Stormin on Kefalonia

Just a quick update. I have managed to sneak onto someone's WiFi! Ours is down after an almighty electrical storm. I have never heard thunder as loud as this.
Rosa, our villa owner says the LAN diverter has been hit and is all black inside. She's now changed it for a new box but still no internet so it looks like its more serious.
This is Greek time so it might be a while before we get into a position to add pics to the post.
We are now doing what you should do on holiday. Sit round the pool with an ice cream.

A lovely bit of Kiniros.

Yesterday, Tuesday was overcast and threatened a storm. The hills were blanketed with cloud rolling around. Leaning on the balcony of our villa we contemplated what to do as we had brought no wet weather gear at all. Sheila came up with the right answer, "it's warm so if we get soaked we will dry out fast". As it happened, although the threat remained all day it never amounted to more than the odd short shower.
We walked for about 3 hours just around the back lanes and farm tracks taking lots of pics of flowers and butterflies and on our return went down to a small cove for a swim.

Today, we warned Dorothy that we were going to have a walk up some hillsides and one especially christened the Jesus hill. This is apt blasphemy and has nothing to do with religion. There was a promise of great views and cake at the end.

Again the day is overcast but still 28 deg C. Plenty of fluids required.
Here are a few of the flowers seen today.

Someone's idea of fun in the garden. Brilliant.

Church of St. Gerasimos.

Interior of the Greek Orthodox church. Argostoli.

Sat at the rejuvenated water front at Argostoli.

A throng of people were staring into the harbour at the numerous large turtles that were taking advantage of the small fishing boats leftovers.

On our way through we spotted this chap selling off Kiniros steaks. We have no idea what Kiniros is, but it looks like a tuna steak. Maybe some foody can enlighten me. I bought 2 large steaks from him that weighed in at 1 kilo and it cost 12 euro.

Me buying Kiniros

Feeling quite pleased with the fresh purchase for our evening meal tonight we thought it apt to celebrate with a visit to the cake shop.

So we bought 8 delightful cakes. The lady serving asked if it was for a special occasion and I said no, we are going to eat them now, and will be back tomorrow for some more, but I may bring a knife so that we can buy a gateaux. Yummy.

The cakes unfortunately didn't make it 100yds. We found an empty bench and made pigs of ourselves.

We now had to get back to the villa with the fish as the weather had really improved. It was ideal for spoiling fish if we left it much longer and I didn't fancy a trail of flies or cats following us home.

Once back at the villa, I cleaned up the fish, washed and cut up into portions ready for later.

Right its almost G and T time so must dash.

A long way for a cake.

Having put the air con during the evening it was lovely and cool going to bed. We both slept well and arose early just before sun rise.
Mist covered the hills and there was a great inversion around one of the unnamed tops.
While it was still cool we decided to get breakfast over and walk the 5km into Argostoli town via a scenic route past Fanari lighthouse and Katavotras water wheel. This was not new territory for Sheila and I but it was for Dorothy.

It was a slow pace and as we passed some previously closed hotels it was good to see new life in them. Greece must be slowly getting to grips with the harsh austerity measures of previous years.
Prices however have moved up quite a bit from previous visits but the people are still welcoming as always.

The earthquake of late last year has created large cracks in what was a really nice waterfront promenade and numerous buildings were in the midst of repairs.
The fishermen were still selling their catches quayside and the fruit and veg market was in full swing. The aromas so different to the UK. We bought huge beef tomatoes, cucumber, onions, peaches and more but we had to remember what ever we bought we had to carry back.

Prior to wending our way the last couple of km back we decided to spoil ourselves with a delightful cake and a coffee.

A New Challenge.

Sheila is sick to death of listening to stories about that TGO Challenge 2014 and so decided to take us both away from it all to this idilic little spot on the beautiful island of Kefallinia.
After a 2 hr delay sat on the tarmac of Manchester international airport or Ringway as us locals still call it we arrived mid afternoon yesterday to a balmy temperature of 28 degrees C.

So I am now sat on the balcony enjoying breakfast and the view. Just been for a bit of a run and it was a slow one as the humidity is high. I am experiencing a little bit of what the England footballers are having to put up with. Shame. Just heard we got beat 2:1. Typical.

Anyway Dorothy has just had a message to check her euro lottery so with a bit of luck we might be staying longer than 2 weeks. Here's hoping.

A Warm Break

In more ways than one Sheila and I needed a bit of a break from the UK, so i checked out some places to go that wouldn’t cost a fortune, relatively close to home and where we could get some sun.
I chose a last minute deal in southern Spain, Fuengirola in fact.
This was to be a week where we could relax and it wasn’t going to be a week of walking.
I hadn’t been to this part of Spain so i asked around and worryingly i didn’t get any rave comments.

Oh well, it was booked and it’s up to yourself what you make of the place. What some people like others don’t and visa versa etc. and it was only for a week.

We had a good flight and drop off at the hotel. It looked a nice hotel. Checked in, room good, view pretty good, sea in front and mountains behind. Very pleased.

The Hotel Angela.

We had booked half board so basically we had nothing to worry about like shopping or cooking and so we set off to get our bearings in town.
It was so nice to feel that hot sun on the body and so nice to be shorts and T shirts again, if only for a week. It wasn’t long before we found a bar and sat watching life go by.

The client-el in the hotel was definitely on the “Old” side but hey they know how to enjoy themselves and they were mostly a friendly lot. We thought that a remake of the film Cocoon was being done.
The food was English basically but vast choice and good quality. No complaints at all. It would have been nice to have some Spanish cooking but i can imagine that complaints would come rolling in from some stuck in a time warp.

We decided to go out on the search for some authentic Spanish bars which proved successful and we were warmly greeted. Because we made the effort with a little Spanish language we seemed accepted and although their English was far better than our Spanish we made the effort to ask how we pronounced some words and what the meaning was. It was great.

Unfortunately on one evening we went into English bar in the back streets and i was ashamed to be English. What the Spaniards thought of these people and subsequently the knock on effect to other tourists i would hate to think. The language and the tone was a disgrace. Luckily this was the only bad part of the whole trip and fortunately it was the only time it occurred.
I would not like to visit here in the busy summer period thats for sure.

In the mornings, post a good breakfast, we set off for a walk. I know i said no walking but the promenade, or paseos in Spanish, was a delight to just slowly wander down.
At one end is the Castle of Sohail built in the 10th century probably by the Romans but rebuilt in the 12th century by the Moors.

What is there today is due to a restoration project started in 1989 and they have done a good job. It’s well worth a visit and the views are terrific.
The paseo starts a 1/2 mile or so west of the castle and continues east for about 5 to 6 miles i guess, to Belanmedina. Along the beach at regular intervals there are Chiringuitos, these are a cross between a tavern and a restaurant, they do wonderful seafood and we can recommend one close to Los Boliches square. We loved the Paella.

On the sea front walking towards carvajayal.

As the photo above shows, the place was quiet. Not yet the tourist season. Most of the people walking were Spaniards dressed in full winter gear of hats gloves and big coats. Its no wonder the English are perceived mad because we were getting strange looks in our shorts and T shirts. It was sunny and 18 degrees, what did they expect.


I was quite surprised to find how many Scandinavians lived there and there were plenty of Finnish people and a Finnish school in the area. Like us they must go there to get away from the winter months in there own country.


Looking back we have enjoyed our visit to Fuengirola. It’s spotlessly clean and quite well manicured. The people were nice, helpful and fun. 
I wouldn’t like to go in the season and i think this is where the poor comments came from when i originally asked about the place, but out of season it was great. Its easy to get around on cheap busses and the train is right there too. The hills are close by and the walking would be good.
There was still snow on the tops so i presume there would be some winter skiing areas too.

This picture was taken after take off so it is through 2 thick pieces of glass.

The downsides for us:- 1. The English bars, 2. The sea is still very cold. 3. The people who stop you wanting to do surveys who are basically trying to sell you all sorts, don’t give them your time and remember that nothing is for free! Apart from that, Great. 
Batteries recharged.


Some other photos of the trip here if you are inclined.