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| Saturday, July 8, 2023 I rode to Gavalohori to meet researcher Bill and two visitors. We had lunch at Monica's taverna. Afterwards, I rode home to help Iliana with the packing. We are taking only hand luggage so it takes careful planning. While I was out, Iliana had discovered that my case was disintegrating into flakes so she spent half an hour cleaning black plastic flakes off every item of clothing and then drove to Kalyves to borrow a case from a friend. |
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| Sunday, July 9, 2023 We drove to Georgioupoli for breakfast at Stelios Café Bar. The Formula One race was on TV. |
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| After breakfast, we took a short, circular walk to the beach and back. It was hot and the tourists were having a great time. |
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| Our flight leaves mid afternoon so we plan to go home to shower and change our clothes before driving to the airport. |
| We drove to Haniá airport, left the car at the long-term car park, walked to the "Departures" door and up the escalator directly to the security area. There I grabbed several plastic trays, into which I dumped my laptop, tablet, bag of chargers, cables and accessories and trouser pocket contents. I'd had the foresight to swap my normal leather belt for a piece of cord so that I wouldn't be asked to remove the belt and have my trousers fall down, like the last time (March 2019). As I walked through the frame there was a beep. Uh oh. I wasn't wearing a belt buckle, my watch strap is plastic and I have no artificial joints, screws or nails in my body, so what? I was told to gather my belongings and take them to a desk in the corner, where a young lady asked me to open the suitcase. She waved a wand over it and muttered a spell then smiled and said "OK". Magic. Apparently I wasn't carrying explosives. |
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| We waited in the departure lounge and time passed slowly while we people-watched. One lady wore an orange paper mask intermittently for no obvious reason. She and her partner looked English. Everyone else looked Greek. A delightful young girl played hopscotch on the tiled floor for the whole time. It's unusual to find a delightful Greek child; most are noisy, spoiled brats. |
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| Eventually, an hour after the supposed departure time, we saw our plane land. We were allowed out of the air-conditioned lounge onto the outdoor, covered veranda where the air temperature must have been well over 30°C. We watched as the plane was unloaded of passengers and luggage and then refuelled as a fresh supply of suitcases was heaved onboard. Finally, we were allowed to board the coach, which drove us fifty metres across the tarmac to the steps of the plane. |
| On landing in Cyprus, we walked to the terminal building where a grumpy-looking woman ushered us to the right where several rows of one-eyed machines stood. Iliana placed her passport on one while I stared at another. A woman saw my dazed expression and came over to help. She took my Greek residency card from me and placed it on the glass shelf and then walked away. The machine popped up a coloured onscreen ribbon with a message that said something about requiring more information to be typed. There was no keyboard. I swapped the card for my passport and the same message popped up again. The woman returned and told me to queue at a passport control booth instead, so I did that and waited, and waited. Meanwhile, Iliana had been checked by the machine and passed through the barrier. Eventually the queue moved and I reached the window where a young man took my documents, typed away at his keyboard and then handed them back without a word. We walked outside and got a taxi ride into town for 45 Euros. |
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| The apartment block is called "Kafalonitis". It sounds contagious. It's located in Paphos: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ArYbFbnM5QP9ikkP6 We were shown to our apartment, four flights of stairs above ground level. No lift. I'm going to get my exercise! We couldn't persuade the air conditioning to work and the room was much too warm so I went back to reception with the remote control. |
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| "Are you sure that all of the doors and windows are closed?" "Yes, certain." "OK, take this spare remote and phone me from your room to let me know if it's OK." It wasn't. Then I had a thought. "Where's the room key?" I asked Iliana. "In my handbag." "OK, place the key fob in the slot by the door, please." She did so. There was a click and the air conditioning worked. I phoned reception to let the guy know that I was an idiot. |
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| In the evening, we met up with our son, his baby (nearly two years old) and wife and her parents. We walked to a nearby restaurant (across a dual-carriageway) and ordered dinner. |
| I slept remarkably well, considering that we had to keep the air conditioning on all night long and the refrigerator buzzed and gurgled next to the bed. I awoke only once to stub my toe on a table that doesn't normally impede my shuffle to the bathroom when at home. Iliana woke me at 6.30 am. At 7.30 we set off on a walk in search of a supermarket and pharmacy. We found one of each but they weren't open so we headed back to the apartments. |
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| At 8.30 we went to the breakfast room and waited for our son, his wife, her parents and the baby. They arrived twenty minutes late and we ordered breakfast. During breakfast, baby tested my patience by throwing his toys and his mother's phone onto the floor, repeatedly. The waitress didn't understand my Greek. It turned out that she's Romanian and her English is way better than her Greek. |
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| After breakfast, we all set off in the blazing sunshine to find the supermarket. Having done that, I volunteered to return to the apartment with the litre of milk and five litres of water. Iliana, meanwhile, headed for the pharmacy. Halfway back, I realised that she still had the apartment key so I waited in the breakfast room with a glass of orange juice. Did I mention that it was hot? The apartment kitchen was equipped with a kettle, microwave oven and a hot-pate oven and grill that I didn't dare to touch. |
| My son returned with the baby and the key and helped me to hump the liquids upstairs to the apartment, where I placed them in the 'fridge. When Iliana returned, we all adjourned to our son's apartment where the baby was put to sleep - that came out wrong; the baby was placed in his cot for a nap while we sat in the living room drinking tea and talking small talk. |
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| In the evening, we all went out to eat again. The Moussaká was so hot that I had to fork it onto the plate to let it cool. Iliana played safe and had bangers & mash. Back home, I was unable to upload my photos from my ancient Cannon camera to my Mac laptop. Maybe the USB lead is faulty. |
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| Tuesday, Jul 11, 2023 We had breakfast with the family in the breakfast room. I had full English breakfast. |
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| We walked to Lighthouse beach and had drinks at a beach bar. On the way back I tried to find a USB lead for my camera. I was directed to King's Mall where there was a shop called "Public". It stocked USB-C leads and Apple lightning leads but nothing for my old Cannon camera, which needs a Mini-USB lead. |
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| Paphos town, where we are staying, has been rebuilt and expanded for tourists, which means that there are tavernas and "mini markets" and not much else. |
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| The "Roman Hotel", where we stayed on our very first visit to Paphos many years ago, used to sit alone in a field, with a dusty road connecting it to the harbour. Now a dual carriageway passes its front door. |
| Wednesday, Jul 12, 2023 I slipped in the shower and brought down the shower curtain rail, breaking its end supports and the curtain rings. I didn't hurt myself. I reported the breakage to reception and was told that it would be repaired by "Manos" later. |
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| We walked to Paphos harbour and walked along the new, modern promenade. |
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| We found a café with a wonderful play area that kept the baby happy while we had drinks. |
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| We walked to the old harbour area... |
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| ...as far as the ancient castle structure and then headed back past the bus station in the direction of the dual carriageway. |
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| On the main road, we came across this tree that's adorned with pieces of cloth. |
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| Next to it are stone steps leading to underground rooms. |
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| We then retraced our steps to the apartment, calling at shops to find some local cheese. Unfortunately, all they could offer was prepacked, imported slices of plastic "cheese". |
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| We had dinner at "Tea for Two" Café with our son, his wife her parents - plus the baby. I succumbed to temptation and ordered apple pie. |
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| Back at the apartment, the shower curtain had been repaired. I watched DIY videos on my laptop each evening. |
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| Thursday, Jul 13, 2023 After breakfast, Iliana & I walked to the old town, which is being renovated. I was in search of a USB to mini USB lead for my camera. Amazingly, the very first shop on the way to town had one in stock! |
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| We continued our walk uphill to town and stopped at a cafe; it was opposite the Information Centre so I went inside and obtained a couple of maps and a booklet about Paphos. After further window shopping, we walked back to the apartment. |
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| Iliana thinks that I'm a grumpy old sod so she bought me this T-shirt. "I had fun once. It was awful." |
| Friday, Jul 14, 2023 After breakfast, Iliana took a walk to the Kings Mall and I returned to the air conditioned room. It feels very hot outside today and I really didn't fancy walking anywhere. In fact, we walked to the nearest mini market at 4 pm to buy milk, at my insistence. At 6 pm we walked to a traditional Greek taverna where we ordered Moussaká and Païdhákia. The staff actually spoke Greek! __ Saturday, Jul 15, 2023 Iliana got up early and made a pot of tea, which she took out onto the balcony. She came back inside just a minute later because the milk was rancid. It's just as well that we'd bought a new bottle! We went downstairs for breakfast with family at 8.30 am. On our return to the room, I was a little behind Iliana and I stepped into the wrong room, surprising a couple who were lying on their bed - fully clothed, I'm glad to say. |
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| We walked to the pharmacy as Iliana needed more after-bite itch relief. Today is another very hot day (33°C - feels like 37) so we returned to the apartment and then Iliana went for a dip in the pool, leaving me to type this. In the evening we took our family to last night's Greek taverna for dinner. 110 Euros for six people and a baby. We walked to the beach to watch the sun set. |
| While I'm typing, let me list some differences between Crete and Cyprus: 1. Cyprus is more "British". It has wide roads and dual carriageways through town, with proper signs and road markings. Vehicles drive on the left. All power sockets are British style 3-pin and I assume that most buildings are wired with ring-main circuits rather than spurs. In Crete, all sockets are European Schuko style. Road signs are often random and road markings - where they exist - are done with either white or yellow paint that disappears quickly and isn't reflective. 2. Most people in Cyprus speak English, with the exception of lowly-paid cleaners who come mostly from Ukraine, Romania and nearby countries. 3. The food in towns is a mix of British and Greek, with some tavernas specialising in Asian cuisine. This aspect is far less pronounced in Crete with far fewer places offering "English breakfast" or teacakes. Food in Cyprus is generally more expensive than in Crete but nowhere near as expensive as in Britain. 4. Where we are staying in Paphos, there are no large shops, which means that some things are impossible to buy unless you take a bus, taxi or hire a car to drive further afield. Also, I could not find freshly squeezed orange juice and I saw no orange or lemon trees. I couldn't buy any locally made cheese, yoghurt or even vegetables. Paphos covers a wide area, including the harbour and the Old Town but there's no real "town centre" shopping area. There's a Mall that sells expensive things but there's no area with department stores. I did find a small electrical shop and a small hardware shop. I didn't see a plumbing shop. Frankly, Paphos is simply a large suburban area designed for hotels, bars and tourism. In the past, I have visited Limassol and that's a huge city. But, again, you can walk for miles and not find what you want to buy. In contrast, Haniá and Réthymno on Crete do have a variety of shops that supply most needs. Most of the time, Cyprus is a couple of degrees hotter than Western Crete. __ Sun, Jul 16, 2023 All the walking didn't help my food to digest so I woke at 1 am with stomach ache. I propped myself up in bed with an extra pillow and fell asleep in that position until 2.30 am when I removed the pillow and lay down to sleep normally. Iliana woke me at 8 am in time for breakfast at 8.30. After breakfast, the family took the bus to the harbour area to do shopping while I remained in the air conditioned room. They returned at 4 pm with a problem for me: the very expensive (bought in America) parasol on the baby's buggy had broken. The metal supports had been threaded onto a piece of wire whose ends were twisted together. I determined that it could be fixed but that we'd need a longer piece of wire because the original had been cut short (too short) after the ends were twisted together. I went downstairs and explained the problem to the lady at Reception, who didn't understand. So I explained again in Greek and asked if she had a very large paper clip. She had just one and it was exactly the right length when unfolded! |
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| My son and I managed to thread the wire through the tiny metal supports and twist the ends together firmly. Hooray! |
| At 5.30 I walked with Iliana to "Tea for Two", where we shared a tuna salad. After that I had apple pie and Iliana had lemon meringue pie. I was horrified to discover that the "butter" supplied with the bread rolls was actually margarine labelled "Buttery". We returned to the apartment and Iliana washed our "whites" in the laundry room. While I hung them on the line to dry, Iliana returned to the laundry room with a load of non-whites. However, the machine had stopped working so she returned to the room and stuffed the clothes into a suitcase for washing when we arrive home on Tuesday. |
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| Monday, July 17, 2023 Iliana did a lot of packing and then we walked up the dual carriageway with the family and caught a bus to the harbour where we caught another bus to take us to the old town (or "Upper Paphos"). It actually passed the end of the road where our apartments are located! The lift at the bus station |
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| Archaeology |
| Tuesday, July 18, 2023 We had breakfast as usual, finished our packing and lugged our "hand luggage" to reception to meet the taxi that reception had booked for us. We also had the baby's travel cot in a box to take with us because our son's family will be visiting us in Crete, later this year. The taxi cost 30 Euros (compared with 45 for the one that brought us!) We booked the cot in as special hold luggage and then headed for security, where I was taken aside to be checked for explosives. |
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| We waited for our departure gate number to appear on the message board. I saw the coffee sign and walked over to buy a decaf Cappuccino. "We don't do decaf." Great. I looked at the sign again: "Every coffee handcrafted to order". They should add "except decaf". |
| The flight was uneventful and only ten minutes late. We waited at the carousel for the cot, which didn't appear. Luckily, I sat down to wait and glanced at a notice on a pillar, which stated that "large items such as pushchairs would be left by carousel number 3". We were standing by number 4 and there was no number 3. But Iliana noticed a small doorway in the wall, went through, and there was our box! How very stupid. We dragged everything to the car park, presented our ticket, paid 24 Euros for the nine days and drove home. I was just in time for my weekly Skype meeting with my engineer friends, which kept me occupied until after 5 pm. Iliana, meanwhile, was unpacking. After a quick fish finger dinner, I started to go through all my holiday photos and notes for the blog. Wednesday, July 19, 2023 Dirty clothes into the washing machine, rinse, hang out and repeat with a second load. Iliana handled that while I continued to catch up with the blog links. Iliana went out to visit a friend's garden to pick plums. I walked to the supermarket to sort and date stamp mail. Then I phoned Billy and arranged to drive him to Georgioupoli for drinks and a quick catch-up. The weather was hot so we didn't plan to stay long. Billy asked me to go to the pharmacy to ask if they still did covid tests. His wife has to see a lung specialist, who insists on a negative covid test. Back home, I phoned Mario to arrange for him to weld the final piece into our rooftop fence. I'd been given his number by Tom and Angelika, who run the "Sentouki" shop/cafe in Georgioupoli. From the name, I assumed that he was Italian. A male voice answered: "Hi, is that Mario? Do you speak English?" "No, only Greek." (Shit. OK, I can do this.) Then he asked in Greek, "Are you Tom's friend?" I told him in Greek, yes and I wanted some welding done. He said no problem; I have all the equipment. How about tomorrow at 6 pm? That was fine by me. We arranged to meet in the village square. |
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| I went onto the roof with the two-part section that I'd welded together and clamped it in position. There's a lot of rust that I need to remove. I plugged in a sturdy extension lead and threw it onto the roof. I'll go back later with my angle grinder. |
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| Thursday, July 20, 2023 Iliana wanted to Give Georgia her birthday present and then drive to Rethymno to see Maria. So Iliana set off in the car and I rode the motorbike so that I could return home afterwards. Iliana a went the long way round to avoid the road works. I got stopped for a minute. On the way down 7 Bends Road, I noticed a small red car stuck in the bushes at the side of the road and thought "these locals will do anything to get a bit of shade!" |
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| We both arrived at Stelios Café Bar simultaneously. Iliana handed Georgia the present, which was a green frog lying on its back. While Iliana went to the toilet, Iliana asked me the meaning of the frog so I guessed and said "it means have a peaceful day". When Iliana returned, she told Georgia that it was to remind her to take a day off. Iliana mentioned that she'd seen the little red car in the bushes. |
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| After breakfast, Iliana headed for Rethymno while I bought bananas ad then headed to the Café O Petros in Litsarda to buy a chunk of cheese. I stopped for a coffee, to be sociable, and sat with Petros the elder ("papous" or "grandpa"). I mentioned to him about the little red car in the bushes and, as I did so, he pointed at a passing crane lorry and asked "that one?" Sure enough, it was the same car and its front end was slightly crushed. |
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| In the afternoon I had a nap. I awoke at 5 pm and cooked sausages for an early dinner. Mario the welder phoned at 5.50 pm and I rode to meet him and direct him back from the village square. He made a better job of welding the piece of fence than I could and charged me 40 Euros for an hour's work plus travelling. |
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| Mario is actually from Bulgaria and gave me his business card. Electrical and Plumbing |
| 7 pm. Iliana is with Maria and they are watching Maria's son, Achilles, getting his stripes. 
8 pm. Iliana is texting me to ask how to use jump leads to start Achilles car. He left the lights on! |
| __ Friday, July 21, 2023 We have to drive to Haniá this morning. |
