I'm back from Greece, from the wee island of Agistri with Susan. There was sun, there was clear water, there was some rain and then there was mozzie attack!
But before I even get to tell you all about our wee excursion, I have to tell you all about James's play! I met up with Teresa, Nishi & Vicki around the back of Waterloo station at Cubana http://www.cubana.co.uk/about/waterloo.phtml for some Cocktails before the play.
A couple of Cocktails later and we wander along to the Network Theatre http://www.networktheatre.org/map/, for James's play "Amy's View" http://www.london-se1.co.uk/whatson/event/632/amys-view. If you have never been to the Network theatre before, it's a right bugger to find! It's all the way in the deepest darkest bowels underneath Waterloo station............ a very strange place to find a theatre indeed!
We all snuggled down (armed with a bottle of wine!), in the little theatre to watch the play. Andrew (Vivki's husband), turned up a little late but not too late! I quite enjoyed the play, the old lady who was in it (playing the grandmother), was hilarious. James's was very, very good as 'Dominic' although, I was trying to figure out exactly what his accent was supposed to be!
After the play, Nishi went home, but the rest of us were rather hungry and popped across the road to the thai place for a bite to eat, and James joined us a wee bit later for a drinkie. After Vicki and Andrew departed, Teresa, James and I wandered across to Davinci's for some more vino............ and then it was a cab home with Teresa and a sleepy drunken slumber.
Friday - Flying out to Greece
Ouch.
Och ma heid!
Why, oh why, oh why did we have that 'last' bottle of wine???
Oh I feel rough.
Oh, I need to finish packing, jump in the shower, get down to Kings Cross, get on the train to Luton Airport parkway, get on the shuttle bus to Luton Airport, meet up with Susan, get checked in, get through security, get on a plance and fly to Athens - and all with a stonkin hangover.
Ouch.
But I did manage to do all of that. But boy do I feel soooooooooooooo bad.
Susan and I get to the Gate for departure and expect to see an 'Easy Jet plane', but no! Today we are flying 'Air Finland' - and I instantly get the Monty Python song 'Finland, Finland, Finland' stuck in my head for the entire journey.
So, we eventually get off the flight, wait for what seems ages to get our luggage and wander out of the airport, jump in a cab to catch a cab down to Pireaus Port, so we can then catch a boat to Agistri.
Or so I thought.
Getting off the plane and jumping in a cab was the easy bit. However, what 'Lastminute.com', neglected to find out when putting the package together was that our flight got us into Athens way too late for us to get down to the port and catch the last ferry to Agistri, oh by 2 fucking hours!
Hmmmm. You can guess my anger level bubbling up to boiling point. When I get back into the UK there will be a reckoning to be had.
We manage to contact the hotel on the island and let them know that we'll be a day late in arriving, and check into a hotel beside the port. It was a shit hole. But at least it was a clean shit hole. It's only for one night thank god!
Saturday - Agistri!!!!!!
We get up early, it's balmy weather, it's noisy and we are glad to catch the 9am Ferry to Agistri http://www.agistri.gr/en/ , to get away from all of this.
We arrive at the island and are very pleasantly suprised! At first glance's it's a lovely wee island. Very small. Very quiet. Just what I needed. We find our hotel quite easliy, http://www.hoteloasis.gr/en/index.html , dump our stuff in the room and grab a bite to eat before exploring.
Of course, all that traveling was quite tiring work........
one does have to rest up!
and perhaps go for a wee paddle in the warm, warm water..........
We catch some rays, chill out for a bit before heading back to the hotel (all of 20 seconds from the beach), to get changed for going out later in the evening.
Oh, how the weather changed dramtically. Within 30mins there was a huge electrical storm, massive thunder cracks, and lightining bolts. Very impressive to watch. Very impressive to hear.
and very, very, wet to be in!
We wait for a break in the storm and dash over to the restuarant next to the hotel for a meal, watching the storm carry on right over our heads! Although a word of warning - don't order Greek house wine. It's rank. Minging. Vinegar!!!!!
Sunday
We found out that the tourist season ends in Agistri on the 10th of October, which was why the island was very quite! Fantastic, it was almost like having the whole island to oursleves. The storm had passed overnight and we decided to explore more of the island on foot.
We wandered to the next village 'Melos', of course stopping for a wee break and then onwards to the next village (which was bloody high up and almost at the top of the island!)
and then it was back down to Scala Beach for more relaxation on the sun lounger and chillin out by the water.
In the evening we had a couple of drinks in the hotel bar, then onwards to the restaraunt 'Alter Ego' for food. The food was really, really nice and we made sure we ordered a wine that definatly wasn't the house! Then it was off to another bar - a very, very blue bar. Very blue. One drink in there and we decided to leave and try another one.
Hmmmm.
Our hotel bar was shut - but we noticed that Alter Ego was still open........ so it was back to there for some drinks and we got chatting to the other people in the restaraunt.
Monday
We got back to the hotel about 3:30am.
Ouch.
Way too much Vodka.
Too much Vodka.
And I'll say that again.
Too much Vodka.
It's a slow start to the morning. We got talking to the people in the restuarant lastnight, and found out that there is a place called 'Rubbish' on the island. And guess what, it's where they dump their rubbish.......
Apparently the walk to the dump has some fantastic views of the island. So, armed with Nurophen, and a bottle of water we head up to 'Rubbish'.
They were right. The views were amazing! It's just a shame that when you get to the end of the road you are faced with a rubbish dump. Seagulls & Flies galoure!
Smelly rubbish dump.
After that, we head back down to Skala, grab a quick bite to eat and head back to the hotel to get changed for the evening.
And then it started to rain..... and thunder.... and lightining..... again we waited for a break in the storm and headed out to a restaraunt. The food was average at best, but we did see the dog from earlier on in the day that does front handstands!! Very bizzare! After the average meal it was off 'Alter Ego' for more late night drinks. More vodka. More Vodka. And then the guitar got pulled out......
Oh, it was a late one..... back to the hotel at god knows what time, but it was late and at least after 3am.
Tuesday
Ouch.
Slowly finish packing.
Nurophen & Water.
Eat Breakfast very, very slowly.
Check out of the hotel, catch the 2pm Ferry back to the mainland, leaving Agistri behind....
Maybe it's a Greece thing, but there were posters all over every where for this 'Mad Bat', Energy drink with a mental wifie on it. I just had to take a picture to remind me of it!
and nearly 12 hours later we are back in London in my house! Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
Full photo's of our little excursion can be found at ; http://picasaweb.google.com/baskers1/AgistriWithSusan
Today
We get up, leave me house and help Susan take all her gear down to Kings Cross. We pop down to Soho for brunch and get caught in a torrential downpour and soaked right through! Oh it's good to be back in London........... I get Susan onto her 2pm train back up to Dundee and head home to dry off and unpack etc etc.
I'm relaxing for the rest of the day.
I'm tierd, but happy!
