Ten Days in May

Sad to leave
27th May 2014

 

I woke up before the alarm this morning desperate for a cup of tea. So I shuffled across the room to the corner described as the kitchenette area.

As the word implied it was a miniature version of a real kitchen but size wasn't its problem. Through my bleary eyes I searched everywhere for a kettle. I checked all the cupboards, which didn't take long, there weren't many. No kettle to be found.

"What?! Call itself a self-catering apartment!?! " I muttered incredulously.

All we had was a fridge, a sink and a table top hot plate thing. That was it.

At least I was able to boil some water in a pan and fortunately there were some cups for me to drink my tea. It felt like we were camping!

Anyway, once we finished packing our suitcase we thought it would be a good idea to have a nice cup of coffee from the bar before we left. Unfortunately the bitter oil slick that came out of their jar was atrocious.

Our disgust deepened when we came to pay. She handed over the receipt asking for €5. "Wow, that's expensive!" I said, startled. I almost swore it was such a shock! That was Starbucks city centre London prices. It left a really bad taste in more ways than one.

No wonder they didn't provide a kettle!

We didn't hang around after that. Despite being really early we set off for the airport. It was only a short 5 minute drive away. We parked our filthy little Chevrolet Spark outside the car hire office but there was no one there to receive the keys.

After loitering outside for half an hour without anyone arriving Julie phoned the main office in Argostoli. They told us to just leave the key and a copy of our agreement in the car. That was very trusting of them or perhaps more trusting of us. (Thankfully nothing bad came of it)

We walked the short distance to the terminal where we checked-in our luggage and settled down with a spanakopita to wait to board.

As time passed Julie was getting increasingly anxious. The little airport terminal was getting busier and more chaotic by the minute. Julie began to pace up and down. Not a moment too soon the doors open and we began to board. If there had been a delay Julie would have worked herself into a state of delirium.

Instead she pulled it together and marched on board the epitome of courage.  Sat in the same seats she fought the urge to become a quivering wreck.

She was on the verge but thankfully the take-off was reassuringly smooth and then the views over the island were proving to be a wonderful distraction.

We saw the whole of Argostoli sprawled out below us which was fascinating. Then a moment later we could see all the way up the coast to Assos.

As Kefalonia slowly faded away we both looked at each other and sighed. We were sad to leave.

It had been one of our best, if not the best European holiday.

I think with us having ten whole days helped. We had plenty of time to take it at a wonderfully leisurely pace and then the bonus of having the breathtaking beauty of Kefalonia, especially Assos, it will live long in our memory.

It had been our first Greek island holiday and it certainly won't be our last!

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