{"id":2220,"date":"2010-09-09T18:11:54","date_gmt":"2010-09-09T18:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=2220"},"modified":"2011-04-12T16:36:49","modified_gmt":"2011-04-12T16:36:49","slug":"return-to-spetses-and-a-warm-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=2220","title":{"rendered":"Return to Spetses and a Warm Welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

My handsome friends, Bob and Oliver, Costas' house - Spetses<\/p><\/div>\n

I had travelled to Limni on Evia, expecting to spend a couple of days relaxing on the beach, before my much anticipated return to Spetses and Costas.\u00a0 The first day we had rain and overcast skies.\u00a0 Tuesday morning I headed for the nearest beach where I managed just two and a half hours of glorious sun, occasionally interrupted by clouds.\u00a0 My host Maddi had kindly\u00a0invited me to have lunch with her and her husband Stathis, it was Maddi’s birthday\u00a0but I did not\u00a0find that out until after my arrival. \u00a0We had lovely salmon wrapped in proschetto, three different salads and wine – all very healthy.\u00a0 Maddi and I found plenty of things to talk about and it was not until 1800 hours that I returned to my apartment, with a pizza they had given me\u00a0for my tea.\u00a0 Many of the people of Limni began celebrating the Virgin’s birthday that night and the loud music continued until 0430 hours, unfortunately,\u00a0affording one a minimum of sleep.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yesterday, in brilliant sunshine, I left Limni on the 1130 hours bus back to Chalkida.\u00a0 In the mountains, not far out of Limni, crowds were coming and going from a church, the centre of Panagia (Virgin Mary) celebrations held every year on 8 September.\u00a0 Some people boarded our bus to return to their villages, carrying pots of food, bread and bags of apples.\u00a0 The driver\u00a0had a conversation with one such passenger,\u00a0an elderly lady dressed\u00a0in black who was\u00a0carrying a pot of food.\u00a0 He was concerned\u00a0she might spill it in his bus but\u00a0she replied he had nothing to worry about,\u00a0it was in a plastic bag and basically, shut up –\u00a0speak only if I spill it!\u00a0 Just another one of those moments of simple amusement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arriving in Chalkida there was only time to buy my ticket, eat a little bread, a\u00a0hurried toilet stop and on another bus bound for Athens.\u00a0 I had telephoned Costas the night before to say that I could be delayed as the public transport workers were going to strike in Athens yesterday from 1100 to 1600 hours.\u00a0 I arrived in the big city around\u00a01520 hours, then\u00a0learnt that I had a good 20 minutes walk in 32 degree C heat to the nearest Metro Station “Attiki”.\u00a0 Managing to squeeze on to the first train out of there at 1600 hours, it took me only to Syntagma.\u00a0 There the crowds were 10 fold, however, I made it on to another train to Monastiraki Station where I\u00a0changed to the third train headed for the port of Piraeus.\u00a0\u00a0With such a fight for bums\u00a0on seats,\u00a0once on the third train and able to take off my back pack, I was quite happy to stand.\u00a0 In Piraeus, I bought my ticket for the Hellenic Seaways catamaran\u00a0“Flying Cat 2” which I boarded at 1715 hours then telephoned Costas to let him know I would be arriving in Spetses\u00a0at 1925 hours.<\/p>\n

As expected, I received a warm welcome from Costas who\u00a0was waiting at the port to greet me.\u00a0 When we arrived at his house, two of his four cats (all rescued from the streets)\u00a0namely Bob and Oliver, also extended a warm welcome – like I was a long lost friend.\u00a0 Shortly after, Costas needed to go to work at Bar Spetsa but I followed about an hour later after I had had time to unpack, shower and change – it had been a long, sweaty\u00a0journey.\u00a0 Just like\u00a0during my time here earlier\u00a0this year,\u00a0at the beginning of the evening we had time to sit and talk, then it gets busy.\u00a0 I drank my two 5 Star Metaxa brandies on the rocks\u00a0and my two bottles of water, retiring at 0100 hours.\u00a0 Costas finished at 0500 hours, it can be as late as 0700 hours and he does this every day\u00a0from the 1st of April until\u00a0the 31st of October, year after year, which\u00a0is very tiring.\u00a0 Bar Spetsa is successful because of him, the music he plays, the atmosphere\u00a0and the drinks – you will not find more generous\u00a0servings anywhere, nor will you always find drinks true to the bottle label as you do in Bar Spetsa – it is such a great place!<\/p>\n

As of 1 September, a new Law here in Greece\u00a0supposedly forbids smoking in indoor public places – an interesting concept when the Greeks do whatever they want to do, not what they are told to do.\u00a0 Apparently, there is to be some leniency during the first month, however, after that a 60 Euro fine for the perpetrator and a 600 Euro fine for the owner of the establishment.\u00a0 From what I have observed in the first week, it\u00a0ain’t going to work!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unbelievable weather here today on Spetses, still very warm.\u00a0\u00a0Before meeting up with Costas at\u00a0Bar Spetsa at 1400 hours to go out for lunch, I called in to see Susan at Mexis Studios,\u00a0where I stayed earlier in the year.\u00a0 Susan said she knew I would come back! \u00a0Since Costas does not have the Internet, Susan has very kindly said I can come here and sit in the garden anytime I want to go on line.\u00a0 Costas and I, we had a yummy lunch at “Spetsiotiko” – a restaurant on the sea front – he has gone to\u00a0sleep while I take time to write and update my blog.\u00a0 Of course, tonight I will return to keep him company at Bar Spetsa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had travelled to Limni on Evia, expecting to spend a couple of days relaxing on the beach, before my much anticipated return to Spetses and Costas.\u00a0 The first day we had rain and overcast skies.\u00a0 Tuesday morning I headed for the nearest beach where I managed just two and a half hours of glorious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2220"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2590,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220\/revisions\/2590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}