Itisallgreek2me

The Two of Us behind the bar on Closing Night

There has been very little time for relaxing over the past 10 days … so much has happened here on the island.  Sadly, yesterday morning I fare welled Bev and Jacquie on the 1135 hours Flying Dolphin.  They have two nights in Athens before commencing their long journey back to New Zealand on Saturday, however, I am sure with absolutely no regrets.  They have had such a wonderful holiday and we will miss them.  Late yesterday afternoon, Costas left to go and watch the UEFA Europa League football game between Asteras Tripolis and Tottenham Hotspur at Tripoli on the Peloponneses mainland.  His beloved Tottenham won 2-1 so he is very happy.

Wednesday was my birthday.  With the weather nice and mild for this time of year, Bev and I met early at 0800 hours for a lengthy 3 and a half hour walk up into the hills … wonderful!  First we made our way up to the Monastery of Agia Pantes (All Saints) where we visited Costas’ mum’s grave.  A little further along the road at an allotment we saw the two delightful black and white dogs that had accompanied Costas and I on a walk last year.  This time they were tied up, however, it was not long before one of them joined Bev and I.  Higher up the hill is the Gorgoepikou Monastery with its beautiful church … there a nun was occupied watering their garden.  Higher still you come to a smaller abandoned church with great cracks in its walls … the path to this one proved challenging as I had not remembered exactly the way there and at one point we found ourselves down on our hands and knees in order to get by a very prickly bush with quite a precipice on the other side.  A short walk further on brings you to “H XAPA” – The Joy – the name of a long since abandoned property on the ridge.  Since the very first time I passed by it, I have dreamt of how it could be if I had the means to purchase and renovate, however, in reality, it is probably too far gone.  From “H XAPA” we walked along the ridge to return back via a different route where we saw people harvesting olives.  Checked out the small pink church and spoke with a gentleman tending to his rabbits at a little old property I have also always loved.  He now has a gaggle of geese there … with their hissing, I believe, they could be more useful than a guard dog.

That evening at 1900 hours we met up with Bev and Jacquie for a very pleasant walk down towards the Old Harbour.  Shortly after arriving at Nektarios there was an unexpected shower but not enough to dampen anyone’s spirits.  At 1930 hours, out the back of the Restaurant by the waterside, Ray and Heather had organized our annual fireworks display … nothing short of amazing!  Once back inside, 25 of us in total, sat down for a fantastic meal and, of course, it was my birthday.  When Nektarios lowered the lights and brought out my cake, they all sang Happy Birthday and wished me “Kronia Polla” – many years.  Music, dancing and drinking continued until eventually we all left on scooters/motorbikes/quads, with a large number of us meeting up at Point of View for a few more drinks.  I have now celebrated my birthday on Spetses for four years in a row and never disappointed … it was so lovely to have Bev and Jacquie here as well.

Bev and Jacquie had arrived back on Spetses last Friday, just in time for the Closing Night for the season Party in Bar Spetsa.  I began the day meeting up with Bev at the Poseidonion Grand Hotel where participants in The Tweed Run were coming together for a weekend of fun.  Established in London in 2009, this event has since been staged in Tokyo, New York, Toronto and now over the weekend of 1 and 2 November 2014, Antonis at the Poseidonion had brought it to Spetses.  The day began with Grooming, a Bike Check and Tweed Chat until around 1330 hours when the cyclists set off for Anargyrios and Korgialenios School for a treasure hunt, from there they cycled to Orloff Restaurant for Tsiporo and Ouzo, then down to the Old Harbour for a picnic near the lighthouse.  That evening their party continued and later on, many of the Tweed Runners came in to our party at the Bar.  The vintage bikes were wonderful and the cyclists looked resplendent in their tweed and vintage attire.

Ray and Heather dressed up their bikes for The Tweed Run, with Ray in full Highland dress which he continued to wear that night in Bar Spetsa, the party this year having a Scottish theme … the Bar decorated with many Scottish flags and the Royal Banner of Scotland, tartan bow ties and headwear for us all to put on and of course, the usual helium balloons.  It happened to be Roland’s birthday that night too, so Costas had bought a box of cakes to pass around.  As the night went on, the usual suspects could be seen sucking helium out of the balloons then singing in their high-pitched voices … sounding more like Donald Duck or the Chipmunks rather than themselves.  Sometime after 0500 hours we made our weary way home.

Over the past few days, many of our friends have left the island for now and it is unbelievably quiet and peaceful.  With the Bar closed, Costas has time for the occasional game of Backgammon or Billiards with friends and soon we will have the Scrabble board out … quiet nights at home by the fire with our four cats.  One by one, most of the shops, restaurants and bars are closing for the winter and we are limited in our choice of places to go.  However, walks together are beckoning and I should think we will begin any day now to make these a part of our daily routine.  I am half way through my stay but the next four weeks will be spent in quality time together.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 7th, 2014 at 2:00 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.