Yay! Plan A in full effect – finally spent some quality time down on Tigaki beach. Despite my initial misgivings the wind had finally dropped and a mild breeze wafted the smell of sun lotion and the sizzling flesh of the mixed nationalities congregated on the various sunbeds covering the gently sloping beach.
The gentle slope means that you can walk out quite a distance into the sea before it even gets waist high. I’m not a big fan of beach life because of the sand (it really does get everywhere) and the bat and ball games. Bat and ball games generally don’t work and like popcorn at cinemas should be the subject of a global ban. However, even old grumpy bum has to concede that it was really great.
The sunbeds we chose were really well padded and our chosen location meant we were close to the taverna we had lunch at yesterday at the back of about four rows of sunbeds away from the sea and the kids.
I had my first genuine pork gyros pitta since our trip to Kos Town for lunch from a taverna a couple of doors down from the roundabout. A pork and a chicken elephant’s foot were clearly visible and the colour photos of their different dishes made it perfectly clear that I’d get the genuine thing this time. I did. I liked it. We didn’t have pudding as we’d already shared an apple doughnut off the ‘no donut, no sexy’ man on the beach.
At around four we went back to the hotel to get ready for our free coach trip to Zia to watch the sunset. Waiting for a sunset consisted of trying to string out a meal at the Sunset Taverna in Zia (incidentally the same taverna that we’d had drinks at during our first visit) while baking in the blinding eye-level fireball. We shared a moussaka and a traditional dish made with beef and pasta that looked like big grains of rice. The food was homely but not mind-blowing despite the waiter’s claims that it was the best on the island. I do wish they wouldn’t exaggerate.
It got so it was unbearable so we relinquished our ringside seats and went further up the mountainside (a short stroll – no climbing required). I could envisage a kind of paparazzi scrum around the one good camera vantage point near our table anyway and I was too hot and bothered to want to tackle a potential crowd selfie-stick scrummage.
We found a very pleasant chilled-out café, the Old House café, and ordered some drinks and pudding. Ambient music was playing, the vibe was far cooler and the view was good. It felt like we had left a lot of hassle behind and could relax.
I had an excellent homemade chocolate ‘pie’ (cake) with traditional rose flavoured ice cream.
The sunset was nice but not jaw-dropping so, as it didn’t ‘sink’ into the sea but rather behind a neighbouring island (so no ‘green flash’ or much reflection in the sea).Same situation as last year in Skiathos. Still really glad we did it and it was free by virtue of buying two trips from the tour company.
We had a bit of time to wander around the souvenir shops again and explore Zia a little more before the pick up.
There was a shop called the Positive Shop next to the café. The shop sold handmade inspirational wooden plaques (with the kind of wording you see a lot on Facebook e.g. ‘How to handle stress like a dog: if you can’t eat it or play with it, then pee on it and walk away’) and had a comments board. See if you can guess which comment is mine:
The coach got us back to a sweltering Tigaki at around ten o’clock and we headed to Tirbouson where I had my first Mojito of the holiday – and very nice it was too. Then to Rivoto’s for a Mai Tai and some more gangsta beats, then Memories for a melon Mojito. The small Mythos at the taverna, the large one at the Old House café and all the cocktails left me feeling quite drunk. We stumbled back to the hotel under an almost full moon. It was hard not to start having to accept that our holiday would soon be over and we’d soon be back to reality. We hadn’t heard about the IS attack on holidaymakers in Tunisia until the day after we got home and so the reality was harsher than we expected…
All photos: Copyright 2015 Matthew Haynes
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