses for the Classic Yacht Races too.  In a few days’ time I will be back in Wanganui with many things to do, however, I do hope to find the time to write just one more Blog about our time in Athens and my journey back to New Zealand.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 2nd, 2012 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.