Kicking around Kefalonia Thursday 12th October

 Until the Wednesday evening the plan was that we were all going on a boat trip to Zante with George and his friends Sandra and Kevin. Mary had left for home on Wednesday morning and since we received the news that the boat trip had been cancelled, we decided by way of compensation we would all go on another car safari. The reasons for the last minute cancellation of the boat trip were a little mysterious. High wind and choppy sea was the justification given,  but quite frankly the weather didn't seem any different from what it had been all week. As it transpired, we actually did two cruises on the day. 

But I am getting a little ahead of myself, remember we were by now,  card-carrying members of the Loggerhead turtle game warden's society, so we had to put our knowledge to good use. Neither Sandra nor Kev have seen the turtles so we couldn't pass over the opportunity to revisit them. The turtles did not let us down. 

A word about car parking in Kefalonia. Parking is very laissez-faire, although there is some private parking which is charged for, all public parking is free. Bearing in mind we were far from high season, Agostoli had more or less run out of places. Under these circumstances people resort to double parking and use of the hazard lights or there is a continuous trawl around the streets. Something will have to change. 

We had decided to explore a new part of the island so took our first cruise,  the car ferry across to Lixouri.

Each item was €3 per crossing, for example, a car €3 or a passenger €3, easy. Here is the ferry. 

 

This is the stern or in non-nautotechnicological terms, the back. Also see a little contrast below. The back of Cunard's cruise liner Queen Victoria, curiously named after a member of staff at our apartments. She (the ship) has about 2000 passengers and around 1000 crew. Agostoli hosts about one a day of these beasts. They must be both a curse and a blessing.  Me, I prefer a car full to a ship full. 

Meanwhile we'll take in the view and dream. 

Now you can meet us all sitting like Buddhas underneath the banyan tree. Left to right, Kevin, Sandra, George (with the ball), Helen and Nigel. This was taken after we had coffee in the main square in Lixouri. 

This is looking back west towards Lixouri from the mountains on the peninsula. The Gulf is visible centre left. 

We  are making for Petani beach which lies on the west coast of the Paliki peninsula. This beach is described as the finest one on the entire peninsula. Accessible by sea and a single road which is precipitous enough to discourage all but the foolhardy. The beach can be seen from the edge of the road, but please don't lean over too far to try and get a better view. 

This photo is a 360 degree one, which is why it may be confusing you. To the left is the Xouras restaurant of some renown owned by Dina a Greek-American lady. The main restaurant was closed for the season but the bar and snack kitchen remained open. 

A more conventional picture of the beach. Petani beach has crystal clear water as befits an EU 3 star (best) rated Blue flag beach. The floor consists of tiny pebbles ranging in size from around 2mm up to 5cm. They are quite hard to walk on and retain your balance, (ask George). A small modesty screen with a door is provided for those who want to change before they go swimming. The water is cuddly warm, though the beach shelves quite steeply and you are out of your depth within a few metres.  There's no reason to panic however as I found it very hard to get below the surface. 

After a very enjoyable afternoon on the beach when each of us could do our own thing (I'd swear Sandra did a little lotusie meditate) it was time to tackle the ascent and head back to Lixouri. 

This was a striking statue and it had the great benefit of stimulating some discussion. Situated on the harbour front, central to the main square, we spent some time discussing the figure and the ship's bow plinth where there were references to architecture, both ancient and modern, mathematical equations and geometrical diagrams. In addition portraits of people and Greek words. Maybe celebrating all things Greek. However with no stated title and my complete failure to find any textual references online, we are not really much further on. I would welcome any further information. 

Concentrating on the above resulted in me giving insufficient time to Lixouri's most famous statue. The statue of Andreas Laskaratos a satirical poet from the town. His statue was placed in the town with his back deliberately facing Agostoli, to take a stance against the long running feud between Agostoli and Lixouri. The feud dates back to 1757 when the capital was moved from Castro (St George's Castle) to Agostoli. This was not a popular decision with the good citizens of Lixouri and the grudge has been handed down through the generations.

 

Definitely time for our second cruise of the day and on home. We are heading east with the setting sun behind us. I bet that's a brilliant sight on Petani beach. 

Kicking around Kefalonia Tuesday 10th October

 In a nutshell, we plan to circumnavigate the island today, although rather than the nutshell we will be using the hired Nissan Micra. In addition we are planning a turtle hunt. When I say we, I mean the recently convened Dungeon Gang.  We have it on good authority that if we are in the right place at the right time then there is every chance we will encounter one or more of these endangered reptiles. 

The loggerhead turtle, named after its large brown head is about 90 cms long and is the world's biggest turtle. The head is big in order to accommodate its powerful crunching jaws with which it eats crabs, molluscs, clams and urchins. They can live 50 to 60 years in the wild.

The hunt was long and hard. We stalked along the edge of the harbour on the lagoon side of the Gulf of Agostoli. We encountered several shoals of interesting fish, but nothing to raise the blood pressure and excitement level in the way that even a brief encounter with one of those ocean going leviathans would do. On, past the back of the fish market building until Mary was sure she spotted a flipper, possibly waving at her. We were getting warm, well actually hot! After the fish market, the quayside veers left for 30 metres then again to the right. Parked along the quay wall were a number of fishing boats and no small gaggle of very excited people, soon to be joined by our gang. 

This is what we saw.

And even closer, 

So for the first time in your life you can shake hands (well flippers........or hand to flipper) if you see what I mean, with a loggerhead turtle. Just in case you are getting the wrong idea here, no we didn't touch them. Having filled our boots (well, flip flops) with photos and videos it was time to reward ourselves with coffee and cakes. An arduous hunt successfully concluded. 

Next we plan an assault on the wild west coast of the island, making eventually to Fiskardo which is a fishing community in the extreme north of the island. The area around Fiskardo escaped the worst effects of the 1953 earthquake, consequently it still has some good examples the Venetian architecture. There are some interesting small ports and resorts to see or visit on the way up. 

Remember driving anywhere on this island is no bowl of cherries. The topography is such that at any one time a road is either going up or down, left or right but very rarely straight on. This means overtaking other cars is almost impossible. Not, however for the locals who seem to have special powers or extreme faith. 

Looking down to Myrtos Beach you start to get an idea of the land that the roads have been built to serve. North of Myrtos is Assos, our next destination. The road down to Assos is somewhat precipitous which thankfully discourages quite a few people resulting in the village port remaining pleasantly quiet. The village actually lies on an isthmus connecting the island to another bit of land which looks very like an island. 

If you look across the water, you can see a castle and lengthy fortified wall. Originally built by the Venetians, this was a prison until 1953. We enjoyed a drink in the quayside bar before heading back to the car. The picture below shows just how quiet Assos is.

Lunch is calling so we must move north to Fiskardo, which lies in the extreme northern tip of the island. It has a small but diminishing fishing fleet and an increasing recreational one. Ferries sail to the close island of Ithaka and the nearby island of Lefkada. This part of Kefalonia largely missed the worst effects of the '53 earthquake, consequently much of the Venetian architecture remains. The lunch turned out to be a delightful experience with tasty food consumed in a most convivial setting. The candid conversation around the cuisine was blunt, bawdy, biological, blasphemous and bottom bleaching but above all unforgettable. Thank you, especially Mary. 

Fiskardo below.  

Time to continue on our way, first retracing our steps,  then branching south and east towards Sammi. Another port for Ithaka and beach resort. 

It was on the beach here that the filming of Louis de Bernier's novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin took place along with several other locations on the island in 2000. The book and particularly the film thrust Kefalonia onto the tourist map. Although hung on a peg of  a romance the story of the Italian Acqui Division and their relationship with and eventual massacre by former allies the Germans. I would like to supply you with more details of this horrific event courtesy of Wikipedia. 

 The Massacre of the Acqui Division, also known as the Cephalonia massacre, was a war crime by German soldiers against POWs of the Italian 33rd Infantry Division "Acqui" on the island of Cephalonia, Greece, in September 1943, following the Italian armistice during the Second World War.^[1][2][3] About 5,000 soldiers were executed, and around 3,000 more drowned.

Massacre of the Acqui Division
The island of Cephalonia
Location	Cephalonia, Ionian Islands, Kingdom of Greece
Coordinates	38.25°N

Following the decision of the Italian government to negotiate a surrender to the Allies in 1943, the German Army tried to disarm the Italians during Operation Achse. On 13 September the Italians of the Acqui resisted, and fought the Germans on the island of Cephalonia. By 22 September the last of the Italian resistance surrendered after running out of ammunition. A total of 1,315 Italians were killed in the battle, 5,155 were executed by 26 September, and 3,000 drowned when the German ships taking the survivors to concentration camps were sunk by the Allies. It was one of the largest prisoner of war massacres of the war, along with the Katyn massacre,^[4][5] and it was one of many atrocities committed by the 1st Mountain Division (German: 1. Gebirgs Division).

One of the more amazing facts of this  whole tragedy is given the choice to surrender or fight on against all the odds, the division 

voted, yes voted to fight on.

Leaving Sammi behind it was on to Poros for a last pit stop as the daylight was finally dipping below the mountain range to our 

west . We completed the circumnavigation in the dark. Thank you the Dungeon Gang for giving me one of the more memorable

 days in my life. 

Kicking around Kefalonia Monday 9th October

We are staying at Katelios which a small village on the most southern tip of the island. Hereabouts there is a small, but well stocked, "open all hours " shop, a bakery, a taverna/restaurant and several holiday accommodation buildings. Walk about 800 yards down the road and you arrive at the seashore. The village itself stretches for about 150 metres along a road/promenade. On the right are tavernas with holiday apartments above and to the left wooden gazebos where the customers are served next to the beach.

 The main attraction in our accommodation is undoubtedly the swimming pool and surroundings. The pool is 25ms oblong with a hexagonal extension on the deep end giving plentiful space for everyone. Not that there are many people here. The social area,  called the bar is pretty popular as well. 

What can we say? Quiet, verdant, atmospheric, with some spectacular Carboniferous limestone crags in the background. This is typical of the topography of this rugged and arid island. 

I must confess that our accommodation is a little more Spartan than we were expecting. But what better country to be Spartan in? The bed was flat, the fridge cold and the toilet worked so what more could we want?

We were located in one of four apartments round the back but whose balconies faced full sun nearly all day.  The next door to us was unoccupied most of the time. Next to that was Mary, from Carradale, a solo holidaymaker. On the end was the redoubtable George, also on his own and hailing from Frinton on Sea. As it transpired our fates were to coalesce as we moulded into the "Dungeon Gang".

The Dungeon Gang minus Nigel on the harbour front at Agostoli about to embark on a loggerhead turtle hunt. You can find out if they managed to locate any of these endangered animals by reading the next blog.

This is a view looking back at Katelios from the hills to the east when driving over to Skala, the next resort along the coast. You can see the breakwater and little fishing  harbour but the village itself is not visible in this light. The landmass visible in the background of this picture is the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese peninsula. 

Finally looking east on the same journey towards Skala you can get a good idea of the typical country. A sparse population living in an area not yet exploited by tourism. Look at those lovely long sandy beaches, without a soul on them. There is plenty to go round.

Kicking around Kefalonia 4th October 2023

In March this year the well known and trusted consumer magazine Which? published an article entitled "The best and worst Greek Islands. The information was gathered from their readership and concluded that the best was Kefalonia. 

The reasons that they gave were as follows;

" With its mountainous landscape, Kefalonia’s rugged beauty landed it five stars for scenery from Which? readers. As the largest of the Ionian islands, there is plenty of space too – making it the only one in our survey to clinch the full five stars for peace and quiet. One reader neatly summed it up by saying: ‘It’s very easy to find somewhere quiet and away from it all. The roads are not for the faint-hearted, but you can drive slowly and take in the amazing scenery.’

The villages of Mousata, Trapezaki, Afrato and Lourdata – all perched above scenic sandy beaches – are the best bases for exploring. Venture inland for citrus groves, vineyards (producing Kefalonia’s very quaffable white robola wine) and forests of cypress.

A drive or hike up fir-studded 1,628-metre Mount Ainos will reward you with sweeping views over the Ionian Sea. Or explore the island’s spectacular cliffy coastline and secluded coves with a sea kayak expedition. Pearly white Fteri – framed by green hills – is arguably Kefalonia’s most beautiful beach."

I actually only read this sometime after I had booked a 10 day package to Kefalonia with Jet2holidays who were offering a self catering villa with swimming pool for just over £400 a head. This included flights, transfers and a backbreaking 30kg of luggage. Doing everything myself, I couldn't get anywhere near that price. A bonus is that Jet2 also came out as top holiday provider with the wonderful Which?. So can I introduce the island to you, if you don't know it already?

Kefalonia is the largest of the Ionian islands and the 6th largest Greek Island. The resident population was 38000 in 2011 but in 1896 it was 70000. The sharp decline in numbers was due entirely to the disastrous earthquake that occurred in 1953. The buildings in all but the extreme north of the island were destroyed. It was, in fact a series of 4 quakes with the epicentre just south of the island. Kefalonia was raised by 24 inches and remains so today. The majority of the population left the island, the diaspora spreading around the globe. Volcanic activity is a constant risk today. 

Since the Middle Ages, Kefalonia has been controlled by a series of foreign powers. The Venetians ruled the roost  for centuries and there is still plenty of evidence of this today. Napoleon, like us, couldn't resist it, so it came under French control. Napoleon's loss at Waterloo also resulted in the British gaining the island. All the Ionian islands joined the Greek state in 1864. Skipping to World War2 and Kefalonia suffered another tragedy in its history,  but more of that later. 

Let's return to 2023 and our holiday. 

The main reason for coming here 

It is a rather moreish environment. 

But we do intend to explore the island. For this purpose we have forsaken the motorbike and hired a small white Japanese car from the local friendly hire company. 

Thailand Trail Koh Samui. Sunshine with a sting in the tail

 

Ko (Koh) Samui is a popular holiday island in the south west of the Gulf of Thailand. It is Thailand's second largest island after Phuket. In 2018 it hosted 2.7 million visitors. People come from all over the world, but when we were there apart from Europeans we mainly encountered North Americans and Australians. The local population is about 70,000. We booked a beachside bungalow at Escape Beach Resort which was a bit outside Mae Nam. Our journey there was somewhat convoluted. 

Firstly we had a 40 minute taxi ride to Don Mueang airport followed by 1.5 hour flight to Surat Thani. Next was a coach trip of about 90 minutes to the ferry terminal and after another hours wait we finally boarded the boat. Note who's doing the heavy lifting!

Pulling away from the mainland and you can see the impressive limestone crags that are a draw for climbers from all over the world. The most famous climbing is to be had at the Railay district near to Krabi. 

A zoom in to our landing port on Ko Samui. The crossing took a couple of hours. My online booking included the airport to ferry transfer, the crossing itself and the onward transfer to the resort. I was pretty impressed by their efficiency considering the booking was made 3 months previously from the other side of the world. 

This is the the final link in the chain. As you can see it is a rather smart customised minibus into which half a dozen of us travelled to our homes for the next week. You will see our transport is right hand drive for the Thais,  like the Japanese drive on the left side. This is a hangover of British influence in the C19.

Others weren't so lucky and got what was somewhat reminiscent of an upmarket jeepney and nearly equally crowded. 

Welcome to the Escape Beach Resort on our first evening. Every resort likes to be able to boast a sunset beach and our private beach could certainly do this. I love the photograph. It looks like the guy on the beach has superpowers to explode mountains. It's all in the timing really. The beach had a small tidal range of about 3 metres but combine this with steeply inclined  sand so the water level never seemed to change much. Just behind the people you can see the end wall of our swimming pool. The wall is to stop seawater splashing in with a strong wind and particularly high tide. The side opposite us is "infinity" and seems to merge into the sea. 

Here is that infinity effect. The trees surrounding the pool are Indian Almonds. Whereas they provide excellent shade, they also have large nuts which randomly fall from the trees and crash to the ground, or your head if you are unlucky. As they are about half the size of a coconut, they could do some damage. 

Talking of coconuts, before tourism they were the mainstay of the island's economy. In celebration of this, the island has opened a coconut museum.  I have discussed single subject museums before. Loyal readers may recall the Reykjavik Penis museum or perhaps the Keswick Pencil museum and don't forget the Tokyo Pot Noodle museum. So I propose the elevate the Ko Samui Coconut museum to join my list of the world's most interesting (?) single subject museums. 

Every good tropical beach bungalow needs its Harry. Meet ours. 

Now for a little look at our accommodation. As well as Harry, we have a seating area with settee, table and outdoor lighting. 

A wee peek into the main room.  A large bed with seating area and table straight across. To the right is the, kitchen or rather the fridge and kettle. Beyond this is the toilet and shower room. To the left is a long desk with telly, which we never turned on. 

Our accommodation was very self-contained. It had a restaurant and a small shop. With the beach, pool and sunbeds, there was really no reason to leave the resort, except who wants to eat in the same restaurant for a week and the shop was small, poorly stocked and expensive. Moreover we wanted to see something of the island. Taxis seemed to operate a cartel and were very expensive so we decided to do what a lot of tourists do and hire a small motorbike. These come with lots of health warnings in the guide books. Although very cheap, they are not insured, most people don't bother with the crash helmets and the attrition rate through accidents is very high. The traffic is pretty horrendous and doesn't seem to abide by any of the rules of the road. Add to all that all these bikes buzzing around the place and you have the perfect storm for a disaster. It won't happen to us, of course. 

  

Here we are ready to go.Note helmets, on and secure. 

One of the places that we visited on the bike was the so called Fishermen's Village. Up until a few years ago this was a nice beach with a rather scruffy road down to it and another road running parallel to the shore. Now it's been gentrified, a number of smart bars  and restaurants opened and some upmarket fashion shops added to the usual tourist catchpennies. As you can see it markets itself quite well and is (supposedly) traffic free.

Whilst exploring inland I encountered this area. Bull fighting is still a spectator sport in Spain and we experienced cock fighting in the Philippines. I imagine the shortage of bears has put a stop to bear baiting but there's still plenty of pugnacious dogs for people to amuse themselves with. Buffalo fighting is new to me. Apparently the competition takes place twice a year in this particular stadium, but is advertised mainly by word of mouth. The main reason for the event is, of course, gambling and huge amounts of money can change hands. Gambling is illegal in Thailand (as is buffalo fighting). Serious injury rarely happens because the fight is over when one beast turns its back on the other. The cost to attend is £2.50, but women get in free. Is there some sort of double standard at work here?

One of the attractions of Ko Samui is that rain showers only tend to last an hour or so, even in the rainy season. When they come however, they come with a vengeance. This was the view across the bay. 

Remember that motorbike? Well this is the eponymous sting in the tail. On our last day we decided to go further into the centre of the island. There's a precipitous mountain which rises to 2,500 ft with a feature waterfall to visit. I drive us up the the concrete road through the tropical jungle. There is a deep storm drain either side of the 1 in 3 road which bends sharply to the left............need I go on?

Getting the bike off us was the first problem, then getting the bike out of the drain. The helmets certainly prevented serious head injuries. Our upper torsos had definitely sustained damage as had Helen's knee and right hand. Fortunately a local guy came up the road and offered to help. He adjusted and checked the bike, then tested it. The naughty bike appeared to be OK.  So, somewhat chastened and definitely very tentatively we drove back to the resort. It turned out that I had sustained three fractured ribs and Helen bruised hers along with the knee and hand problems. Bruised or broken, the pain is about the same. 

We endured the return journey to Bangkok and spent a day by the pool girding up our loins for the long flight home. Doing this and trying to handle the luggage proved very challenging and without the generous help of the Railway staff across London might well have been impossible. Lastly a mention of Catherine who met us at Spalding and saw us safely home. 

I always like to finish on a sunset, so here it is. 

Thailand Trail north to Chiang Mai

 To be quite honest, the journey from Phnom Penh to Chiang Mai via Bangkok was rather arduous. A case of over ambitious planning that didn't suit the pace we wanted to move at. When you are exploring a new country, the temptation is always to try and see more than the time really allows with the result that things get both frantic and fraught. We left Cambodia by taking a taxi to Phnom Penh Airport. Our flight was delayed by two hours. The result was we had nearly five hours wait before boarding and our flight didn't land in Bangkok until 22-30 and with the sky train and a taxi to come, it would be around midnight before we reached our hotel room. Not much time the reorganise our luggage and pack a larger case which we planned to check in, giving us an extra 20 kgs of luggage. We would have to set out at 9 am to get to Bangkok's other airport from whence we were to fly to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai is in the north west part of Thailand and is home to the Lanna people and their distinctive culture. The old city is moated and walled. It is confined to quite a small area although an urban sprawl has developed since 2002. In the C19 this was the domain of the Teak merchants and it was their profits which paid for the numerous Buddhist Wats which abound in the streets. Wat Phra Singh is the principal one, which certainly sucks the money in. 

and inside,

 

is what the fuss is all about. The gardens are also beautifully kept as is the attendant religious paraphernalia.

You might recognise this image. The reclining Buddha reaching a state of Nirvana. The last one was in Bangkok and at least 10x the size. 

The Wat was at the top of the walking street which is the main road of the old city. It is now filled with coffee shops, restaurants and plenty of market stalls/boutique shops. Virtually everybody is up for a bit of bargaining but unlike so many countries the vendors are not at all pushy. We both bought garments. Well, with nice linen shirts at less than a fiver, who can resist?

Not so many tuc-tucs here, instead we have the "red car". It's a straight 30 bahts each and you just tell the driver where you want to go to and provided he understands you, he takes you there. 

These guys are owner drivers, a bit like the old Maltese buses. Apart from the colour they are all different configurations within a theme. They are all noisy, smelly and pretty rough inside. 

For tomorrow we booked a river trip and planned to have a Thai massage in the early evening. We were quite a cosmopolitan crew. The local skipper on the rudder, a Thames Estuary man, two Canadians, Helen and me, sitting forward of us was two French men, a Russian woman and a Polish woman. The trip itself was quite weird, We journied for 45 minutes up stream, stopped off for half an hour at a so called farm, then returned to where we had started from. 

The buildings on the riverside ranged from the very modest, built on stilts to keep them out of the flood water,

to the positivity palacial. The one below was hosting a wedding ceremony that day. 

Our destination, the farm. Well it had some bones of animals, old farming implements, dried herbs and spices. They also gave us some herbal drinks and rather nice ice creams. As you can see it is a pretty place and all the stuffed snakes around the pond didn't put the little boy off his play. The river incidently is called the Ping.

The Thai massage was undoubtedly a great experience. We both had the full-body oil massage which lasted for at least an hour for about ten pounds each. A little like the Onsen in Japan it was a cultural as well as a physical experience. One to be remembered and repeated. After our massages we walked out trying to find somewhere nice to eat and have a drink. This place is called the Music Canteen. I put my head around the door to see if they sold food. The pair of us were virtually dragged through the door to come in and join them. It transpired that this was the opening night for the venue which was owned by the young lady who dragged us in. All the people in the venue were her friends and supporters. We were actually her first proper customers! She had run a bar in London before returning home to start this business. The music was loud and the service slow, but good luck to her and we hope she'll still be here in a year's time. 

We had decided to change hotels to be close to the airport that we were both flying into and out of next morning. However someone had still to travel into and out of Bangkok in order for us to refresh our suitcases. I undertook this somewhat daunting task. It involved getting a motorbike taxi to the station then five different trains with four changes and finally a walk to our previous hotel who were taking care of our left luggage. Then the same in reverse. Below, this is the train in the brand new Bang Sue Central Station. This was 11-30 pm and about the last train. The view down the platform to the end of the train. 

The view up the train to the front.

Finally the view inside the train. Nobody would believe that this is public transport in Bangkok albeit nearly midnight. I did get back to our hotel safely.