scubatimo.be - Travels - Greece Athens, Epidaurus, Lesvos

Greece: Athens, Epidaurus, Lesvos

Thursday June 18, 2009: Departure

We get up as if it was a normal working day. Timo already drives to Zaventem to drop off Linda and Patrik. We will see them in Epidaurus on Sunday, really easy, isn’t it? The most difficult part we had already done yesterday: deliver Cartouche to the dogs hotel Amandus. Nobody of the family is staying at home, so we had no other possibility. We prepare everything: hand luggage, backpack and the suitcase. For the most part this was already done by Eef on Tuesday. Just before noon we have a sandwich and at 11:30 Maurits and Betty are already at our doorstep. The appointment was at 12, but they really wanted to go away. We drive to the airport wit Bart’s car, park it and tonight he will pick it up and go home by car. That was arranged quite well. We see Peter and Chris and then we go to the check-in: Eef, Timo, Maurits, Betty and Peter.

At the check-in everything goes smooth, we’re not sitting together, but close to each other. Passing by our traditional bar, we go to gate 72. We drink a Leffe Blond and then move on. Gate 72 is the last one and that means it takes some time before we get there. When we arrive boarding has already started, so we don’t have to wait long. Until now everything is OK, until they announce that there are two passengers missing. All luggage needs to be removed from the airplane and that takes about half an hour, but after this small delay we can take off. The flight itself is very nice and three hours after departure we arrive in Athens. Our luggage is there quickly and we can take the subway to Athens city. We need to take the blue line to station Neratziotissa and there we need to change to Monastiraki. It is really an adventure with our entire luggage on the subway, while constantly people are getting on and off and especially with the Greeks who come in between. After an hour we arrive at Monastiraki, buy a bottle of water because we did not drink enough today and Timo guides everyone to the street Athinas; that’s where we need to go. In the middle of the square of Monastiraki we already have our first view on the Acropolis, beautifully illuminated in the Greek night and walk on to the hotel.

We check in at the hotel and divide the rooms: two diklino and one monoklino. It is a typical city hotel: one door with the stairs and on the first floor a small reception. Eef and Timo arrange everything quickly; we put the luggage in our rooms and then walk to Thissio to have something to eat. On the corner in our pita bar we have patates, choriatiki, pork pita and chicken pita. We have this with some beers and retsina. We look at the temple of Hephaestus and the Acropolis and everyone gets quiet. We follow the rails of the subway from Thissio to Monastiraki and walk back that way to the hotel. It is already 01:00 local time and we go to be, because it was a tiring day, as always the days we travel.

Friday June 19, 2009: First day exploration of Athens and lots of monuments

We all get up at around seven and prepare to explore Athens today. Peter has room number 35, Maurits and Betty have 33 and Eef and Timo have room 32. We sleep all on the third floor, rooms all next to each other. We could tell we were on the third floor yesterday. We meet in the hallway at 08:00 and everyone is on time, we take our stuff and go to have breakfast in Plaka. We have eggs and an omelet and Eef has normal continental breakfast. We enjoy it, nice to eat in open air in the morning, in the Greek morning sun. Betty even feeds a small sparrow and she is scared of every creature that has a beak. After breakfast we walk the street Adrianou in the direction of Hadrian’s gate and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Via the tourist part of Plaka we arrive at the gate, take a few beautiful pictures of the arch and the temple. We decide to buy a combi-ticket to visit different things. For five monuments and the Acropolis it only costs 12 Euro; you can’t miss anything for that price.

Eef and Timo will share some of the things, because they already saw everything. First on the list is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It really is overwhelming, the architecture is and also the temperature. We have about 35° Celsius and the columns are a couple of ten meters high. Completely the area is ruled by the columns, one is broken into pieces on the ground and about 8 or 9 are still standing up. We walk here about half an hour, watch the stones and are deeply impressed by the grandness of Ancient Greece. Eef was waiting outside at the entrance and we meet again there. We walk by the foot of the Acropolis and the theatre up to the entrance. Here we seek a little higher place to have a good view over the city. Betty stays down, but the other go up and see Athens and even the harbor of Piraeus.

We walk down from the Acropolis direction Thissio and visit the ancient Greek agora. Timo just walks around from the outside, because he has no ticket and he does not want to pay 4 Euro, just for this. From this point Eef takes over the task as leader and writer over. We visit the Byzantine church, Maurits takes pictures and pictures and pictures… beautiful wall paintings here, but from the Roman era, restored by the Americans in 1956. Then we walk through the agora and enjoy the beauty of it all. We walk over the Holy Street and from time to time stand still with the great remains of this architecture. We arrive at the Temple of Hephaestus, this is a great monument, beautiful and huge: Eef can’t even get the temple completely on her camera. Luckily Maurits has his super luxurious brand new camera with him. Thanks daddy. It really is getting very hot and Timo is all by himself so we check some other things out and look for the exit. He drank half a liter Mythos in the sun, because if it’s hot, you need to drink a lot. We also drink Mythos on the terrace at Thissio, because everyone is thirsty. Then we take the subway to Piraeus, because they want to see the nice and sweet harbor of Athens. They’ll be surprised.

After fifteen minutes we arrive at Piraeus metro station and we cross the bridge to the harbor itself and there we see the ships arrive and leave again. Actually these are all mega-ferries of over 100 meters long and there are plenty of them. Betty is really impressed by the size of the ferries and the harbor, but also Maurits is. Peter had already been here, so he was less surprised. We go to Filoksenia and grab something small to eat: patates, three small souvlaki, gemista. We order a bit of everything and drink Mythos with it. We enjoy it all the way. It is getting hot I Piraeus; the thermometer indicates 35 degrees, really great. After a bit over an hour we take the subway back to Monastiraki. After the ancient Greek agora this morning we also want to visit the Roman Agora. There are many columns here and also the large entrance gate is still upright. All the way at the end there is a windmill with some beautiful pieces of sculpture. On the sites there is always someone supervising, so nobody touches what he should not touch or stands on something he should not be standing on. On the left hand side there is an old bath and at the end of our agora-visit we’ve seen plenty of ancient rocks today.

After the Roman agora our last cultural stop for the day is the Hadrian’ Library. The most important monument still facing the sun is the wall of the library itself; the books are no longer here J. This time Maurits did not join us; he is looking for a small mini-T-shirt of Hellas for Patrik’s car. After this last visit we drink something in Plaka and return to the hotel at about 19:00. We take a shower; rinse the heat of the city of our bodies and the dirt of the roads and excavations. At 20:30 we have dinner close to our hotel. From the terrace on the street of estiatorio Odos Aischulou we can still see our hotel. We order a little bit of every dish: patates, beyti kebab, soutzoukakia, yogurtli kebab politico. Everything is very good, really very good. Especially the yogurtli is special, a recommendation of the Greek girl behind us; we drink krasi and enjoy the evening. It’s getting dark and we surely need to take some pictures from the Acropolis by night.

The view of the Acropolis by night is really spectacular; this really is something a man needs to see in his life. We have another drink on a terrace in Thissio and just before midnight we go home. We fall asleep immediately, because it was a long day with many kilometers and some alcohol tonight. In addition we need to get up early tomorrow to visit the Acropolis.

Saturday June 20, 2009: Acropolis and stroll through the city

We get up early, so early at 07:00, because we want to climb the Acropolis early in the day so it’s not yet too busy. If we get up early enough, we will be up there before the big groups and the buses. Getting up is not easy, because we drank a bit too much yesterday, but well, you need to make sacrifices. Eef stays in bed and we will meet at Thissio at about 10:00. That will be OK. On the Odos Athinas we buy three croissants and three bottles of water; even this early in the day it will get hot there. Via Monastiraki Odos Ereos we calmly climb up and are at the entrance at 07:50. Perfect timing, because there are only three people in front of us. At 08:00 the gates open and we can enter. The three people in front of us don’t have a ticket yet, so they need to buy one before entering. This means that Timo actually is the first person to enter the Acropolis this morning. We need to take advantage of this, because we won’t get another chance like this. Maurits and Timo rush up and can take some pictures without people; this is really magical, unbelievable. When we walk up to the Propylaea we even see the guards come down from their shift. The Erechteion is really beautiful without the herds of tourist; the Parthenon is great without plenty of people in front or next to it, even on the small watchtower there is nobody. Everyone agrees it was a great idea to come this early. We do the tour and enjoy the beautiful statues of the Caryatids, the sculptures on the frieze of the Parthenon and of course the view over the city of Athens. We see mount Likavitos right in front of us, the Hadrian’ gate and the Temple of Olympian Zeus at the right side. On the left side we see the agora and the temple of Hephaestus and behind us is the harbor of Piraeus with the huge ferries, we have a beautiful view over the city of Athens between the hills.

Today we are unlucky, because the museum is not open. Another bigger museum is being opened this weekend and therefore this one is closed. We can’t enter and go down after we’ve been on the mountaintop for over an hour. We walk the same way down and have a drink in Thissio: frappe and Pé already has a beer. At a little past ten Eef comes along and we have another drink. We decide to go on the search for the little T-shirt for Patrik and we find it in Odos Adrianou. We walk a bit further, so we are already aware where the office of Hertz is to collect the car tomorrow. Maurits and Timo do this, while Betty and Eef drink something and Pé is resting in the sun at Thissio. We find it rather quickly and have another drink and then go to Thissio. Eef and Maurits go to visit Kerameikos, Betty and Peter have lunch on the terrace on Thissio and Timo wants to go and lie down in the park in the shadow with the rest of the bums. Eef and Maurits quickly find the entrance of the cemetery Kerameikos; it is not that hard you only need to follow Ermou Street. It is unbelievably hot, good to load the batteries to take back home. At the entrance we give the ticket and then drink a cup of hot sipwell water and then we enter the grounds. We leave the museum for the time being; first we want to see the graves or what’s left of it. Apparently some were very rich, because they have mega-statues on their graves, others have more modest tombs. We check things out here, try to imagine how it had looked in the past and also have a beautiful view on the Acropolis, really cool. During our tour we say hi to a turtle looking for shelter in a small creek. Before we return to the others we enter the museum; here are mostly the real statues (on the cemetery itself these are replica’s), for example a colossus of a bull and Maurits was not allowed to pose next to it. Of course, we managed to take pictures without the flash, so they had to make something else up to prohibit taking pictures.

After about an hour everyone is back on the terrace in Thissio, Maurits and Eef and Timo. Betty and Peter had not left the table and grabbed a bite and performed some very philosophical conversations. Everyone has a drink and then we walk to Monastiraki and then on to the small church to Syndagma Square to see the Changing of the Guards. That happens every day at 15:00 and until now we had not witnessed this yet. In the heat it is not really nice to walk the overcrowded streets. Between Monastiraki and Syndagma it’s the busiest, lots of shopping and it really is unbelievable with that many people in temperatures of 35 degrees and higher. We reach the square at 14:50 and are just on time to see the Changing. In the sea of men and pigeon we see from the side three soldiers in full uniform and approach the square and the two guardhouses. Two men were already standing guard in this heat and they are now replaced by the other two. One guard without traditional uniform is making sure everything is being orchestrated, as it should be. The two being replaced are really happy and we’re too: now we can have a drink at Monastiraki and go to the hotel. Everyone is tired because we got up early and is getting even more tired after some beers and retsina. When we are drinking an old lady comes to sell rigani (oregano) and we can’t resist of buying some. She was part of the singers accompanying Sfakianakis and now needs to sell herbs for a living.

We rest for about an hour, take a shower and then at about 19:00 we go to the same restaurant as yesterday. We already orders something to drink, Timo takes a cola and then some wine, because we’re not here to live on a diet of coke and water, huh? Peter comes a bit later, because he had to call Chris and then also came down. In the meantime we already started the choriatiki and the tzatziki, very nice with some wine and bread, really tasty. When Peter arrives we order the rest: beyti Kebab, soutzoukakia, and some spicy sausages. On the plate there are seeds of the peppers and a rusty-colored sauce, which makes the dish very, very spicy, but Peter can handle this and also Eef and Timo, but it is very hot. Maurits does not take the chance and Betty is not thinking about it at all. After the meal we receive a dessert on the house: marinated apple, nut cake and something white we don’t know what it is. We like it a lot.

We ask the bill and pay only 80 Euro for all we drank and ate. That is very cheap and it was very good too. Yesterday we only paid 50 Euro, but now we think they must have been wrong yesterday and forgot something on the bill. We all walk down to Plakafé and drink half a liter of beer and frappe (Timo). We look at people and already know we had a good start of our vacation. Tomorrow we will move to Epidauros and we’ll see Linda and Patrik and we’ll be able to relax after the rush in Athens. At 23:00 Betty and Maurits say goodbye and round midnight also Eef, Timo and Peter go home. Our last night in Athens and that will be a bad night for Eef and Timo, because they have a room on the side of the road. On our way home we notice we are close to the red light district, because some black hookers are stopping cars and run over the street almost with their asses (with white string) uncovered. Eef is able to fall asleep immediately and Timo by around 01:00. At 05:00 there is a small riot and they’re awake…

Sunday June 21, 2009: Transfer to Epidaurus

It is an early morning and the red light district has caused us a bad night. We’ll need to fix this with a siesta later today. Eef and Timo are at 08:30 walking to Hertz rent-a-car, because they need to be there at 09:00 to collect the Fiat Scudo, in theory for 7 people, but in reality only for 5 and their luggage. We can arrange everything quickly immediately reverse on a very busy road and drive off, we can’t find this on the map anymore, so we turn and drive back to the rent-a-car. Via Plateia Syndagma and Omonia and via some detours we reach Evripidou Street, the street of the hotel. Just around the corner everyone is waiting and we park the car on the wrong side of the road. We quickly load the luggage, so we can go immediately. Eef guides Timo without a lot of problems out of the city. We do have the advantage that it is Sunday morning, because on a normal working day it would be a tough job, now it is only a little soup. We drive on the big avenues direction away from the centre and Korinthos. On Plateia Omonia we already could follow this direction, so we knew immediately we were correct.

A short, small queue for the tollhouses, for our car it is 2.80 Euro, so it’s not that much and not like France where you pay unreasonably amounts to use the highways. After an hour with the mega-Fiat we take the exit Loutraki. You need to take this exit to see the Corinth Canal. When you mist his exit you’re directly on the way to Epidaurus and you need to turn. We have no problem finding the canal and it’s a beautiful view: a canal of a bit over 20 meters wide and almost 80 meters deep, this is really something. We don’t have the luck to see a mega-ferry passing by, only some smaller pleasure boats. We cross the bridge to the other side, see seagulls skim over the water and that is a special sight, because that’s 80 meters lower. The view is really overwhelming and we think it must have been tough to construct this without cranes and the tool we currently have. Two Hungarian architects have drawn and coordinated this.

We walk at both sides of the bridge, so we see both side of the canal. A kestrel is cleverly using the thermals and hovers over the canal. After we checked everything out we take the road to Epidaurus, from this point we’re only 60 kilometer away from our destination. In front of us we have a black truck and a pickup delivering fruits and vegetables, so it can take a while at this speed. We drive high up to the mountains; see a part of pine forest that was burnt a while ago, spooky. Timo has a firm grip of the wheel and he has no trouble driving here; it looks like he’s home here. After an hour we arrive at the exit sign for Archaia Epidaurus and we take this exit down to sea level. In the village we quickly see Hotel Maik and we park the car on the small peer. It is a beautiful village and has a beautiful harbor and lovely hotels. We immediately see Epidive Center and want first something to eat and drink before we check in. We have a few small things; small Greek fishes, chtapodi psito, Greek salad, have some bread and drink retsina, frappe and Mythos.

We arrived here around lunchtime and Timo already sent a message to Linda we arrived. An hour later Linda and Patrik arrive too and join the lunch. Timo and Patrik already receive a beer for free. We check in and already bring the luggage upstairs to three of our rooms. Eef and Timo have sea view in the front, Betty and Maurits on the front and the side and Peter only has view on the sea at the side. It is really unbelievable. We drink something on the terrace, Eef, Timo and Peter go snorkeling, Betty and Maurits take a stroll in the village and Linda and Patrik have a siesta. First we snorkel in the harbor and then go to a small beach behind the church. Close to the hotel a bit elevated there is a church; we move the car there, because we think it will be safer. The snorkeling is very nice, not really that much to see, typical Greek stuff, but it serves especially to rinse the fatigue and dust of Athens from our bodies. Afterwards we have a shower, drink an aperitif and at about even we’re back on the terrace of Hotel Mike. We wait for Patrik and Linda to arrive and then order food: choriatiki, tiri saganaki, meatballs with tomato-sauce, bream-filet with a bottle of retsina and we enjoy it a lot.

At about midnight Eef and Timo have had enough, especially enough retsina and go to bed. We already like Epidaurus a lot, very nice after the business and heat in Athens, but we had a long day after a bad night and we go to bed. Epidaurus rules!

Monday June 22, 2009: Epidaurus

We get up at six, at least that’s when Timo is awake, he writes the reports and the others are not alive yet. Eef sleeps a bit longer. At about eight everyone goes down and we have breakfast with a view on the harbor almost with our feet in the sea; there are worse places to be at this point. We receive a typical Greek breakfast: coffee, bread, marmalade and a croissant with chocolate in it. Everyone likes it and enjoys it. There is a lot of wind today, so we won’t be able to go snorkeling today. We will try though. We arrange we can go diving tomorrow at 09:30 and at 15:00, also Betty, Maurits and Peter will join us for snorkeling and they can enjoy the boat ride and want to see how a diving trip is done, the gear will be arranged tomorrow.

After breakfast we walk with our snorkeling gear to the small ancient theatre and that way further to the sunken city. Eef and Timo really want to see this. We walk past the harbor and ask the directions to an old Greek man, not really far: at the megalo dendro (large tree) we need to turn right, then up, one time left and you’re there. The theatre is in renovation stage, is already years like this, so it does not really look good. The location is very nice though between orange and olive trees. We walk there via a small path that winds through the orchard. On the site ten Greeks are working and according to Linda already 10 years, typical. The theatre is not that big, about 20 steps, not more than that, but it would be very nice, when all the platforms and building stuff would not be here. It takes ages for restoration.

Timo thinks we will be able to pass further to the bay of the sunken city, but it gets pretty hard. We pass along some private grounds, need to walk through the sea, because the path is gone and then arrive via a detour at the beach of the sunken city. Timo called his mama to ask for details where it was and eventually Eef and Timo get there. Peter already stopped at a terrace and Maurits and Betty did not want to do all the difficult walking, so we moved on alone. We find the tavern Linda was talking about on the phone, sit down, drink cola and water and then suddenly Linda and Patrik arrive with their mega-Nissan-Micra. We had sent a message and they came here. Eef and Timo now can go snorkeling and watch the sunken city through their mask. Eef has the camera with her and can make some beautiful pictures, of the sunken city and of the fish and anemones here. We swim between the ancient walls of the city see a round hole, probably a well and a square room. There is not much to see: it is small and really a bit exaggerated by the Greeks. We notice there is a lot of wind today and we see that very well when snorkeling: we don’t stay too long, because we float away and it gets chilly. Back at the tavern we drink some water and then Linda and Patrik bring us back to town, a ten-minute drive, so it was good we did not have to walk. On the terrace of hotel Mike, Peter, Betty and Maurits ordered some food and we do too: spaghetti and calamari and fried peppers, very good and not too heavy.

In the afternoon the wind is still strong and we even ask ourselves if the diving boat even would sail and yes, no problem with that. At 15:15 the Sofia Loren of Epidive leaves with 5 persons. Eef, Betty, Maurits and Peter go into town to have a drink. Timo stays in his room and on the balcony and does nothing. He does not want to take any chance and drink too much today, so he won’t have any trouble tomorrow for diving. An hour and a half he does it siga siga and then walks through the village. There is not much to see and he returns in the direction of the harbor. Suddenly he hears his name and here they are; a few beers in front of them and they just wanted to pay. So Timo walks back with them, buys cola and sprite, because he’s thirsty from the walk through the village. He left at the church, walked behind it and then via the main road for half an hour and then back half and hour to the beach and it was still very hot. We drink an aperitif on our balcony and Maurits checks out the pictures of the past days. We decided to eat something at Perivoli, on the corner of the main road to the harbor. It is a garden in an orchard of orange trees and it really looks cozy. Timo sends a text to Linda and Patrik that were here and they arrive half an hour later.

We order retsina, chima, choriatiki, pajdakia, ksifias, kounelli, fileto with mushroom sauce, domadokeftedes, kolkitokeftedes, dolmades, patates, the rose sauce of which I now lost the name (taramasalata it is) and we drink very well. Eef, Timo and Linda (she’s driving) more water than wine, Maurits closes the night with a Metaxa of seven stars and we have fun, very much fun. The whole table is full, we have eaten very well at the end of the night and we enjoyed it. Maurits gets a bit emotional, because he’s happy that Eef and Timo have met. Also Peter is emotional, because he has that good friends. At the end of the night Maurits pays everything, against the will of Eef and Timo, because they would pay for the celebration of their ten years. That will then be for tomorrow. Slowly we walk back to Mike. Eef and Timo go to bed to have enough sleep for diving tomorrow. Betty, Maurits and Peter drink something on their balcony, they don’t have to watch out for diving tomorrow. Sleep tight.

Tuesday June 23, 2009: Two dives

Timo wakes up at 06:00 and sits on the balcony to complete some of the travel reports and at about seven the others are waking up too. We see each other downstairs on the terrace of Hotel Mike for breakfast, the same as the day before. It’s not a lot, but we like it and enjoy it, also the location and the sun. It is already hot, because Timo was in sweat in the morning sun. We walk to Pascal to arrange all paperwork and try on the suits and the vests. All the equipment is well maintained and looks very nice, no comment on that. When we tried it on, we get a briefing with all details of the dive. We need to sail 20 minutes and then we will anchor and then we enter the water, dive along a wall to the depths we want for ourselves till we reach 100 bar and then we return shallower to the boat. Everything is OK at a bit past nine. We take our stuff to the boat and the tanks and we can leave on time.

So we go. Maurits, Betty and Peter also come with us on the boat, because we’re the only two divers and there still is some room for them, no problem. We sail out of the harbor to the left side, but only a few kilometers: it indeed takes 20 minutes to reach the dive site. There is almost no wind, so everything will be OK. We prepare ourselves and have some time to chat and then enter the water. Never forget buddy check and then first Eef, then Timo, both with a back roll and then Pascal, who comes into the water with a jump. We immediately go to a depth of 10, 12 meter and see the wall then. We follow it on our left hand side and arrive at a depth of 35 meters. There are some rocks you can dive underneath. Along the side there are still many nets, lost by fishermen and it’s really a special sight. We see a lot of sponges, soft, black ones under water and also yellow ones that form branches. Normally we should also spot moray eels and octopuses, but we’re not lucky at this moment. Hundreds of damselfish accompany us under water, many painted combers and rainbow wrasses, really very beautiful. At 100 bar and 25 minutes we turn back and go swim a little bit shallower to go back to the boat. Here we see the sun again and the visibility is better.

We love the next half hour diving and then we spot a special species: the planehead filefish, the first time ever we see this. Also beautiful are the white and brown ‘nudibranches’ that are attached to the rocks. These are very frequent here and we’ve never seen them before. We need to lookup what species this is: the leopard sea slug. Pascal picks up some rocks from time to time to see what is under them and that way we see a brittle star and he puts it on Eef’s hand. Then we reach 50 bar and need to go up. Peter is swimming and he’s surprised when we put our head above the water. He first climbs on board; we give the camera and fins and then also climb on board. A few moments it is chilly, but we quickly dry in the sun and it’s warm again. We don’t need to complain about the temperatures, because it has been very good all the way. After 20 minutes we arrive back in the harbor and eat something small: choriatiki, spaghetti, patates, moussakas with a bit retsina, water and Mythos. We rest and hour and at 15:00 it’s time for the second dive.

There are already five divers present; they need to come off from the boat again, because first we have briefing. The diving site is on the head of the small peninsula where the small theatre is located, but the dive site has no name yet. Nobody has ever been diving here, because it is very close to a protected site, protected for the sunken city. We leave the harbor with a lot of wind and we arrive in less than 10 minutes. The wind blows strong and everyone has some trouble. Timo’s tank is not OK, is leaking. The third time he’s assembling his gear it works without leaking. Was this some dive stress? Once we’re under for 3 or 4 meter we no longer feel the waves and we can start the dive. This wall is not so deep, maximum 32 meters, we see a lot of fire worms, one moray and an antique vase: or have they placed it here? A couple of large worms. Again we dive to 100 bar and then return to the boat, a bit shallower and we see many damselfish and wrasses. Also cages from fishermen are left here with iron wires. We need to watch out for this. At the end of the dive we again see a filefish. After almost 50 minutes we come to the surface again. One diver did not join us, two others had problems and had to come back up after 20 minutes; a problem with the regulators. The British lady also had problems and Timo had a bleeding finger. A lot of things went wrong this dive, it’s a nice spot, but it would have been more beautiful in better circumstances.

We take a shower and get ready to go to the hotel of Linda and Patrik. Betty, Maurits and Peter re already there, Patrik picked them up from Epidaurus centre. We drive there although we did not really know exactly where the hotel was. We find Hotel Aristoteles rather quickly, drink two Alfa and stay here for an hour. Lots of swallows are flying here over the pool and we amuse ourselves. We see the islands of Angistri and Aegina here very nice. We drive with the van back to the hotel, everyone gets ready and we see each other at the restaurant and we arrive there all almost at the same time. Today we all have fresh fish: three melanouri, one lavraki (sea bream) and one scorpion fish. Patrik takes an octopus in tomato sauce, we all have choriatiki, tzatziki and we like it. For drinks we now take white and rose wine. Timo pays the bill and the total is 150 Euro, not even that much for seven people with fresh fish and plenty of wine. At midnight we return to our rooms, drink Mythos and then go to bed. We are really tired, because two dives in a day is really exhausting. Sleep tight fish and vases of Epidaurus.

Wednesday June 24, 2009: Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus and the village of Galatas

We sleep until seven thirty, the previous days Timo was already awake at six in the morning, but not today, he sleeps all the way until the bell of the church wake him up. We get up, have breakfast and already enjoy every minute we’re here. Every day we have fruit juice, a chocolate croissant and bread with marmalade and honey. We always have coffee or tea, but we don’t eat a lot. We will drive to New Epidaurus today and check visit The Ancient Theatre and all the excavations around it. We leave from the hotel at 09:30, Timo finds his way without any problem and we arrive there in about 30 minutes. There is a mega-parking, but luckily it’s not full at all. Some buses stand here waiting for returning tourists, but that does not cause a lot of annoyance. We pay 6 Euro entrance and walk towards the ancient theatre and we’re really impressed when we climb the stairs and see the steps of the theatre. Timo immediately walks up the steps to the top and he can really hear everything that is being said below him. Eef stands in the middle and just asks on a normal volume: Can you hear me? Timo hears it without any trouble, really cool. Also the other way around, we try the same and that too works fine: Eef hears down every word Timo says. Maurits and Peter walk up and meet Eef there. The view is really marvelous, between the mountains the theatre lies within great surroundings.

After half an hour theatre we walk to the excavations of the Asklepeion, those are many rocks, one can’t imagine. A few of them are actually remains and not restored and a part is being restored right now. The odium is not really worth a visit, the Temple of Artemis is under construction and for the rest there are many ancient rocks. It’s warm, although there are plenty of clouds; we drink sufficiently and walk the complete area of the archeological site. There is also a stadium that still is being used these days. The poles of the starting line of the runners are standing, a special sight. There are many temples and those remains we better can see in the small museum related to the site. There are some tympana and many statues and parts of statues. Also here we sometimes still see the beautiful colors of ancient times. Totally the visit lasts one and a half hour and around midday we return to the hotel.

Everyone is a little bit hungry, but first we drink something on the balcony of Maurits and Betty, room number 11, Eef and Timo have 12 and Peter has 13. At the same time Timo writes the reports that still need to be created and at 13:00 everyone is hungry and we have a pita on the corner. Peter and Maurits have a pita-plate and Eef, Timo and Betty only a small pita. We drink a bit: three cola and two beers and after 45 minutes we drive to Poros. This is an island close to Galatas, just a few kilometers past Methana. The road to it is very beautiful, but we keep this for our way back. We’re there in less than an hour, Maurits already slept for a while; Timo has control over the wheel and Eef and Betty have guided and enjoyed the ride. We walk to the narrowest point between the island of Poros and Peloponnesus and there drink one beer and three frappe. This is enjoyment. The ferry Nefeli arrives on Poros and we see the ferry in the small bay. Timo thought he would move on further between Peloponnesus and Poros, but he returns to Aegina and Piraeus. We watch everything here for an hour and then drive back to Palaia Epidaurus. The road to it winds through the orange orchards and the mountains. From high in the mountains we have a beautiful view on Angistri, the bays along the coast and even at the end on the sunken city in Epidaurus. The land with the bay in front and behind it is really great. Orange trees are everywhere and we’re happy we did this short trip. We did some kilometers with the car.

Betty joins Eef and Timo for retsina and some olives with peppers and Peter and Maurits have a drink in the village. Timo saves all the pictures on the laptops and finishes some travel stories. We had a great day and we’re going to finish this with and even better finale: dinner tonight. We stay here at the hotel. Linda and Patrik also arrive and we drink some retsina on our balcony. They love the view also here on the harbor and the big sailboats and the small boats, everything looks great. When we are downstairs Mike joins Maurits and Peter, the owner of the hotel and they discuss some stuff. Later we join them, get ouzo on the house, drink it and order gigandes and choriatiki. Eef already requested gigandes a couple of time, but wherever we came, they never had it that day, now they do. The cook promised it yesterday and Eef loves it. Mama Linda loves it too, so the two large plates are empty soon.

As main course Mike suggested mixed fish, so after a while it arrives. Mix fish is calamari, octopus and three large shrimps (per person!), really great and we drink retsina. Unbelievable, a good suggestion of Mike. They’re out of cold retsina, so we get a bucket of ice to cool it. This is the first time ever we see the Greeks actually have it. We enjoy the food and have fun. At the end Peter orders Metaxa for everyone, the women, except Betty don’t drink it, so it’s more for the men, but also that will hurt tomorrow morning. An ice cream was ordered too and it tastes very good. At about midnight we return to our room and light the candles and half an hour later we go to sleep. For Betty, Maurits and Peter it’s finished tomorrow, but for us the next part starts and hopefully it’s as good as the first one. We already had fun in Greece this vacation.

Thursday June 25, 2009: Departure from Epidaurus and via Piraeus to Lesvos

Today is our last day here in Epidaurus. We need to enjoy it every second then. Maurits has trouble doing this, because his head and body are still full of Metaxa. We have breakfast just like the other days with chocolate croissant and bread, marmalade and honey, four coffees and one tea. We like it a lot that were here, but in a few hours we’ll need to go back to the business of the airport and Piraeus. After breakfast everyone packs his or her stuff to leave and at around noon we all have lunch. Linda and Patrik arrive here too, don’t eat, because they had a late breakfast. We have spaghetti, choriatiki and drink some water and Eef and Peter already want to drink Mythos. We prepare everything to leave at 13:20 and ten minutes later we’re gone. We keep the goodbye short, because otherwise Timo and Linda start crying again as usual. We cope very well, but we do need to have our sunglasses on.

We then take the same route as we came. Through the mountains to the main road and have a beautiful view over the bay of Epidaurus, it really was unbelievably beautiful. We drive to the connection with the highway at the isthmus in Corinth. We need to pay 2.80 Euro toll and then another 2.70, that last bit is for the highway where it splits between Athens and the airport. And it still is a long way to the airport. We only stop once to fill up the tank, because we had to return the car FULL and so we do. We fill up for 32 Euro at about 15 kilometer from the airport, no problem when we arrive. We quickly see the car rental, need to drive back on the highway, but apart from that everything is OK. There is someone of Hertz who sign off on everything and we go to the desk to arrange financials. They take it all from the MasterCard, so that’s easy. We walk to the arrivals to see if Jurgen and Aagje already arrived, but they have a delay of half an hour and have not yet landed. We say goodbye to Betty, Maurits and Peter at the departures and from here on Peter will arrange the return.

We return to the arrivals and wait for Jurgen and Aagje, who just landed at 15:51, so we’re OK. We need to wait half an hour and there they are. We directly take the bus to Piraeus for an hour and need to see Kate and Sigi there. That is a bit trickier, because Timo had given the wrong info on the gate where to meet. Timo wants to get the tickets at the main office of Hellenic Seaways, but they say he needs to go to the other side of the road to SeaTravel. There they say he needs to be with the Port Police or in Heraklion on Crete. What? So Timo goes with a Greek policewoman of the port police back to Hellenic Seaways and then he receives within the minute the tickets. That’s again really great. Jurgen, Aagje and Eef drink something while they wait for Timo. Eventually he returns and we go all the way to gate E2 to get on the Nissos Chios. There they see Kate and Sigi and we drink a beer before we board. Everything is going good and we receive cabins 709, 713 and 715; all with two beds, the most luxurious cabins on the boat. Until now everything is arranged very good. We have dinner at the self-service restaurant: chicken with fries, giouvetsi and gyros with a bottle of wine. Then we buy ouzo at the Panorama-bar and we sit one floor higher and drink ouzo there. Eef gets a small bottle from the luggage, Ouzo 12; we also drink this and then a last one from the bar itself again.

It has turned 22:30 and Timo is getting tired, so he and Eef want to go to bed. The others join them and they all sleep like roses until we reach Chios at 02:30 in the morning. The intercom starts to make noises like a Geiger counter, so we don’t sleep deep anymore. A few hours later we arrive in Lesvos, but you can read this in the report for Friday June 26, 2009.

Friday June 26, 2009: On the move to Mytiline and Petra

At a bit past five in the morning we hear knocking on our door, so we know we need to get off the boat, because we’re approaching the harbor of Mytiline. Eef quickly takes a shower and we can walk outside to see how the ferry arrives at the port. As usual it is very busy with a bunch of people wanting to get off and at the same time cars and trucks that need to get out. We don’t rush, because Eef and Timo are already in vacation-mode for the last week and for Sigi and Kate the same mode has hit. We walk away from the busiest part of the port. Eef wants to take a picture and then suddenly sees someone with a plate saying “Mr.Schutijer” next to an Avis-car. For whom is that going to be? We arrange that Sigi is allowed to drive, Jurgen and Timo also give their drivers license, because they need to deliver the car back at the airport and also Sigi and Kate need to be brought to the airport them. Everything is done fast and we can soon leave. No restaurants or shops have opened yet, so we decide to drive on and watch for something where we can have breakfast.

We drive along the coast and Sigi is doing well as driver, Timo points him only for 2 minutes in the wrong direction in Kalloni. A small bit after the spot where last year the taxi broke down (also now there is a stork’s nest) we need to turn right and Timo tells the wrong direction just then. We turn back on our track and drive towards Mythymna (Molyvos) following the known road by Eef and Timo. The ride over the mountains is really beautiful. Now everyone except Sigi can enjoy it, but he will not be driving too when we do this trip. After a bit more than an hour we reach Petra and Eef and Timo immediately recognize the village with the big rock and the long road along the sea and the few small islands in front of the coast. Everyone thinks is a nice village and they will be able to have fun here. We park the car and look for breakfast. We have two continental breakfast, one Hellenic and three eggs with bacon. We get coffee or tea or frappe with it and also fresh fruit juice. We are already having fun here. After breakfast Jurgen, Aagje, Kate and Sigi stay here and Eef and Timo look for the place they reserved.

We arranged everything with Kostas of Petra Tours (http://www.petratours-lesvos.com), but the rooms are at the Women’s Cooperative. Petra tours is not open yet, so we walk further to the cooperative and hope to get some answers there. They seem to remember us from last year and phone someone who will bring us to our room. We quickly find the way to Annies House and get all the room for the next days. The rooms are really clean and pretty big too. Two beds with a stove to cook (yeah, right), a fridge to cool water, ouzo and retsina (OK). Eef divides the rooms and Timo return to the place of our breakfast. Here he picks up the others and drives the car to the pharmakijo, there is a small street and Timo takes everyone and the whole luggage at the same time. The rooms are split and everyone is happy with the size and the quality of the rooms. We do a little pre-siesta and then go and see the world. We go for snorkeling, Jurgen buys a pair of fins and joins us. We dry up and half an hour later we go into the water again to play like little children. We throw a fake octopus to one another and have fun like hell.

In the meantime everyone has received a special codename, based on New Greek: Jurgis Paktakodakis, Sigis Paktmenpennis, Timotis Psychedelis, Eva Athena, Maria Sloptna, Katis Dahaveweveulateris. This is not really funny if you don’t understand Dutch. We could have expected this: a bunch of jokes and witty remarks all the time. It could not have been different with these people. We have an aperitif at about seven on the balcony of Eef and Timo with Ouzo Plomari, everyone drinks except Jurgen, he does not like the taste of anise. He does not know what’s he’s missing. After that we walk to the cooperative to have dinner. We need to wait for a few moments because all tables are taken and to eat inside is not an option now. We get a table of six and order retsina, aspro krasi and all different small things so everyone can taste everything: choriatiki, patates, pajdakia, louloudia (flowers of pumpkin), some sardelles, tzatziki, chorta, feta saganaki en moussakas. Everyone likes it and even Aagje says surprised: Greek food is great, man! Pjew, we’re happy everyone likes it. Well done!

We drink some more retsina and some white wine and get a free dessert: baklava. For some this is great, for others this is too sweet. De gustibus et coloris,…

Not too late, it is only after eleven, we return to the rooms and start the night. Eef and Timo first have another Mythos on the balcony and then also go to sleep.

Saturday June 27, 2009: Exploration of Lesvos by car

We sleep until 10:00 and have breakfast on the balcony of Jurgen and Aagje. Eef and Timo were already awake at 07:30, so the day has already past half if we have breakfast. We relax, no stress, nothing’s going on and after breakfast we have a small discussion what we will be doing today. We prepare to see a few things today. Timo and Eef have the good idea to first drive to Skala Kikamenea and then to Molyvos. That’s the plan and that’s how it’s done. Timo drives without problems through the mountains to Skala Kikamenea, a very steep road brings us to the harbor and it is a great view. A small harbor with restaurants and a little chapel on a hill. Jurgen thinks it’s all great for taking pictures and of course does this. Than it is really fast time to have a drink and also that plan is carried out. From this point Aagje also shares the passion with Jurgen to take pictures, she has a specialty though: cats, kittens, dogs, puppies. Then we have a cool Mythos and we’re ready for our next trip, i.e. to Molyvos. Our mission: to have a terrace. Jurgen drives to Molyvos with his best elegance; there we park the car and walk to restaurant Xtapodi (http://www.octapus-restaurant.com/). We have a snack; Kate and Sigi have sardelles (sardines), Eef has gavros (anchovy), Jurgen a hamburger with fries, Timo a tuna salad and Aagje has moussakas with fries. It’s very good. At about fourish we return to Petra, take a shower and then prepare to drive to Mytiline. We think it’s best to explore the city, eat something small and then pick up Roel at the airport. We drink and eat something on a terrace in the centre and that’s where it goes wrong. We are being served by a Striek (= Stupid Greek), who is slow and has ordered three plates wrong out of five. Even though Roel has sent a text that he’s going to be one hour late, we don’t manage to be on time at the airport… thank you Striek. It does not really matter a lot, Roel is just there when we arrive and Sigi has done his best: he even was overtaking other cars the way to the airport.

Time is 22:45 when we leave the airport direction Petra, a drive of about one and a half hour in the dark, not simple, but of course everything is fine.

At 00:15 we are back at our apartments and drink another glass to celebrate the arrival of Roelis Kathedralis. At about one thirty we go to bed and Eef stays awake until half four. That’s nice, we need to get up at 07:15 for diving tomorrow.

Sweet dreams, for Timo then and tomorrow diving, yes, yes, yes

Sunday June 28, Dive at Korakas Cape Wreck

After a bad night of rest for Eef and a better one for Timo, we get up at 07:15. The shops are not open yet, so we skip breakfast. We quickly buy something at the bakery to eat during the walk to the dive shop. We have fins, snorkel, mask and dive computer with us and the rest we will rent there. Jorgos said we should meet at 09:00 and his colleague said at 08:00. So we arrive in the middle at about 08:30. They’re already there and we can start looking for our equipment, try it on and put it all together in one spot. Kate and Sigi decide not to join us, indeed 30 Euro to go snorkeling is a bit too much. They did buy some fruits and bread which we can take with us, thanks a lot K and S. At 09:30 we leave. Fist we drop off two Belgian girls in Molyvos (they had missed their boat) and then we sail to Korakas Cape Wreck. Everything looks very nice.

Aagje had some trouble with her suit, but finally everything is OK and we descend for our first dive, a wreck dive. The deepest point is at 27 meters and the highest is at 12. Roelis has problems equalizing, so Eef (good rescue diver) stays with him until everything is OK. The wreck is cool; it is our first wreck dive too, so it’s special. In total there are ten divers: instructor Jorgos, a divemaster dontknowhisname, 2 Italians, 1 Brit and us five. Below the wreck Eef sees a mouse fish (we need to check what the name is), further we spot octopus, damselfish, starfish, wrasses,… and we can see 30 meters far; this is great! It’s a nice dive, little less than an hour; especially Jurgen, Aagje and Roel are really impressed since this is their first boat dive abroad. When we’re back on the surface it’s time to prepare for the second dive. We stay here 1,5 hours on the boat, eat something small (bread with bio-cucumber from the captain and fruit) and then prepare siga siga for the second dive. We dive on the same spot, but away from the wreck. We see a moray, again about the same fish, vases and again it’s worth going under. Roel hasn’t got a tank of 15 liter now (he did for the first dive) and after 47 minutes he goes up with Jurgen and Aagje. As they should they make their safety stop, well done. During the second dive everyone was a lot more relaxed and Timo and Eef had a lot of time to take pictures. Eef arranges with Jurgen that he’s taking the camera next time.

After the second dive we swim a bit in the water and then at 15:30 the boat sets sail for Molyvos and Petra. We walk to the dive center and fill out the logbooks and make some appointments for our next dives. We don’t need to pay yet, that will be arranged at the end. Total coolness. We look for a good terrace, find Sigi and Kate and drink Mythos and ice-tea. We quickly fee the alcohol in our head and go to our room and have a shower.

At 19:30 everyone is ready and we go to the women’s cooperative to have dinner. We order some retsina, apsro krasi and megalo nero and also different stuff to eat. Three barbouni (red mullet), tsipoura (Gilthead Sea-Bream), choriatiki, dolmadakia, feta saganaki, keftedes, louloudia, pajdakia and taramasalata. We take a bit of everything and we enjoy it. We return to the apartments at about eleven, drink some more ouzo and Mythos and at midnight we go to sleep.

Monday June 29, 2009: Petrified Forest

We have made the agreement to get up at about eight and to have breakfast at 08:30 to make sure we can leave early for the Petrified Forest on the Westside of the island. Eef and Timo know from last year this is a long drive through the mountains and it is not going fast, so we need to go early to be there on time and not on the hottest part of the day. We already have bought everything this morning and have breakfast with bread, cheese, salami, choco and some serials. We even have fruit juice and coffee and tea. In each apartment there is a small kitchen and one stove and a sink. A fridge is also available in every room, so the rooms we rented are very nice.

After breakfast everyone is ready to go, Sigi is driving and Timo gives directions. Not that being a co-pilot is hard here, because there are only a few roads anyway. When we leave we take the small road, so not all the way to Kalloni, but to Anaxos and Skoutaros to reach the main road in Skalochori. On our way there we see an example of Greek Ecology. We drive behind a trash lorry and suddenly out of the window of the passenger a bottle appears and flow direction valley. It gets very quiet in the car and then everybody starts to laugh; what an example.

It’s very easy to find the Petrified Forest. Again we find it difficult to believe that nature is that different here to our side of the island. It is very dry and nothing grows here apart from a very small bush. Eef and Timo want to enter the park too, because last year they were not able to see everything. We want to make the big tour close to small and big rocks. Our friends are a bit skeptical at the beginning, but after a while they really see the beauty of it. They had imagined it was an actual forest and it’s something else if you see this then. The largest one if seven meters high and has a perimeter of 8.3 meters; this is a big tree. We walk here one and a half hours and then drink something at the bar at the entrance. There is plenty of sun here and on some spots the wind makes it bearable, if there is no wind, it’s very hot, because in the car the dashboard says it’s 36°.

After the drink Jurgen drives to Sigri to drink Mythos there and eat something small. We are quickly there, because it’s only 7 kilometers and even in the mountains this does not take long. We arrive there and it’s very quiet here, we walk in the village looking for a place where they have Mythos, but can’t find anything. We visit the old castle, not really a lot to see here, but Jurgen has seen a wall with beautiful type of light on it, so we have a short photo shoot. We clearly see Aagje knows what to do, because she shows her best poses, that even top models would not be able to do. We then fid a restaurant Australia; it looks a nice place to eat. We order a few things: Eef, Timo and Roel eat together calamari, this time it’s really fresh, because we get a complete calamari, wholly fried on our plate; this is just great. We also share a feta saganaki and a souvlaki chirino (pork). The others have a spaghetti, souvlaki kotopoulo and chirino. Jurgen prefers a bifteki with fries and it’s good for everyone.

After an hour in Sigri Jurgen ensures with the professional help of Timo that everyone reaches safely Petra. We buy some drinks and some rigani chips and then drink and eat on the balcony of Eef and Timo. At the same time we play cards and have fun. After an hour Sigi also joins us and plays along. We made a reservation yesterday at the cooperative at 20:00. This is the first time ever in Greece we do this, but you know there is a first for everything. We order retsina, aspro krasi, nero and drink. Eef orders the food. Fish lovers have red snapper or sardines; others have giouvetsi, stifado, feta saganaki, choriatiki and gemista. It’s great, but we don’t make it too late, because we have another day of diving tomorrow. We can’t drink too much, because don’t drink and dive.

Tuesday June 30, 2009: Two dives: Feggamenee reef and Mirmigi

The alarm goes off at quarter to eight, Eef is immediately ready, Roel too, but Timo has problems waking up. Jurgen is also awake, but also Aagje has problems. Sigi and Kate say in bed, because they’ll stay here today: rest a little bit and enjoy their presence in Greece. Aagje has a backache and is staying home; diving will not do her good. We have a small breakfast, because it’s best to eat not too much before diving. Roel, Jurgen, Eef and Timo are diving today and walk to the Cavo Bay Watch where the base is of Lesvosscuba in Petra. On our way there we buy some fruits and water. We see that there are some tanks in the pickup, so we’re not alone today. We take our suits, regulators, BCD and help to load everything. They drive to the harbor and Eef, Timo, Jurgen and Roel walk there and see there is a Flemish girl and Portuguese guy (couple) and three Brits on the boat.

We left late at the base, so we leave immediately to Feggamenee Reef, only ten minutes away from the harbor to the small island just in front of the coast of Petra. On the right side (seen from the land) there is the dive spot and we anchor here. Jorgos takes all five divers and Eef and Timo lead the dive with Roel and Jurgen. We keep the reef at our right side, we don’t make it to the end, because we dive between two huge rocks and that brings us to the wrong direction. We saw a moray eel there, so we had to turn and we should have turned back, but we didn’t. We see the usual damselfish, wrasses, snappers, the cone worms, starfish, morays; it really is a nice dive, very calm, even though Eef and Timo are guides. At 100 bar we return to the direction of the boat and start diving a little bit shallower. We see some fire worms and what is really striking in the water is the blue pink suite of Jurgen. It’s really great and we call him the super-gay.

As always between two dives we need to make some time to get ready for the second dive, we put our tanks together again, drink some water, swim in the sea, because there is no toilet on board. We eat some little things, chat with Jorgos and Sofoklis, he is the co-owner of the diving club and also a diver, but now only captain. We move to a smaller rock, this dive spot is called Mirmigi (ant). We have to follow a kind of underwater tongue in front of the boat. We make sure we can follow Jorgos for a while and almost all the time we can see the bubbles of the people in front of us. We go with the tongue at our right side, see some morays right a way and some cone worms. The damselfish come to greet us and the wrasses are busy protecting everything they love. A huge fire worm passes us by, we see three species of starfish; the normal one, one with peaks on top and another one who does not have actual arms. We reach the end of the tongue at 32 meters. That is not really correct, because this is deeper than our first dive. A scorpion fish hides in the holes in the rocks. Totally we now see five moray eels, really great. Some kind of blenny does not want his picture taken, because he swims between the rocks. Here at deeper level we see the snappers and the large mussels.

We turn back and Timo rushes away, because it is not really clear to him what direction to take and he can’t see the bubbles of the rest anymore. The others follow at a little distance and then Timo reduces speed, because he can now see the others in thirty meters. We then take some more time to look at everything, but we don’t see special things. Jurgen and Timo make their safety stop together and Roel and Eef stay under for a few moments more. We come on board, prepare everything and are immediately ready to go back to the harbor. Sigi, Kate and Aagje arrive just here with the car and already drive to the Lemon-bar. There we have two beers and enjoy the view, the good weather and two more nice dives we had.

It starts to be time to take a shower and to eat something, so we go back to the apartments. Today we don’t eat at the Women’s Cooperative, but try something at the restaurant Sunset. Normal drinks: retsina, aspro krasi and water. Roel does not want to mix and has a Carlsberg. Everyone prefers for this time his own plate, no problem. We order tsipoura, swordfish and mackerel for Sigi and Timo, Eef ahs chicken Mexican, Jurgen has T-bone with pepper sauce, Roel and Kate take Lam Sunset and Aagje has something I can’t remember. She took bifteki. We all enjoy the food and don’t drink too much, because tomorrow is another day of diving. We all sit on the balcony of Eef and Timo and have ouzo and Mythos, in the end Sigi and Kate are not diving, so they don’t have to bother about the alcohol. We go to bed at a little after midnight. The heat can still be felt at this time of the night. It is becoming hooter day by day; in the meantime we already have peaks until 37°. This is fun!

Wednesday July 1, 2009: Two cave dives and party

We get up pretty early; have breakfast with Jurgen and Aagje in their kitchen. With the mega-Trajet we race to Mytiline, because we want to dive there twice today. We’ll be diving with a smaller boat this time, probably with an oversized zodiac. Jurgen is driving, Timo leads the way and it takes one and a half hour to get there. We drive twenty meters too far, but we reach the beach rather easily. Luis and Tjalina are here already. They will go with us for two cave dives or one cave and one reef dive. We need to try the suits one, difficult because the sizes and brands are different than the Scubapro equipment in Petra. Everyone needs to try the suits back on; the same with the BCD’s and then put it all together. For the first dive all men get a 15-liter tank and the ladies 12 liter. That’s very good, because men usually use more air than ladies. It takes a few moments, before everything is OK and can load everything on the zodiac and leave. Everyone needs to walk twice with tanks and gear to get it all there.

All OK and there we go. We first speed to our first diving spot on a marvelous location, even above the surface. It has been named after the saint Santa Claus (Agios Vassilikos) and it is beautiful you can’t describe. Crystal clear and blue water, a small island with rocks and a lighthouse on top. The gulls and the swifts ask themselves what these stupid tourists have lost here. That will be diving. We all go into the water and everyone helps their buddy to lower the tank and BCD into the water and put it on in the water. Aagje has a little bit of trouble, but with the help of Jurgen, Timo and Eef she’s good to go. Everyone is ready pretty fast, tests if he or she has enough lead; that’s OK for everyone, so we can dive. Jorgos needs to freedive for a moment, because two dive lamps have fallen to the bottom, luckily not too deep, but only eight meter or so. In the end we can go and dive tot hat eight meters. Here we need to watch out primarily for the sea urchins, because they are present everywhere.

After a dive of ten minutes we come to a plateau of ten meters and then it is The Abyss to a depth of eighty meters. We need to be careful we don’t tend to go deeper, because the entry and exit of the cave is from 23 to 40 meters, very deep and wide, but very beautiful. We can enter the whole group, but Aagje and her buddy Jurgen stay in front of the entry. The others enter via the shallowest point and watch their eyes out. The walls are full of soft coral, sponges; it really is unbelievably beautiful. Jorgos has his underwater camera with him, but not to film, rather to give light, a bit more than the small torches we had with us. We can only stay here for a short time, see some shrimps in the dark and some mouse fish. Eef had seen this fish earlier at the wreck and now everyone gets to see him, also Jurgen and Aagje because there is one at the entrance of the cave. Once we’re inside of the cave it gets narrower and it’s busy, so we don’t stay here too long. We dive out of the cave at its shallowest point and then dive along the wall. We spot nudibranches, the blue ones that we saw earlier and also the species with the white tips; those little animals are really the most beautiful things in the world. Small red fish are spotted here too, together with the anthias that we know from the Red Sea. Only now after 25 minutes Eef and Timo can take pictures, because the cameras were damped. Back at the top part of the reef there is a school of thousands of damselfish and they are OK with us taking their pictures.

An octopus is hiding between the rocks and a moray eel finds shelter in the wall. After three quarters of an hour we perform our safety stop and then we see a big yellow-blue nudibranch. We’ve never seen anything like this, it’s 10 centimeter big. After our safety stop we go slowly to the surface and climb on board of the zodiac and immediately change tanks. This dive was already the best, but there is a second one still coming. Jorgos has problem releasing the anchor, so Eef and Timo help him a bit. It is stuck and we can’t get it loose. Timo holds it while Jorgos sails around the anchor in circles. Then Timo pulls the rope and suddenly the anchor releases and Timo falls back with one leg in the ‘hold’ of the boat. He’s a bit hurt, but not too serious so he’ll be able to dive still.

In order to stay on the surface for enough time, we sail to the beach of Tarti, but we have to stay on the boat, because Jorgos was going to pay a coffee, but he did not bring any money. We stay here for a moment, swim a bit and then go to the next dive spot of the day: Fara. Also here a cave dive. We had the choice between the cave of the reef and the most people wanted a cave dive. We do the same as the first dive, BCD in the water and then put it all on. We anchored in a cool small bay without wind or current, so we swim twenty meter and there go down to about 6 meters. We swim around the rock and see a big hole in the wall. A large mussel is located at the entrance and it is a beautiful sight, the mussel and in the background the divers and the blue water. We swim on, see again a moray, some see squirts (Jurgen calls this beer bottles) and arrive at a depth of 18 meters, where the entrance to the cave is. The deal was we were not going to go inside all at once; so first it is Jorgos, Timo, Eef and Roel. They enjoy the mouse fish; an unidentified fish and again the walls of the cave are beautiful. Timo can take some pictures no and also Eef is OK. Timo comes out of the cave and only has 100 bar left, so he goes to a shallower part and wait until the other three – Aagje is not going inside – return from the cave visit. We all have control over our buoyancy, so the sight was still OK inside the cave.

Almost everyone is to the limits of air, so we swim on to the gorge between the two rocks. On the left side this is where the boat lies, the other side is the one we swam around where the cave is. Again this was a great dive and on our way back we again see some nudibranches. We do our safety stop and go up slowly and prepare to return to Haramida Beach. Jorgos is speeding and we’re back rather quickly. We unload the boat and everyone helps and goes for a drink. We don’t stay too long, because we have something to celebrate. According to our calculations today is the day that Eef and Timo are a couple for ten years. Timo starts a race home and is not getting cooperation from the Greeks in Mytiline. We loose about half an hour due to traffic here and arrive half an hour late at the cooperative. We create a big party, eat some fried zucchini, olives, shrimps saganaki, midia (mussels) saganaki, feta saganaki; with all that three mackerels, one souvlaki, choriatiki and some meatballs. We have retsina and wine with it: it’s very good. Today we close at the lemon-bar with some cocktails and Metaxa. After a while the owner offers us tequila and we order ourselves (and him) another one. It’s very good and with a little bit too much drink we return to the apartments to sleep. For Sigi and Kate it’s the last one.

Thursday July 2, 2009: Airport transportation and do nothing

We all get up at 10:00 and walk to the Lemon-Bar for breakfast. In the room of Timo and Eef the cleaning lady already wanted to start at 09:45, because apparently she found time was right. We did not think so, but we do leave for the Lemon-Bar ten minutes later. Coffee, tea, continental breakfast, Greek breakfast and five times eggs with bacon. We eat it and enjoy the view. Eef and Timo go and have a shower, because they did not have time earlier this morning. The others return also a bit later, Sigi and Kate take their luggage, because Eef and Timo will bring them to the airport. Sigi drives there after they said goodbye to Jurgen, Aagje and Roel. It goes a lot faster because the road to Mytiline is open and that is already a difference of an hour. We drop them off at the airport and say goodbye, take the mega-Hyundai back to Mytiline-city. Eef and Timo have a small mission but won’t succeed. They are looking for the diving shop of Lesvosscuba. Eef has printed a map and there more or less the location where the shop is. We only know from a dot on the map where it should be; the actual address has fallen off the printed page. We check out the neighborhood where Google maps has put the shop, but can’t find it. We also don’t look very long, because it is unbelievably hot. We do check out the city and the old buildings and the special atmosphere in the shopping street Ermou. Many of shops are located here and also some beautiful churches, nice.

After a walk of an hour in the city we think it is enough and it’s time for a drink. We walk next to the water, arrive at the terrace we were on Saturday, but refuse to go there, because you remember what has happened there last time. We find something else a bit further, the least noisy of all, because we do know Greeks can cause a lot of noise. We have a frappe, an Amstel and have a sandwich with cheese and bacon, tomato and lettuce. We love it to be on our own now and stay here for a while. Almost four we decide to drive back to Petra. We take the normal road via Moria, then go inland and drive on the new road to Kalloni. Here we stop a moment, because Timo wanted to take pictures of the storks and their nest. In a high chimney they had built their nest, on the same spot as last year. Now there are five of them and they’re really tall already, probably ready or almost to fly. At first we pass it, but then we know we’re too far and we turn back and spot them easily. From Kalloni it is only 16 kilometer, but these are the longest of the whole ride. We first drive into the mountains on a road with many hairpin turns. The Hyundai does not like it, because we’ve used the same way and we need to shift to first gear in order to drive up. The engine is a 2.0, but really good performance he does not have.

We have a beautiful view over the plain of Kalloni and when we drive back down we see the beautiful location of Petra, that’s cool. We even stop several times to take some pictures. We park the car, even find a spot with shadow and then see Roel lying on the beach in the Greek sun and he looks like he’s having fun. We have a Mythos at the Lemon-Bar and a few moments later also Jurgen and Aagje arrive. It’s Thursday and we had a deal with Jorgos of Lesvosscuba he would make a call to let us know if we still could do a night dive. That will not happen, because he has a backache, bad luck it is. The two divers of yesterday join us for a moment and we return to our room at about seven. We take a shower, have an aperitif, play some cards and then go the cooperative for dinner.

Sigi just left today and Timo was always mentioning how tasty melanouri are, but they did not have it. Today of course they do, a bit of bad luck for Sigi. We have with the melanouri shrimps saganaki, souvlaki kotopoulo, choriatiki, keftedes, feta saganaki, patatokeftedes and dolmadakia. We order a bit less, because there are two persons less. We drink and don’t stay too long; we chat some more on our balcony and go to bed not too late.

Friday July 3, 2009: Hot springs, beach and do nothing

We again get up at around ten en have made the decision to have breakfast at the lemon bar each day. Today we have two omelets, continental breakfast, eggs with bacon and one English breakfast. We forget to ask for fruit juice, but don’t really mind. We took everything in the car and after breakfast we leave for Kalloni and from there we won’t take the road to Mytiline, but we will follow the bay to Kalloni and to Polichnitos. The way there is beautiful with many olive trees. The pines give a special kind of scent, when we pass through the forests. In Polichnitos we see a stork’s nest, spotted well by Timo and he even remembers the way to the hot springs from last year. Well done. Jurgen drives there without problems. We get out and walk past the springs here. There is some rotten-egg-scent in the air and the water is really rusty brown and green from the heat. In a few places you can’t come closer, because there is so much stench that it’s not funny any longer. In about six different places hot water comes boiling out of the earth. Timo feels it and sees it’s really hot. After the visit of half an hour we need to have a drink. Close to the springs there is a tavern and we have Amstel, frappe and Nestea. Timo wants to drive to the other springs here in the neighborhood and everyone agrees, so Timo steers the Hyundai that direction through the Greek landscape.

We need to take a few small roads in the village and we get there safely. Jurgen has a picture-moment of a donkey against the front of a house and Timo looks for the source. Again it’s typically Greek; around the spring they’ve built an ugly concrete wall and put iron fences over it. This is an example of how a person can ruin it’s own tourist attraction. We won’t stay here long; we quickly check the bathhouse and then leave over the scenic route along the bay. At certain crossroads we need to guess what direction to follow, but eventually we follow the small sandy road next to the sea. That way we can enjoy the landscape in another way. The road ends in a crossroad where we were on our way there and drive all the way to Kalloni, over the mountain to Petra and the parking.

Back in Petra we want to get some sun and that goes well, because the Greek sun is shining like hell. Get a tan, drink some Mythos at the Lemon-Bar-beach and enjoy. If you drink at the Lemon-Bar you can use the sun beds for free, so we did this. We know ourselves and after an hour we’ve had it and can’t stay much longer on the beach. We want to have a snack in the centre. Because Jurgen and Aagje never had a pita here, we order a few Mythos and Nestea and five pita gyro. They like it and we eat our pita. Then we return to our apartments, have a shower and rest a little bit. That was the idea, because we don’t rest; we still have too much ouzo and need to empty the bottle. The bottle has been opened, so we can’t take it in our luggage. We need to drink it.

After the ouzo we have another shower, because we’ve already had too much to drink. We walk to the cooperative and want to eat something. We should have made a reservation, because there is no place outside. Quickly grab a bite and then to the Lemon-Bar. We had grilled octopus, and octopus in red wine sauce, souvlaki, tzatziki, choriatiki, feta saganaki, no fish this time, but it is as good as before. Retsina, beer and wine and we’re enjoying our last evening meal in Petra. Still now the price of the food is very low. We noticed this already in Athens that Greece is a lot cheaper than Belgium to eat at a restaurant. Then we go to the Lemon-Bar for our last cocktail and Metaxa. We get another free tequila and drink two cocktails and two Metaxa. Now we found a good place where Eef and Timo can rest and lie down in the bar. At about midnight we go to our rooms and get some rest for a less interesting day tomorrow, because that will be packing day and go home; a full day of traveling.

Saturday July 4, 2009: Departure from Petra, Lesvos and Greece

The phone-alarm goes off at 08:30, the first action is to wake up, then Eef starts to pack and Timo does all the hand luggage. We do this first, because this is the most tedious bit. Eef buys some stuff for small Aagje and for Lus, because she fed the chicken and everything goes into the bags without any problem. Everything is settled. Jurgen brings the car to the pharmacy, so we don’t need to walk too far with the bags. Now it’s only five minutes, so that’s OK. Eef and Timo go and pay for everything, because the stay here was their treat. It is still OK, because Kostas charges 125 Euro less. Nice! We have breakfast at the Lemon-Bar, stay here and enjoy the view in the sea and the small islands just in front of the beach. Jorgos was going to call to arrange the financial side of the dives, but we don’t hear anything, so we will assume that he will be at the airport. We quickly check at the Cavo Baywatch and see if he’s there, but he’s not. Eef, Timo and Roel walk there and stop at a pool of water next to the dive centre. There are dozens of tadpoles and a few frogs. Eef and Timo see a snake flee away and they like it. Especially Timo wanted to see a snake already for a long time.

From here we leave to the airport. Everyone knows the way, so we are there quickly. At the end there are road works in progress, but the deviation is removed since Thursday, so we’re there about 15 minutes earlier. Jurgen fills up the tank for the last time close to Mytiline and brings us safely to the airport. We can check our luggage in immediately and wait for Jorgos to pick up his almost 1000 Euro in total of the dives. We don’t see him and it is almost time to go through the security check and to board. The check is OK, immediately we pass, so we wait a while at gates 3 and 4; the airport is just a bit bigger than a train station in Belgium. We leave to Athens with a delay of half an hour and arrive there already after 40 minutes. Just before boarding Timo got a call from Jorgos, that he forgot about the appointment (for a 1000 Euro). In Athens we need to wait another 30 minutes for our luggage, but we have everything and we have plenty of time, so it does not matter. We already go to the Brussels Airlines check-in counter, drink Alfa-beer and are the first ones to check in. We ask for exit seats and get them for all of us. Well done, T.

Everyone is a bit hungry, so we have something to eat at McDonalds. That is always good and we’ve had enough of the healthy Greek food the last two weeks. We tour around the airport, buy some ouzo and Metaxa and wait for our time to board. We see already soon we will have a delay of one hour, at least already, so it will be night before we get home. We drink an Amstel Pulse before passing the customs check. Wow, what an ugly beer is that. Amstel is not really good and then this; it looks like dirty water with a collar. We pass customs, no problem and play cards for another 30 minutes thanks to the delay and board at 20:45. Everyone is quickly on the airplane and at a bit after nine we’re already in the air. Now we fly for three hours and 45 minutes. It is a bit longer, because there is a lot of wind. It will be night when we arrive at Zaventem and even later to get home. But we had a great time and we miss Cartouche already. He will be happy to see us and we also to see him.

The most important things we saw during the dives are: many damselfish, Black-faced blenny, cardinal fish, Swallowtail seaperch, wrasse, scorpionfish, goatfish, saddle bream, painted comber, sea bream, octopus, moray eel, striped blenny, tompot blenny