Days 13 to 14: Igoumenitsa to Vasiliki

Igoumenitsa to Vasiliki

After a fairly ordinary night's sleep onboard the ferry, and regretting either (i) not booking sleeper cabin earlier, or (ii) not forking out for the 'aircraft seats' which we didn't use, we were woken by the speaker system announcing in multiple languages that we would be arriving in Igoumenitsa shortly. 

Devoid of the energy the we had when departing, we didn't bother with heading to the open deck to view our progress into the harbour, preferring to try and catch a few more minutes sleep. Woken again by the public announcer, it was time for vehicle drivers to head down to the vehicles in preparation for off boarding. This time, Gerle snuck past and we both headed to the vehicle, which due to the extra height of the roof top tent and tyre atop it was parked rather conveniently for exit on one of the higher car decks. 

Within about 15 minutes, we were off the ship, and headed toward Vasiliki, a small village at the southern tip of the island of Lefkada. It is an island, but joined to the Greek mainland via a short bridge that opens for nautical traffic. 

With the GPS programmed, we were off. Researching the journey previously on Google Earth, I wanted to get off the Autostrada once we were about half way there, so that we could follow more closely to the coast and amongst the Greek countryside. This I enjoyed, as a good way to remain awake while Gerle as counting sheep in the front passenger seat. 

The Autostrada wound up and down over some quite mountainous terrain, and passed through several long tunnels. The scenery was stunning in the early dawn light, with the golden rays casting a full palette of colours across the valleys and mountainsides. 

It seemed strange that a country in such financial crisis wasn't really seeming to make much of an effort in generation revenue; though much of the Autostrada was completed, items that weren't included most of the toll collection booths, and that where tolls were being collected they seemed far too small in comparison to those experienced in Italy. 

The roads were also noticeably absent of traffic, even for the early morning, and this was also the case in future travel in Greece. Truck traffic was the main contingent on the road, with many trucks en route from western and central Europe south or east through to Turkey. Without a vignette system like other European states, and with minimal road tolls payable, I hope that there is some revenue collection from these transit users. 

Once about an hour south of Igoumenitsa I reprogrammed the GPS to avoid toll roads, which soon guided us off the Autostrada and west toward the coast. For the next two hours travelling on secondary roads we descended from the mountains, passed through hilly farmland before the road opened onto the bluest of blue seas. The road then hugged the coastline, winding in and out of the cliff top points and hollows along the coast. We slowed noticeably, and the next 50 kilometres took over an hour to complete. 

Tiring, we decided to take a break from driving and have breakfast somewhere prior to arrival. We passed through a few small villages, but then Gerle fell back to sleep. Stubborn as  I am, I continued to drive figuring that it was only another 50 km of so until Lefkada by the road signs. There was still another 30 km or so beyond that to Vasiliki, but the idea of making it to Lefkada for breakfast took hold. Approaching the bridge to the island, Gerle woke up with the change in driving style. The first town across the bridge was quite busy, so we pushed on again looking for something a little quieter where finding a park and a table would not be a challenge. 

After passing through another couple of small villages without luck in spotting anything that looked decent, we were lucky to come across the 'Panoramic Cafe'. Panoramic was an understatement. Stopping, we wandered in to the empty restaurant / cafe, worried that breakfast might not be on offer. We needn't have worried, as soon as we were announced, the staff sprung into action. Five minutes later we had cafe freddos and omelettes in front of us, and were connected to the free and surprisingly fast Wi-Fi. 

Given that it was still quite early, about 11am, and that there was only about another 30 minutes of driving to do, we figured that we'd sit and make use of the free Wi-Fi for a while enjoying the warm weather, cool shade and fresh breeze over a few OJ's so that we could arrive to check-in to the guesthouse in Vasiliki at a more appropriate time. About two hours later, we were done, and back on the road again.

The panoramic view over which we had a late breakfast.

Me, tired but happy to be where we were!

Gerle, bright and cheerful in comparison, having slept in the car for the previous 3 hours!

Arriving into Vasiliki we weren't exactly 100% sure where the guesthouse was. We had a rough idea, but failed to see any signage on approaches from both directions the first time. A bit of lapping about town, and we were about to park up and then search on foot when we spotted a small sign leading us to where we needed to be. For those interested, the place that we stayed was called Villa Angela. 

The owner wasn't present, but her father checked us in and in a couple of minutes we had our luggage in the room and were gladly freshening up with a cold shower and change of clothes. Given the poor sleep the night previous, we then relaxed in the room and had a nap, before emerging around 5pm to head down to the beach for a swim.

Town beach was a mixture of sand and pebbles, but the water was clear and the sea was extremely calm. Gerle resumed her swimming lessons, and almost mastered the art of floating. Salt water was and is still not agreeing with her, so after a short while she was sitting on the beach whilst I continued to fool about in the water. Beautifully warm, cleansing saltiness and a very gently dipping beach encouraged me to do some real swimming rather than just paddling about as one usually does at the beach. After a few hundred metres back and forth, I'd done some exercise for the day and felt immensely refreshed. 

Returning briefly to the quest house, we showed and got ready for dinner. Heading toward the harbour, we browsed through some of the local shops, and spoke to some tour companies about what options existed tomorrow to see some of the islands an beaches. After weighing up our options, we decided to stay an extra day than planned on Lefkada and take two boat cruises the next and following days. The first was a shorter one, to some isolated beaches, and the second which departed from Nydri, not Vasiliki, was longer taking in some of the more famous islands such as Scorpios and Meganisi of Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis fame.

With our plans made, we then walked down to the harbour to find somewhere to eat. Walking both directions along the promenade, one restaurant stood out from the crowd in terms of value. All options were (over)priced similarly, collusion perhaps, but this one was situated at the far end of the harbour with uninterrupted views into the Ionian Sea. The view and starters were magnificent, but the mains left a little to be desired.... frozen vegetables in such a place, with a bounty of fresh harvest all around, was a bit disappointing. Anyway, I guess we paid for the view and not the feed.

Still tired from the previous night, we retired after our carafe of wine back to the guesthouse where we were quickly asleep, excited about getting out on the water the next day.

On the promenade at Vasiliki harbour looking for somewhere to have dinner.

Port side restaurant that we settled on.

Some days are hard to take...

The sun sank down and the moon rose up whilst we ate.

Boating and beaching

Sleeping in the next day, we again walked down to the harbour. Stopping to get a few essentials for the beach, including food, drinks, sunscreen and umbrellas from a local tourist shop, we then continued down to where the restaurants were the previous night to spot the boat we were to board, and also to find somewhere for breakfast. 

Sitting down in the first cafe, it became apparent that there was not a lot of choice for food, but rather only drinks. Hungry, we ordered 'toast' from the menu and were a little surprised when only two slices of chocolate cake came out. Eating this, we moved on, not realising that what we had ordered was still to come. After having eggs on toast at another nearby cafe, we returned to board our boat that was adjacent to the first place we tried to eat, only to be bailed up by the staff who wanted to know if we still wanted what we ordered.... turns out that 'toast' was 'toasted sandwiches', and that they were delicious. 

The boat was not overly big, but luckily it only seemed about half full with passengers. It departed at the scheduled time, and for the next hour we moved swiftly out of the harbour, around the south western tip of Lefkada and along the coast toward our beach destination. It all started as fun and games for Gerle, but the last 30 minutes were not quite so pleasant battling some sea sickness... a little surprising given how flat the water was. 

Heading out of the harbour into the Ionian Sea

Another Titanic moment!

Rounding the southern tip of the island of Lefkada

A Superfast ferry, similar to that which we travelled on,  in the distance.

On approach to the beach.

Arriving at the beach, the boat nudged onto the sand and we disembarked, again onto a pebbly rather than sandy beach. Again, it looked so good from afar, but on arrival proved a little uncomfortable to walk on. Perhaps now I realise why the beaches in Europe have private areas where you pay to sit on sun lounges, which we now chose to do. The water here was even better than the town beach, an even brighter blue and with incredibly clarity. One of the boat hands who I spoke to was actually bemoaning the lack of visibility in the water for the sake of his spear fishing, but I figured it wasn't too bad when I could clearly define the sea grasses and fish 15 to 20 metres below the boat!

For the next few hours, we both alternated between sitting on the sun lounges in the shade of the large umbrellas overhead and cooling down in the water. The beach dipped away a little more sharply than the other places that we had visited, and with waves breaking right on the beach, Gerle was a little uncomfortable going more than knee deep in the water. Though I swam out about the boat, which had gone out after dropping its passengers off, she was content sitting and laying on the pebbles where the white water would rush up to cool her down.

Our boat from the beach.

Loving the clean, salty water. 

A little cautious with waves breaking on the shore.

After about three hours spent between sand and sea, picking over fresh fruits for lunch in-between, we boarded the boat again and set off for another beach contained within a well sheltered cove. Gerle was excited at the prospect of a calmer beach, so it was disappointing to find that this beach was too crowded with other tour operators for our boat to come ashore. 

Instead, the anchor was dropped a little way out into the ocean, and people were able to swim about the boat. We toyed with the idea of Gerle using a life saving ring for flotation, but she wasn't too keen on the idea (and who would be when you're in water deeper than you can stand in, and can't swim). The crew were kind and encouraging, but a deep rooted fear is hard to overcome. Clinging to the boarding ladder, she was able to get wet and cool off whilst I had a swim with the other passengers.

Later in the afternoon, swimming about the boat anchored in a small cove.

About an hour later, we were headed for home. The seas had come up a bit (all of 1 to 1.5m swell), and a few passengers were getting a bit seasick. Gerle powered through and I wasn't affected. After about an hour motoring, we we safely back in Vasiliki harbour.

The cliffs surrounding much of the island of Lefkada on the way back to Vasiliki.

Heading into the harbour, the morning mist having lifted.

We quickly walked home to wash of the remains of copious amounts of sunscreen applied throughout the day, and freshen up for dinner. On the way back into town we stopped for a cocktail where we saw free Wi-Fi being advertised. Surprisingly good drinks, and decent internet held our attention for about an hour before we set off again hungry for dinner.

Some cocktails on the way back into town after having showered and changed.

Again, we paraded through the various offerings by the dozen or so harbour side restaurants plying for business. The front of house staff were quite entertaining hawking for business, and after being amused more than once by the same guy in front of the restaurant run by the same company as our day's tour operator, and a tour of the kitchen to see the freshness of the seafood, we sat down looking forward to a traditional meal, prepared in the local Greek fashion. 

We weren't disappointed at all, with the meal far surpassing that of the night before in terms of quality. Sharing a large red snapper, grilled whole to perfection and then expertly deboned, it was accompanied by a hot, fresh, green, leafy vegetable similar to silver beet or spinach, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice. Fresh and tasty!

Fish and greens, Greek style. Me, a little red from the sun.

The venue was harbour side again.

Thoroughly satisfied with the days activity, tummies full and a little tipsy from the wine amidst the affects of a full day in the sun, we returned to the guesthouse ready to depart early the next day to go on another sailing adventure from the harbour of Nydri.