Kalispera, Lesvos!

 

Yassas! Apologies for the radio silence, it's been full-on since we got home ten days ago but, more about that shortly. In the meantime let me tell you all about our latest Greek odyssey. Our destination was Lesvos in the North Aegean. Greece's fourth largest island, home to 11 million olive trees and the undisputed centre of the world's ouzo production. In ancient times the island was ruled by King Priam and was part of the kingdom of Troy. It was also the birthplace of the writer Sappho, famed for her poems which celebrated female love. 

We travelled with Jet2, opting for a package rather than our usual DIY holiday as the price was too tempting not to. Landing at Mytilini airport less than three and a half hours after leaving Birmingham, we were welcomed by a rep who directed us to the taxi which would take us to our hotel in the island's far south. We shared our hour-long transfer with two other travellers, along with the taxi driver's wife, who fed him his dinner as he negotiated the roads. Home for the fortnight was Hotel Vicky, owned and run by brother and sister, Stratos and Vicky. After being shown to our room, we dumped our bags and headed to the hotel bar, toasting our arrival with a couple of pints of Mamos. 

We'd arrived in darkness and were amazed when we opened the curtains the following morning revealing a stupendous view of the Aegean. 

Hotel Vicky is in Agios Isidoros, a seaside village in the far south of the island. With most British tourists opting to stay in the North, Jet2 don't offer excursions or rep visits to those choosing to stay here making it feel like we'd travelled independently.

Including us, there were six Brits staying at Hotel Vicky, all the other guests were either Danish or Swedish, their fluency in English put us to shame. Most people spent their days beside the hotel pool, situated on the first floor - absolute madness when less than a five minute walk away there's a Blue Flag beach, not only the longest beach on the island but also voted the seventh best beach in the whole of Greece!

With the temperature in the high 30s (hotter than the UK, but less humid), we swam for at least an hour every day and took long, lazy lunches, mostly in the beachfront Aphrodite taverna, alternating between traditional Greek salads or the house special, the Aphrodite, with mixed beans, tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese and rusks. Two beers, salad, water and a basket of bread cost 20€. 

Standing on the southernmost point on the island, just 5 miles from Turkey. 

My hip was absolutely brilliant on holiday, I didn't need my stick the whole time we were there despite Hotel Vicky being halfway up a mountain!  

Nights in Agios Isidoros were very chilled. We'd stay on the beach until 7pm before heading back to the hotel for showers. Our post-shower drink was a glass of the local red wine (7€ for a 2 litre bottle from the impressively stocked village shop) which we'd sip on the paved area outside our room (it was too hot for the balcony) before deciding which of the three taverns in the village we'd eat at. 

As usual, the food was superb. Stuffed courgette flowers were in season and every morning we'd watch this nonagenerian collecting the flowers for the restaurant (often assisted by a helpful tourist). As this part of Lesvos isn't particularly touristy the prices are really affordable with a carafe of wine and dinner rarely costing more than €30 and each taverna included a freebie with the bill, ice cream, choc ices, a glass of Mastika or a platter of fresh fruit. Bottled water was always free. 

Our nearest taverna, just across the road from Hotel Vicky was the pretty Merakis, a family-run business, supervised by the 90 year old patriach. 

The rugged walk through the village to another of the tavernas (the sign was in Greek so we never discovered its name) reminded us of Paleokastritsa, our spiritual home on Corfu. Fotini lives in London but comes over each Summer to help her elderly parents. We were the only tourists, it was a proper locals-only place, but we were made to feel very welcome. 

The ful moon was spectuclar the last night we dined there and we were thrilled to hear the Skops owls calling from the olive groves.

Sunset offered the best view...

And the owner's legion of cats even had their own water fountain. 

Nafs, the village's only bar, was very popular with young Greeks, who'd travel from nearby Plomari to dance in the street to the weekend DJ sets and,  at €7 a cocktail, it was cheaper than Spoons! 

Hotel Vicky's bar closed at midnight unless there was a match on when they'd stay open until full-time. We watched England vs Panama, Ghana and DR Congo. We had company for the Ghana match but we were on our own for the other three. Many guests opted to eat here every night and after trying their green beans I wasn't surprised!

Cats and clothes....

Stay tuned, part two to follow very soon! In the meantime there's the small matter of the football...

Come on, England!!!!