Pefkochori - The Beach! - Day 18

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We were up last night until about 2:30am packing for Pefkochori and once again it is positively sweltering! Between the heat and the stupid dog barking we got no sleep. We had to get up (from tossing and turning, not sleeping) at 6:30am to get to Grevena by 7:30 to meet up with Steve B. and Susie and pick up the Vitara. Steve B. can only drive the Vitara when Magda or Pappous is in the car as this is the way it works in Greece . Magda can drive the Vitara because Pappous went to the Greek Embassy in Boston to get some special permit. Otherwise only the owner can drive the car. Pappous was going to take a taxi back to Megaro. We set off for Pefkochori after grabbing some tiropitas and ham and cheese croissant things. It took about 3 hours to get to Pefkochori because of traffic and 2 lane roads, plus it was far.

We stayed at the Ioli Village and the hotel is really nice! The rooms are actually suites with a bedroom, separate kitchen area with 3 more beds and a bathroom (with running water!!!!). We got 2 rooms and the only drawback is the air conditioning is only in the bedroom. The way the rooms are configured, Steve and I took room 222 because the air conditioning wouldn’t reach the kitchen and in room 221 the air conditioning unit was in line with the bedroom door which opened right up into the kitchen area. So Alice and Steve B. decided to stay in 221 with Magda and Steve B's mom. We all settled in to our respective rooms and then went to the grocery store for water, soda, snacks and lunch stuff. Then we walked down toward the beach. We went by the restaurant where Stergios works and decided to have lunch there. I got an awesome omelet and everyone else got gyros. We also had village salad, tzatziki and fried potatoes.

After lunch we went down to the beach and laid out in the sun and swam in the ocean (The water was really warm and salty) until about 6pm. I got my nails done, sort of, at a place at the end of the beach called ‘The House of Smile’ and Steve got his head shaved (he forgot his clippers) and an ‘on the spot’ massage. He said it was wonderful. The way the girl did the fill on my nails was really weird. She didn’t do any sanding, just filled and painted with polish, no top coat. Whatever, I should have just left them until I got home, especially since it cost me 25 Euros. We met up with Alice and Steve B. at the bar just behind the House of Smile for a drink.

We went back to the hotel and took a nap at about 9:30 after showering and got up around 11:30 to meet up with Stergios to go out for the night. We had drinks in the room first and then headed out. First we went to The Cuccurruddu right across the street from the beach which was playing a lot of 50’s music and cutting the songs short, which made them extra annoying. We drank 3 rounds of shots there or maybe 4 plus beers. Then we went down the beach to the Sushi Club, there’s no sushi there and wasn’t much going on there at all. We left there (with our beers) and went to the NONO Refreshing nightclub on the main street. It looked empty inside, but when you went through a door in the back of the club, there was a disco like room with girls dancing in cages and on the bars to dance music both Greek and American. We stayed there dancing and drinking until about 5am, then with the sun coming up we headed back to the hotel to pass out. The NONO Club doesn’t really get busy until 2am apparently!

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