Brizzle to Lefkada, part one.

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Lefkada Town.

It was an early start. The taxi arrived spot on time at 03:45 and I was through security at Bristol Airport and seeking a coffee by just after 04:30. Thank goodness for the Fast Track option is all I can say. The airport was absolutely heaving, and the £7 cost of skipping the massive queues was well worth it!

Sian was on an earlier flight than me and by the time I’d got my coffee, found a table to sit at and messaged her she was about to go to the gate to board.

I was a little peeved that I hadn’t measured my rucksack very accurately; it didn’t quite fit in the luggage measuring thing, so had to go in the hold. To be honest though, we landed at Aktion about 15 minutes early, it only took a few minutes to get through passport control and my bag was one of the first out; I was out in arrivals giving Sian a hug by 12:17 local time even though the plane wasn’t due to land until 12:20. I was also greeted by an old work colleague who was on her way home – small world! (Hi Karen!)

The flight was uneventful. I had the privilege of being next to an empty seat with a very pleasant woman in the aisle seat. She was very organised and had brought a bag for us to put all our rubbish in which did make it easier when the flight attendants came round with their big green bag for recycling.

The views of the coast along the east side of the Adriatic were stunningly beautiful. Sadly my phone was turned off and out of reach, so I didn’t get any photos.

Dimitrios, who I’d pre-booked, was waiting outside arrivals with my name on a piece of paper. His Mercedes taxi was very clean and comfortable, and after a 20 minute ride he dropped us off on the edge of the pedestrian area of Lefkadas explaining that our hotel was a 2-3 minute walk away. He was correct!

The Hotel Pirofani is a lovely little boutique hotel in the middle of the town, with plenty of restaurants, bars, and shops to explore. My room was ready, but Sian’s wasn’t so we dropped our luggage in mine and wandered out for a walk. It’s certainly warm, and it didn’t take long to get a bit of a sweat on. Thankfully there was some welcome shade as we headed along what seems to be the main street. We found our way to the marina, but sadly couldn’t find anywhere to dip our feet in the beautiful blue water. We did however manage to find out where we need to get our bus to on Tuesday, so that’s a bonus.

Back to the hotel for a cool down and a bit of a relax.

After our siesta we headed on out to find somewhere for a drink. A lot of places seemed to be shut, and the town was very quiet. We discovered a lovely little restaurant next to the marina, and being unsure of the Greek wine just ordered a glass each; mine was a dry white and Sian had rose, we had delicious olives to accompany the wine. Well we were pleasantly surprised by the wine and ordered another glass each followed by a bottle of the white which arrived with some fried anchovies on the house – result! After our 2 glasses and about half the bottle of wine we asked for the menu and ordered mussels, roasted vegetables and bread. It was all quite tasty, but we were underwhelmed with the size of the mussels – teeny tiny apart from about 4 of a decent size. The total cost was around 73 euros which we rounded up to 80 euros as a tip.

We headed back to the hotel for a dip in the pool, and got chatting to George (Greek) and Hanna (German) a young couple at different universities and having a holiday before heading back to their studies. George is studying veterinary medicine, and Hannah is studying law. We might have had another couple of drinks with them too!

Neither of us remember getting back to our rooms, but I woke up pretty bright eyed and bushy tailed to another beautiful day. Having said that we have both vowed not to drink so much again this holiday!

We headed out to Agios Ioannis beach about 3km away, which had the promise of a cafe and breakfast. Mary, the owner of Hotel Pirofani seemed surprised we were walking, and the outskirts of the town doesn’t really seem to be set up for walkers, with very few pavements. There were a couple of other walkers, but most transport seems to be by moped or car. Anyway, we made it there with no problems, passing a beautiful lagoon with a few of what were probably some type of heron on the shore.

There are small memorials scattered along the side of the roads. We think these are in memory of people who have lost their lives on the road.

The beach is beautiful and has the Lefkada windmills looking over it. The four windmills are old and in ruins, all that remain from the original 12 that used to mill grain on the island. One of them might have had a cache in it too ;-)

The cafe was rather disappointing, but we managed to negotiate a coffee and sandwich, watched closely by a mummy cat and her very cute kitten! They were lucky cats as our sandwich had some ham in it.

We both took a dip in the sea. Getting in and out was rather tricky over some very slippery rocks and with some chest-high waves, but we both managed it without falling over. The viz was good and we spotted a few fishies including parrot fish. I spotted an old motorcycle engine between some rocks.

We headed back to the hotel, stopping on the way for an orange and soda for me, and a coffee for Sian. I just needed a long cold drink!! On our way back through town we checked out a possible eatery for this evening thanks to Trip Advisor

So, that’s where we are for now. I’m writing this in siesta time after a cool shower, and before we head out for the evening – with much less alcohol to be drunk! I’ll catch up with the rest of today tomorrow when we arrive in Nidri for the start of the second part of our holiday.

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