I
had something of a restless night, and a nose bleed too. Was it the gin and
tonics yesterday evening, or was it the heat? Who knows?
We
had rather good brekkie, and suitably replete we met up outside the hotel to
await our coach. Last night we’d booked a three-island cruise for today. Our
coach driver got us to the harbour in Kardemena with time to spare, and soon we
were on what I can only describe as Captain Jack Sparrow’s very own pirate
ship. Being first aboard we secured the prime seats in the bow, and soon we
were off. We had a wonderful view of the beautiful scenery, and also of of two
bikini-clad German ladies who seemed to be very friendly toward each other.
We
sailed for about half an hour after which time we pulled into a beautiful
lagoon. The gangplank was dropped and we had an hour on the beach doing whatever
we liked. "er indoors TM" walked around the island
and found a rather pretty little Greek Orthodox church. I spent the time
snorkelling looking at the fish. I even found a couple of sea urchins too.
After
an hour we were given a light lunch of a small Greek salad and some kebab. I
really liked it.
From
here we sailed to the island of Nisyros where we had a two-hour stopover. We
all paid three euros apiece to take a coach trip. The entire island is one big
volcano; the coach drove us up and up and up where we saw some spectacular
views, and then down into the volcano. Whilst the rest of our party stayed in
the taverna near to the coach park, "er indoors TM"
and I took twenty minutes to walk down into the caldera. Oh it was hot and
smelly, but how many people can say they’ve stomped about inside an active
volcano? And as an added bonus the caldera
was an Earthcache too. So without really trying we got our most southerly geocache,
furthest geocache from home, and highest one as well all in one go.
We
took the coach back to the harbour, and having wandered along the touristy high
street we stopped in a little taverna for a pint.
We
deserved it. As we drank it was interesting watching the locals. Some chap
drove past on a moped (with no crash
helmet) steering with one hand and carrying his dog with the other. The dog
was clearly used to this. Yesterday we’d seen small children steering the
mopeds driven by older people. Those people who blame excessive health and
safety legislation onto the European Union are clearly wrong. Or the Greeks
simply don’t care about it.
We
got back on the boat and once Cheryl had emptied the sand from her knickers we
sailed on to the third island. We didn’t land here; instead we moored up and
those who wanted a swim got to swim from the boat in crystal-clear water.
After
half an hour we sailed back to harbour. The wind was against us and we were
half an hour later back than planned.
We
took the short walk to the taxi rank and waited for a taxi. And waited. And
waited. Eventually one showed up so we loaded up the girls and sent them on
ahead. The blokes followed (much)
later, but we arrived back at the hotel at the same time as the girls; their
driver had gone for a cup of coffee.
We
showered, had cocktails and then dinner. Everyone else had an early night;
today had been tiring and "My Boy TM" was
complaining about sea-sickness. But "er indoors TM"
and I were still going strong. We walked up to the amphitheatre where there was
a Hungarian magic comedy show. I’d never seen a Hungarian magic comedy show before,
and (sadly) if I never see one again
it would be no loss. It was one of those shows that was so awful that it was
good.
A
few more cocktails by the pool, and we staggered off to bed shortly before
midnight, taking care not to disturb the kids (too much).
There
were some
good photos to be taken today; I’m told the temperature reached 36oC
today… it was warm but I don’t think it felt quite that hot?
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