Good things and Bad things!

Last week was a mixture of good things (2 celebrations) and bad...(a black eye!)
First the bad. I'd been to Helios Bar at the top of the hill from my studio


view from Helios Bar



and had enjoyed a meal that was rather large so I had plenty left over for one of the cats that lives around there.  It hopped up onto a low table and as I leant forward to shoo it off, it swiped at me and got me above and below my eye, ungrateful little bugger!  It bled like mad and the following day I had some interesting swelling and bruising.  With a view to staving off any infection I doused an eyeshadow applicator in boiling water and then in Vodka, which seemed to do the trick as the cuts never went nasty like most cat scratches do.  (see, I knew liking a drink would come in handy!!).


my black eye!

Now the good.....Friday night saw the procession of the icon of Agia Paraskevi  for the "name day" of the patron saint of the island. There was a full marching band, the priest and choirboys (or whatever the greek equivalent is) and lots of chanting and incense during the blessing of the icon.

In Greece, everyone celebrates the "Name Day" of the saint that bears the same name. They celebrate this day instead of their birthday.  Saturday was a night of celebration for Agia Paraskevi, it also happened to be a new friends "name day", so there was a table of 22 of us for a meal in our favourite taverna, Archipeligos. There was live greek music and professional dancers which included our dance instructor, Yorgos and Aubrey (previously mentioned as he bought me some lovely earrings for my birthday!).  I'm very glad that when I go to my dance classes that I don't have to get kitted out in what they have to wear for a performance!!

Aubrey in full greek dancing getup!

People from our table gradually started drifting away at around 1am but I met another group of people that I knew and I was grabbed to come and join them for another drink.  A few of us then joined in with the dancing and I eventually got to bed around 3am, which would have been all very well if I hadn't then woken up at what seems to be my usual time of 6.30!!!!  Sunday was spent quietly trying to recover but by 3pm my hangover was demanding something heavy in the food line so I went in search of a burger.  It came in the form of a burger with mushrooms, bacon & cheese and homemade chips....much better, although I'm definitely getting too old for this lark and will make sure I'm on the last bus back to Patitiri at 00:50 when the BIG celebration happens on August 15th for the Assumption of Mary, otherwise things might get slightly out of hand as there is music and dancing, goat spaghetti and free wine!!!!



An interesting man

Well it's back in the old routine since Paul left so I've been back to the dance classes and to aquafit, although lazing on the beach seems to be a big part of life at the moment!!  I've lost track of the amount of people who tell me I'm looking awfully red...think I'll get a T.Shirt printed that says 'Red?' on the front and 'Yes I know' on the back!                      I met an interesting man last week, Alexis (he is French & 85 years old before eyebrows start being raised!!) . I'd popped down to the Aloni Bar on the harbour front and in the space of 10 mins 5 or 6 people came by that I knew so they'd all stopped and we'd exchanged hello's etc, There was an older gent sat at the table next to me and he turned to me and said "do you know everyone on the island?" to which I laughed and said "No, it just feels like it sometimes" and we got chatting from there.  He told me the story of the abandoned hotel at the top of the ill overlooking the harbour, The Galaxy Hotel.  He used to be the manager there for 15 years until the 4 partners fell out over whether to sell or not.  None of them could agree so it was just abandoned and is still there today, complete with with glassware and cutlery etc filling it's cupboards....strange people!!  He was also the first Concierge at the New York Plaza hotel so has met many famous people including Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and our Queen.  He left last Thursday and invited me to dine with him, which I did.  The subject of my pink skin came up...again, and the conversation went something like this. "Amanda you are very red, look at me, I am brown and I have only been here 1 week.  Yes, Alexis but you have olive skin, mine is very fair and damaged from eczema.  What do you use on your skin Amanda.  Factor 30 sunscreen.  No, you should try my recipe, I guarantee you will go brown.  What is that Alexis? Olive oil, lemon juice and water" . At which point I fell about laughing and said "Alexis, I would fry if I used that and would end up in the hospital with 3rd degree burns"  but he kept insisting it would be fine....but No, I'm not going to try it!

Paul has left the island :(

Well that's it, hubby has gone back home.   His second week seemed to fly by even though we slowed it down a bit and just had plenty of 'us' time.  He still visited lots of new places, came to aquafit at the Yalis pool where we stayed for the day.  Karen kindly took us to a beach that we couldn't get to on the local bus and we had an ouzo meze evening with 15 others which was a great chance for him to try lots of different things. We both went to Skiathos on Thursday and had a great night sipping champagne cocktails in the Rock 'n Roll bar (for those who know Skiathos) and then for the best pizza in town at Mary's which as well as having fantastic pizza, has an amazing mural covered restaurant depicting various fairy tale characters.

Mary's pizzeria

We ended the night in a very rowdy bar full of English holiday makers enjoying their last night....loudly!  Great fun though.  Friday morning was spent trying to find the fitflop shop!  Several of the ladies here had given me an order for new Fitflops and we spend a couple of hours going up and down Papiadiamantis street (the main street) looking for these blasted things.  After several texts and better directions we eventually found it and purchased 7 pairs of fitflops for the ladies.....hallelujah! What do people see in these things anyway??
Paul then waved me off back to Alonissos and I waved him off to his taxi for the flight home....sigh.

Blowing kisses from the harbour in Skiathos

So, back to life as a solo traveller.  I bumped into one of the musicians that plays at the beach nights and he invited me to one the next day so it was back to Milia bay for food, wine and music.  There was a full moon that night so the bay was lit up spectacularly by the end of the evening.


Moonlight across Mila Bay

Sunday was aqua at the Milia Bay hotel which led in turn to a rather boozy lunch with Netty and Theresa, a friend of Netty's who was staying with her. I had been lying in the sun for about half and hour when a lady who had been sitting on the opposite side of the pool came over to say how worried her and her friends were as I was looking very red....cheek!  I told her not to worry as I had been here 9 weeks now and this seems to be my new colour!!! Although actually now that the pink has calmed down, I have actually got what I call a tan! Best colour I've ever been.

Check out the tan line!!!

When I got back to my studio I fell into an alcohol fuelled slumber and woke up just in time to Skype my mum at 7!!  Karen chose this point to stick her head round the door and announce "Wine on the roof at 8" which turned into a little drinks and nibbles party with another 2 of her friends, a bottle of Prosecco and 2 bottles of Lanson champagne!  We also had the spectacular sight of 5 hawks circling the rooftop and diving between the building hunting bats....how they didn't crash into anything I will never know!
Monday was the start of my 'lose the weight that I put on when Paul was here' regime.  So 7.30 saw me in trainers, bikini bottoms and a vest top working out to Davina Intense....phew!!! This was followed at 9.30 with greek dancing with a couple of new dances with some pretty fast footwork....Yorgos must think we've all improved enough to cope! 
This morning dawned sunny and bright and I was all set to go to the beach when the clouds rolled in.  We had a huge rain storm with thunder and lightning, the works. So this gave me plenty of time for another exercise session...Pilates today.  Normal service has now been resumed and the sun is shining once again.  There is a family bbq on the roof tonight so I'll have to make myself scarce.  That's me, Game of Thrones and a glass of wine or two on my balcony then!
I gather things aren't going to well workwise back home, so to all those affected I hope things work out how you want them to...if not, I can recommend 5 months on a Greek island xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great nights out

I had a wonderful time on the 25th June for my birthday get together....people turned up that I didn't know were coming so the table got bigger and bigger.  I got cards and presents, an Alonissos Cats apron from Dave and Nettie to remind me of here when I go back to the uk, some lovely silver and lava earrings from Aubrey and Dave and Gerry have paid for my ferry tickets to Skopelos today.  All the music was good and the band even played Happy Birthday...embarrassing or what!! Got a bit of a hangover this morning though so a ferry might not be the best place to be but hey ho.
Unfortunately we had all met at the port in the morning and were told, "No tickets, the computer says the ferry is full" so our trip was postponed.  We watched the ferry come in and 20 people got off and 5 got on so I think their program needs some re development...any volunteers?!
Had a lovely day Thursday at Leftos Yialos relaxing on the beach and by the pool and then D day...Paul's arrival on the Friday evening.  I got ready and went for a drink at the bar nearest to the harbour dock and waited for his arrival at 8.30 and waited and waited.  10pm the boat finally turned up by which time I was starving and probably slightly crumpled but never mind, hubby was here and said I was looking great.  I even had more of a tan than he had!!!  We spent the following day on the beach and then he was thrown into Alonissos night life....a music evening on the beach at Milia Bay.

Milia Bay

Not a bad start.  Sunday was back to Milia for Aquafit which he sat and watched and found highly amusing by all the gestures going on from the safety of his sunbed!  Monday was off to greek dancing where his video talents came to the fore and then off to Megalos Mortia. Tuesday night we went out to dinner with Jill and Mark my NZ neighbours who were leaving the following day.

Jill, me, Mark & Paul 

Wednesday night was quiz night at Roussoum and then we went up to the Old Village to listen to a duo called Barefoot Blues followed by a nightcap in the square hand feeding the local hedgehogs peanuts!!!  My landlady Karen had offered us the use of her apartment in the village....WOW. What a gorgeous pad and so quiet compared with the noise of Patitiri.

Old Village Apartment

view from apartment

Thursday morning we had a wander around the old village and then it was back to Patitiri to board the ferry for our postponed trip to Skopelos.  That evening there was a Bouzuki band over from the mainland playing up in the old village so it was back up on the bus for another evening of music and dancing.  

I'm in there somewhere!

We are now both rather tired after several nights of 1 & 2am finishes so are having a couple of quiet nights to ourselves....although we've just been invited to another beach party on Saturday night....eek!!

Footnote from Paul: Yassas everyone!....phew , as you can gather i'm coming back to blighty soon for a rest...It's easy to enjoy yourself when it is all organised for you. I've met some great people and am glad Mandy is settling in so well. Hardest part will be dragging her back in September. As a wise man (think it was Dave) said..you don't find Alonissos  , it finds you......