Skiathos with the Jones' - Page 4

Day Six

There had been an earthquake in the night, apparently 5km under Larissa (North on the mainland). No harm done here but we felt it. Geof suggested a new route to Mandraki Beach, which involved a dirt road not far from the farm. It was not Too Bad & had great views over towards the Greek mainland from above Agios Elias.

Towards Koukoinaries from dirt road

Koukoinaries Lake

Kati Georgi on Greece

It went down to a short walk through lovely woods to Mandraki but they were still repairing the café, so we did not introduce the Jones’ to the Mad Woman who runs it. There was a corniche road with more magnificent views along to Agios Eleni Beach, where we had coffees & then, lunch.

The woods towards Mandraki Beach

Mandraki Beach

Hidden Beach

An English couple with a baby said they liked Ken's tee-shirt (Still European) & he chatted to another couple as well. On the way back, we tried to get ice creams at Vroumonlimnos but they were rebuilding, too, so went to Kanapitsa again.

It was noticeably colder today but the rain in the night had cleared the views. At about 7, we drove in to town, dropped the girls at Boutsoi & parked. Then we all walked up to Batis on the slope past the Cathedral, as recommended by Geof & had salad first (carefully without cucumber) then Kleftico, not done the way Ken expected with panacotta for Avis & too much baklava for the rest. We got into conversation with a couple nearby as a result of Ken's Bremain tee-shirt (again) & she turned out to be Catherine Reynolds, the Labour Candidate in a South-East Cheshire seat, Eddisbury, who had truncated their holiday for the campaign.

Day Seven: We parked at the top of the town & had coffees at Batis. Then, we walked through the town, along the main drain (Odos Papadiamantis) with Maryse shopping, left the girls in a café & collected the car (in the top car park). Martin collected them while Ken parked illegally, ignored by the police. Martin had this yen to swim in the sea. This proved problematic. Ken drove to Banana Beach but not quite, as it was a steep walk down from the car park, so we did not do it. Round at Koukounaries, there was no beach taverna open, so we went to Agios Eleni again, by which it was well lunch time. Ken had gavros, large whitebait.

We went back to the city as Avis wanted cake, difficult in Greece. They all had Crèpe Suzet (Greek spelling) & we took them back. We left with Geof at about 7 for Amfiliki, a restaurant near the top car park with a terrace overlooking the bay West. We had a giant meze, which went on for hours (2). There were other parties, one with kids with tablets, which Ken described to their father at the “laudanum of the 21st Century”, which had not occurred to him before. Intriguingly, Cathy Reynolds, the Labour Candidate for Eddisbury in Cheshire, was in the restaurant, having a truncated holiday because of the General Election campaign. Back home, we sent her £100 for the battle. She did jolly well, considering the area. While the Tory vote went up 5.8%, Labour's went up 10%.