I am staying

   I am staying in an apartment in the centre of Kamares town, it’s the place Hazel and Mike lived in before they moved to the tiny house. I open the curtains and it’s a bit cloudy, but I have a lovely view. After getting up, I have a wander on the beach, the Old Captains bar, is empty and seems a bit sad, but I have the beach to myself. I find the only cafe open and have a coffee and a cheese and spinach pie for breakfast. As soon as I tell them I am a friend of Michael and Hazel and that I am living in their old place, it’s like a door Is opened, I am not a local, but it’s good! I then get picked up to go shopping, it’s the last shop before Christmas. A lot of things not made on the island are at least the same price as home. Wine is cheaper, you can buy a five litre box for the same price as an average 2.5 litre one over here… 


Afterwards we  have a coffee in a very old fashioned coffee shop in Apollonia, it has a lovely old sideboard in it, festooned with clutter! The big local news is that one of the white ducks who had taken up residence on the Kamares beach, has died, but hopefully a local farmer will introduce a replacement. These are the ducks Ronnie decided to chase and swim after… There seems to be more cats on the island than humans, they are all desperately looking for food as the restaurants and tourists that fed them in the summer are all closed and gone away. We have another nice meal at home in the evening, there is a log burner in the tiny house, Mike burns any wood he finds lying around the island. Their trusty VW Golf can often be seen with a pallet or driftwood tied onto the roof rack.


( photos: view from the apartment, Sifnos cactus, Kamares beach and town, deserted Kamares beach, the dresser in the coffee shop, cats and motorbike)






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The wind returns…

Image
Monday 20st - Tuesday 21st,  Hora Serifos So while cooking my first meal in the house, the estate agent called again and asked if I could meet the owner of the property at seven thirty. Surely so I said. I was cooking kedgeree, two eggs were hard boiled, half an onion fried. I had a tin of tuna and what I thought was rice. With no scales it was a bit of an estimation job on how much to cook. I had  also bought this small jar of what was called  curry sauce to add a bit of a kick to the meal. So while checking the rice, it did not have the right texture I thought. I then realised it was a type of pasta! Anyhow I mixed it all up, added a dollop of the curry sauce, it was different, but it was quite edible! Moral of the story, find the Greek words for things you want to buy to make sure you get the groceries you want! While waiting for the owner I spotted this beautifully painted utility box So I met the owner of the property, and the builder who did the work. I had seen pho...
Read more

A day to remember…

Image
So my last full day on Paros and I took the car out again. This time to a village I had driven past, but needed to  explore properly. So I had a wander around the old part of Lefkes, I would have cheerfully bought a coffee or a candle in the church but everything was closed up. I did see an old lady wandering the streets, but no one else really. It’s gone cold again, that strong wind is back. Temperature single digits. I did hear the church  bells, that was largely the only sound coming out of the village. Here as elsewhere Montbretia is flowering, I think in the UK June would be when it flowers. I have no idea what the pretty yellow building is or was… My  next village was Marpissa, this was a village of windmills, except only one was intact, the others derelict. Like Lefkes everything was shut up, but I think I did see a couple of people to say hello to. There was an old lady here to, with a stick, and she was was finding every step extremely painful to take. But she go...
Read more

So my early morning duties

Image
  So my early morning duties are to turn the heating on which ignites an oil boiler outside the apartment. Turning on the hot water is my second job, in the winter you can’t rely on the sun to heat your morning shower. The boiler is quite an antiquated beast and reminds me of boilers in houses when I was a child. The fact this place has central heating is quite unusual on the island.     On the way to getting the car I pop into the bakery and buy myself a spanakopita a sort of pasty with cheese and spinach in it for lunch. My Greek is rubbish but I manage to buy one and pass on a few Kalamera to people I bump into along my way, including the local shop. I have a flask full of coffee as there are not likely to be any places open for drinks on the way. My first port of call in the car is Vathi, I have the roads to myself, I have driven on the right side of roads before so it’s ok for me. On my journey I meet a flock of sheep, the shepherd being pretty good at getting the tr...
Read more