Boat trips and Parties

Well what a busy fortnight it's been!  The weather has been fabulous and is very hot at the moment, we have a 'real feel' temperature of 104!!!  Perfect weather for messing around on boats which is exactly what we have been doing 😊

Last week we were invited out on a friends yacht as a thank you for looking after their dogs back in May.  We had a great day out tacking across the bay of Steni Vala and then on to a cove with a shipwreck so some of them could go snorkelling while Paul chilled out with a beer (or two or three!).

Paul at the helm

Not a bad life!

The following day we had a different kind of  boat trip on one of the day boats but chartered for a group of us (although we had a young Italian couple who came too and probably wondered what the heck they had let themselves in for!!). The weather started out well enough but the black clouds soon rolled in and before we knew it we were in the middle of a thunderstorm!  Now, I'm not a fan at the best of times but sitting on a boat in the middle of the Aegean holding on to metal railings in a storm with the rain lashing down and the lighting zipping around overhead, is really not my idea of a fun day out! However, these two ladies loved it!!

Annie & Jill enjoying the rain!!

The storm eventually passed over us and we had another lovely day with our captain diving for sea urchins for part of our lunch.  Apparently you can only eat the females and you can spot them as they adorn themselves with 'jewellery'....bits of seaweed, small pebbles etc to attract the males 😊.

Urchins for lunch

Saturday night saw yet more action with a big celebration for a couple who have been coming to the island for a few decades and have welcomed us into their circle of friends. We were invited to a party to celebrate 50 years of marriage for Paddy & Lesley.  It was a fabulous evening with wine, food, music and song with lots of the people we have made friends with over these last few years....not sure Paul and I will make that particular anniversary as we'd both have to make it to 85 years of age but hey, you never know .

Paddy & Lesley 

Meghalos Mourtia 

The anniversary cake (s)

 The evening flew by and before we knew it 3am was beckoning. It's a very long time since I have partied that long into the night so no, I didn't make it to Aqua fit at 10am that morning!!!

And it's not over yet.....tonight is another celebration of a life well spent in the form of a memorial for Nick who died during the massive snow falls that the island had this winter....yes snow, lots of it!  There will be more food, wine, music and song and probably quite a few drunk people....just how he would have liked it. (and no, I probably won't make it to Aqua again tomorrow either 😉)

Dance festival time

The Alonissos Dance Festival got underway last weeked to great fanfare with the dancers all arriving by boat in their costumes before a parade down the main street of the port.  The weather was fabulous and even the webcam worked!  Unfortunately we got roped in to make a human barricade / walkway for the dancers to leave the boat so I didn't manage to get many photos but these give a good flavour.

 There were around 700 participating dancers from all over Greece so we had 3 nights of dancing, music and fireworks as a finale.  If that wasn't enough our landlady had friends and family visiting so we they have had bbq's on the roof, we have had some interesting singing (ish) from the rooftop fuelled by ouzo and raki and have now breathed a sigh of relief that everyone has gone back from whence they came and we might be able to get to sleep before 2am!!

As I have said, the weather has been hot and sultry for several weeks now and so one of our friends (Julie) organised a boat trip for Tuesday (tomorrow). The gods obviously didn't fancy that idea as last night we had a huge thunderstorm, torrential rain and it is now much cooler at around 21 degrees.  It is set to be hit and miss tomorrow so the boat trip is off.......back up to 29 degrees weds, so of all the days to book it!

Talking of Julie, she is the lady who had Ed, the dog that we first looked after on Alonissos. Sadly Ed passed away in December but fate has stepped in and this little one was dumped outside a rescue centre in Volos at the age of 4 weeks old with a broken leg...Julie had now adopted her, so meet Mia (who is adorable but part alligator going by the amount she uses her teeth!!)

Ed

Mia

Party time!

There are a few 'milestone' birthdays on the island this year and the first was celebrated in some style!  Kevin was 70 this year and we were amongst the lucky islanders to be invited to the birthday bash.  We all boarded one of the local excursion boats where we were served Prosecco and canapes and then sailed into one of the bays where a couple of the local musicians played greek songs accompanied by more Prosecco!  Then it was off to a beach bar/taverna for a meal, free flowing wine and more music before heading home around 1.30am.....a good time was had by all, especially Kevin who apparently eventually made it to bed around 4.30am having had a few more drinks on their terrace (always seems like a good idea at the time😈 ).

The transport

Fran and Kevin (birthday boy)

Party time!

 Having had some interesting weather for June, thunderstorms etc, the weather has now settled into it's usual routine of sun, hotter sun, sweltering sun and 'oh my god, please can we have clouds' sun!!! There has been a wicked level of humidity and intense heat with Accuweather happily stating, temp 97 with a real feel of 117...eek!  Thankfully by the time the really hot stuff arrived, we were back in our little air-conditioned studio in Patitiri having finished our latest dog sitting stint in a house with only fans. We had a lovely 'welcome back' evening on the roof with the other people staying at the apartments arranged by Karen (the landlady) who cooked Calamari fresh from the fishing boats.
The poor dogs had all been melting in the heat so we had a lovely afternoon just before the end of our stay involving a hose pipe, a plastic bath tub and me and Paul in our swim gear getting as wet as the 3 dogs did!!

not a bad view to wake up to :)

The 3rd Alonissos Dance Festival gets underway on Saturday night (8th) and somehow we have found ourselves roped in to help with the buffet for the attending dancers, all 300 of them!! As the organisation has all been done by Greek men, I hate to think how this will pan out!  Apparently last year they ran out of everything before they had cooked the next batch and the dancers got so fed up waiting that they all sent for Gyros!! This year there are 24 dance groups over 3 days so it should be fun and very busy down at the port.  It will also get rather busy where we live as the landlords ex army mates have all arrived on the island who can all apparently out drink anyone, anytime.....there are five 2 litre bottles of Ouzo upstairs which apparently 'might' just be enough along with his daughter, her husband and his family from Albania.....ear plugs required I think!

Finally for now a message to our friend back in the UK, Ian, we are so sorry this happened to you (told you all that clean living was bad for you 😊 )but it looks like you are now getting stronger every day. We both wish you all the best and will obviously come and see you once we are back in the UK.  I hope you get to read this and have now remembered all your pin numbers for your phone etc!!  Lots of love from Greece xx

More house/dog sitting!

So, we are now one week into our second (and last) bout of house/dog sitting for the year.  This time we are looking after a house in the Old Village at the top of the island.  It is a lovely house with panoramic views of the island.  We are looking after 3 dogs this time; Maisie, Zoe and Rupert.

From left: Maisie, Zoe & Rupert

They are lovely but have two "foibles!!", they bark at people indiscriminately depending on their mood and are afraid of thunderstorms! They are also used to being walked first thing as No.1 it is cooler and No.2 they meet less people and other dogs! Now, as you all know, I am not a morning person and since giving up the day job I don't like to think about opening my eyes before 9 😀. These guys are used to being walked around 8am! Now I know that isn't exactly the crack of dawn but when you factor in the greek way of life, up till ??? having imbibed ??? then 8am is EARLY!
Now, last year we didn't see rain until August...this year we have had several days of torrential rain and thunderstorms, which as I mentioned, these dogs are frightened of.  Day 3 of our stint saw 2 dogs quaking as the thunder started rolling around 6.30am and us both having to join them upstairs to comfort them, so there we are, me and Paul in our PJ's going back to sleep for an hour on the big sofa's in the lounge with 3 dogs at our feet!
All was well for a few days with days at the beach and nice walks around the village until a couple of nights ago. We had been to the fortnightly quiz night (which we won so 2  bottles of wine for the house 😁) we went to bed and an hour later the heavens opened and the crashing started!  There was frantic scrabbling at the gate at the top of the stairs (it's an upside down house so the bedrooms are downstairs) so we let the dogs downstairs to lie outside our bedroom door.  Unfortunately they had other ideas and made it obvious that they wanted to be inside the bedroom rather than outside, so a rather sleepless night was had by all until the storm died down at around 4am...bless!!!
We have since had a couple of lovely hot days but now there are more storms forecast.....joy!  Apart from that, all is well, we have fabulous scenery and have had plenty of socials with a friends 70th birthday bash planned for next week which apparently involves a boat, music, prosecco, food and dancing....should be fun 😎

Not a bad view for a drink or two!

A month already!

Well time has certainly flown by and we've done our first stint at house/dog/cat sitting for the year and are now enjoying a week to ourselves before embarking on the next one! We will be looking after a lovely house and 3 sweet dogs in the old village on the island for the next 3 weeks....should be fun!
A lot of friends from the UK but made in Alonissos are currently on the island so this week has been an endless round of nights out eating and drinking....it has to be done!  It was Pauls birthday yesterday which also coincided with the date for the Alonissos Challenge.  He took part in the 15k walk and was very pleased to come 4th....his best placing yet 😀.
We had a wander around the seafront the other day and came across these two making good use of someones tractorichi....yes, these are actually driven on the island, always by men and apparently you have to pass a driving test of sorts!!

From this mode of transport to the complete opposite end of the scale now.  This impressive piece of kit arrived in the harbour last week and is now moored in the next bay whilst its current inhabitants attend a homeopathy course on the island.....we have seen prices quoted for this yacht OURANOS from 210,000 euro per week to 210,000 per day.....some people have far too much money!!!

Off to Greece!

On 5th May, Paul and I set off once again for summer in Greece. We spent a couple of lovely days in Skiathos re-visiting old haunts and getting a surprise siting of an octopus in Skiathos harbour!  I must say it put on quite a show changing colours and letting out little puffs of ink.  We didn't dare take any pictures as several of the local children were nearby and we had visions of nets and buckets and the demise of the poor octopus (even though they are rather tasty grilled 😊).

Then it was off to Skopelos for what was supposed to be 9 days, however, this being Greece it didn't quiet go as planned!  We had a lovely ferry trip from Skiathos to Skopelos as we had not one but TWO dolphin encounters.  There was a pod of 6 that were playing in the waves beside the boat for several minutes and then later, 2 dolphins playing in the bow wave....a perfect start.
We were met at the port by our hostess, Evagglia from Traditional House which turned out to be along the waterfront and then up a couple of cobbled streets...an interesting journey as we have 2 rather large suitcases which were pushed, pulled and carried up the various streets and steps!  The little house was lovely though with terraces and a courtyard in a peaceful spot just back from the main port.  (although the beds had the hardest mattresses in the world and the church next door chimed the hours every hr 24/7!!)

Within a couple of days we received emails from a few of our friends on Alonissos asking if we knew about the planned ferry strikes!! No, we didn't and as we had planned to got to Alonissos on the second day of the strike, we had to bring our dates forward so only 7 days on Skopelos.  We had a lovely week exploring the island, visiting the beaches of Staphylos and Agnondas which had a very nice taverna!  We hired a car and crossed to the other coast to visit the church made famous in the film, Mamma Mia. We had planned to climb the infamous steps that Meryl Streep ran up whilst singing 'The Winner takes it All' but I hadn't figured on my acrophobia!  I got about 20 steps up and froze!  Paul had to coax me down, practically on my bum before leaving me safely on terra ferma and making the way up himself.  Apparently the church is actually tiny and not where they filmed the interior shots as you could only fit about 6 people in in!!

Mamma Mia church perched at the top

Inside the church

The climb!!

Having already changed our leaving date we were then asked to change it again by another day as we actually have a couple of  'jobs' to do this summer!! We have been asked to look after 2 dogs and 5 cats at their home in Steni Vala, a small village on Alonissos along from the main port of Patitiri.  Their owners had obviously also been affected by the strike and they were having to leave early to get their flight from Skiathos, so now down to 6 days on Skopelos,  hey ho. Never mind, we had a lovely time, with some great food and even live music on several nights at the fish tavernas on the waterfront. Molos in particular stands out as it had very different food on offer and 2 sometimes 3 or, as happened this evening, 4 musicians playing and singing every night!

So, on 13th May we set off for Alonissos, our home for the rest of the summer.  We were picked up by Doug and Sara and driven to their house which would be ours for 2 weeks while they headed back to the UK for a family wedding.  We were introduced to our charges for the duration, Diego & Ruby the dogs and TC, Frank, Rita, Felix and Phantom the cats.  We have beautiful views of the village and look forward to many hours sitting on the terrace watching the sailors try and moor their yachts....with varying degrees of success 😁.

Steni Vala, Alonissos

Due to the strikes, Doug and Sara had decided to sail themselves from Alonissos to Skiathos as they own their own yacht and two friends, Tony & Val went with them in order to sail it back.  Although they had a lovely sailing day there, getting back turned into a bit of an ocean saga!!  The weather turned and Val and Tony ended up having to moor up on a neighbouring island for a couple of days as they couldn't get back to the harbour due to high winds!  They ended up coming back on Friday rather than Wednesday and still had to moor in the next bay at Agios Petros as Steni Vala was full due to a flotilla from Sailing Holidays!!

No not the caribbean! Dougs' yacht at Agios Petros, Alonissos 

Now, we were told that we would hardly see the cats and that the dogs had only really ever walked to the near by village of Kalamakia which is 30 mins walk away.  We had inclement weather for the first couple of days and were fighting the cats for a chair!!  We ended up sharing the sofa with both of the dogs and big Frank, who is a rather large ginger and white cat with all the other cats taking up each of the four dining chairs!

As the weather improved we do see a couple of the cats only at feeding time but 3 of them are regular 'house' cats.  

Big Frank & Ruby

Diego

 We have also been expanding on the dogs repertoire with regards to the places they have been walking 😀. So far we have done their usual walks to Kalamakia and down to the beach and back but we have now taken them to an inland (ish) village of Isomata which was 1 hr walk away and today, as we awoke to cloudy skies and cooler temperatures, we decided today was the day to walk to Agios Dimitrios which is a spit of land with a large beach and a couple of tavernas which is approx 1.5 hrs walk!
Everything started in it's usual fashion with Ruby 'killing' her lead and getting terribly excited about the whole thing and Diego getting as excited as Diego gets, trotting along with his little tail up and waving in the breeze.  Luckily it stayed cloudy as there were a few hills to negotiate and plenty of hair pin bends along the way.  We all made it unscathed and to our delight, one of the tavernas was open so we had a glass of ouzo (Paul), a glass of rose wine (me), water (for the dogs) and a plate of fried sardines (shared between us all !). After a nice break we set off home and we were all flagging by our return.  As I write, Ruby is asleep on the sofa and Diego is spark out on his favourite chair....I don't think we'll be needing a second walk today!

We decided to give the local bar a try regarding their cocktail menu last night!  As our friends will tell you, we are both rather partial to a cocktail or two but finding a decent one in Greece has proven a challenge so far!  However, this time we struck gold....I had the perfect Capirinha and Paul had a cocktail invented by the barman....Gin, Ginger & Lychee, which was excellent.  There was also a rather large flotilla in again. One of the yachts was hosted by a couple of ladies of a certain age who obviously decided the place needed livening up ..... the beers came out and the sound system was turned up to 11 and everyone in a 5 mile radius was treated firstly to AC/DC and then to Led Zepplin and the Rolling Stones!  The waiters were rocking out and luckily so were the patrons of the tavernas.....great music but not really the right setting, although everyone enjoyed themselves for the 20 mins of serious rock before the music was turned down 😎. 

So that's the first couple of weeks of our summer.  We have another week at Steni Vala and then we have a week in our usual studio in Patitiri before more house/dog sitting in the Old Village at the top of the island!  It's a hard job but someone had to do it!!!