I didn’t feel great when I woke up this morning feeling dehydrated and a bit queasy. I just had cereal and a mini croissant for breakfast washed down with lots of acidic orange juice which may not have helped my overall feeling of malaise. It was a bit breezier today but felt just as hot and sometimes the wind was just blowing what seems like superheated air off the dark sand.
There were a few Greek Air Force jets flying about today – far noisier and faster than the airliners coming in to land at the airport. I kept out of the sun in the shade of the umbrella on the beach until after lunch and finished the George R R Martin book.
I had grilled sardines for lunch at Pergola. With a bit of bread and butter to wrap around some of the bones too tiny to pick out, the fish were very tasty and I didn’t taste any of the usual bitterness where they perhaps haven’t been properly prepared in the past. I also helped Siggy finish her fruit salad which consisted mostly of watermelon.
Then I braved the sun (having knocked back lots of iced tea and water) and started reading Stephen King’s End Of Watch. There was yet another stand up argument this time between two female holidaymakers who in my overactive imagination I thought might be lesbians. They were English speaking, possibly American or Australian, but the wind was only providing me with snippets of the argy bargy.
It was one of those ‘you wouldn’t let it lie’ / ‘well I would’ve let it lie’ style to-dos that seemed to stop and start for a good quarter of an hour or so. The heat brings out the worst in some people I guess. And that was the most interesting thing that happened on the beach today apart from someone’s brolly blowing into the sea.
We walked up the main road to a supermarket which was larger than average to find Siggy some moisturiser and to buy some more washing powder. There was a bakery nearby so we thought it rude not to go in and buy a big chocolate doughnut. It was around 6 inches in diameter covered and filled with satisfyingly sweet and sticky chocolate sauce. Nice and messy.
It being the end of our first week, we had a new influx of people into the hotel today including quite a few more boisterous children. I’m glad we’re sticking to the beach and we’re getting the local bus to Fira (Thira) tomorrow.
We went to RaMaya for dinner next door to Ntomatini. They serve traditional Greek and Mediterranean cuisine. We opted for pastitsio and mixed grill with garlic bread to start. There was traditional music, a big menu and quick service. They also had reasonably priced beer and cocktails.
There’s a slightly hyper waitress working there with a squeaky voice to match – she would make a good greeter at a Disney store. The light blue decor and naive paintings gave it a bit of authentic charm in comparison to some of the other stylish restaurants. The sea has gone that milky blue colour again and thankfully distracts me from the rude family sat next to us who bark out demands without any please or thank you to the waiting staff.
The mixed grill was good but not as good as Hercules Taverna in Tigaki and twice the price. There was Luxe.tv on in the background and free ouzo with the bill.
Then went revisited the imaginatively named Beach Bar for more Mythos Radlers as Siggy was feeling overly warm for a change after her big bowl of pasta.
They turned the music up but it didn’t quite drown out the voice of the American girl sitting on a table over the road talking at her two friends (I assumed they were friends and not hostages) and saying ‘like’ more than she was taking breathes. The bar’s chilli crisps are damned hot but I like them more than the saxophone based jazz they were playing tonight. The music was so like and I was like and she was like…
We spotted a genuinely good celebrity lookalike in the form of chef Antony Worrel Thompson.
couchmagpie 