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6th - 19th October Holidays with Tracy, Adrian and
Rose
So after spending some time in Poros we headed back
to Perdika, Aegina to await the arrival of Tracy, Adrian
and Rose from the Netherlands. We were quite excited
about having a wee holiday with them as we haven't seen
a lot of them in recent years
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We thought we would just hang around for 3 or 4 days and
then head off but this was not too to be and we ended up in
Perdika for 10 days and seeing the Banks clan everyday (if
not all day - we didn't want them to think we were stalkers).
The local weather while the Banks
clan was in Perdika was not so great, but Tracy and Adrian
had hired a car so we went out around the island getting some
culture. Baby Rose
was fabulous and we were her new best friends. It's very satisfying
to arrive at the door each day and for a little person like
Rose to get excited to see you (Tracy and Adrian never seemed
to get that excited, except when they were winning at cards).
We were lucky to be moored next to a lovely Greek couple
in Perdika, Petros
and Giorgia
who were from Athens and having a holiday on their beautiful
Fisher yacht, 'Janinko'.
So we spent a couple of evenings with them. They have been
sailing around the area for many years so gave us a lot of
advice about where to go as we head to the Sporades.
Most days we have been out and about, had lunch and then
headed back to Perdika. We saw Afeas Temple, Aegina Town,
Hellenic Wildlife Hospital and also Athens. Karl and I became
Rose's au pairs for the morning while Tracy and Adrian headed
up to see the Acropolis. Rose's pram was very good off road
but the Acropolis would have been too much hard work.
The villa that Tracy and Adrian had rented was lovely with
a great terrace, unfortunately the weather meant that we only
had one evening with the BBQ going and sitting outside with
them until midnight. We were lucky that Tracy and Adrian had
the use of a washing machine so we managed to abuse their
hospitality on a few occasions to do our washing too.
One evening there was a very short but heavy electrical storm
which resulted in their bedrooms being flooded when Rose was
in bed and she had to be rescued and they had to retreat and
sleep in the living room.
On two days the weather improved and we had sustained sunshine
so we went out for a 2 hour sail on Maddie on one of these
and then for a swim in the sea on another. This was Rose's
first time in the sea and she made her parents proud. We spent
our last evening in Perdika with them and had a lovely meal,
played and drank wine - all was perfect.
Rose did well for a little girl who was just about to celebrate
her first birthday and she managed to travel by a wide variety
of transport whilst on holiday - ferry, flying dolphin, underground,
bus, sail boat, car, plane. She also managed to woo the locals
and would wave very cutely at most of the ladies stopping
to talk to her.
On our last morning in Perdika, Rose Amelie Banks was 1 year
old so we sang Happy Birthday before departing. It was a real
pleasure hanging out with them on their holidays and a real
treat to spend so much time with Rose as no doubt it will
be quite a while before we see her again.
So we left Perdika and headed for Methana, on the mainland,
south west of Aegina, where we knew we could plug into shore
power and get water for just a few euros. The downside to
this is the smell in the town. It's not called Methana for
no reason at all. There are sulphur baths in the town which
is great for rheumatics but hard on one's sense of smell.
We had a lovely neighbour here, Simeon, who kindly brought
us Greek coffee, ouzo and Greek salad.
After 2 nights charging everything up and breathing that
sulphur air we left Methana and headed to Lavrion which is
east of Athens as we've decided to head north up into Evia
and the Sporades. The weather
was terrible the day we left for Lavrion, dry for the first
hour and then we got soaked and Madison got soaked for the
next 5 hours. It was like being in Scotland but warm. We can
take it getting colder but constant rain and thunderstorms
is no fun at all.
So here we are in Lavrion. Its dry now but the wind is very
high so staying for a couple of nights to wait for it to die
down as we don't want to sail in gales. The upside to this
is we can dry everything out that got wet yesterday.
We have been good neighbours since we arrived and helped
an older Austrian sailor, Alfred who had a boat that was taking
in water, we helped to bail and worked to slow the leak until
he was able to get hooked up with shore power so that he could
get his electrical pumps working.
We hope that the winds will settle tomorrow so we can leave
for Porto Rafti which is about 15 miles from here.
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