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pondělí 17. srpna 2015

Parga


This year´s destination was to be Parga, the inland Greece, as we assumed it to be safer to avoid islands around Turkey  that were full of refugees. After we landed at the airport, we were taken by a bus to a dividing spot, where a small shattered bus arrived to take us in and another pickup behind us carried our belongings. The searing heat  of 40 degrees with incredible humidity struck us immediately as we dragged towards our hotel. It felt like a laundry room. Our delegate Jana Prouzová passed on all rather irrelevant information, which included the duty free shops at the Greek airport (which we were to encounter on our way back two weeks later!!!!)
               The first day was spent by swimming on Piso Krioneri beach, which was a way down through the entire city and at the furthermost end of the promenade. This city is very overcrowded in summer, and full of chaotic movement of motorbikes, cars and pedestrians, but also full of innocuous corn sellers and intrusive waiters grabbing your attention everytime you pass by. There is a part of old Parga with cute sloping streets enclosed by craft and souvenir shops, that leads to the very top of the hill at which one can discover many other fashionable corners, restaurants and mainly, the ruins of amazing Venetian fortress, that dominates the whole harbour. 
 










 After a short breather at our balcony (that failed to function as a calming and resting place), we will go to prowl the city and uncover the hidden landmarks. Jana told us to be careful in the bathroom, as there were several accidents including people hanging to the washbasin and pulling it down as well as the whole portions of glass shower door. As if that could ever happen to ME! We can hear many weird humming noises from the adjoining building next to our balcony. It appears to be a gym, as we can study the silhouette of a man riding a bike (or rather a man heavily leaning on the bike as if he was about to die). It´s unbelievable that someone would want to sweat even more than is humanly possible in current circumstances. The positioning of our balcony is slightly irritating, as everyone who passes down the stairs can watch all our movements.
              The next day we spent all our time on Valtos beach and paid for the pair of seats and sunshade. Our neighbour, a Finnish tourist, gave us a fascinating performance of changing her swimming gear every time she went to water. All in all, she owned four pairs of swimming suit in various colours. Some people can be exceedingly meticulous, even at the beach. I burnt the skin on my face which is rather painfull. In the evening hours, we ventured into the town but it was extremely uncomfortable as the humidity and heat combined forced you to sweat buckets of water. At the night time, we were awaken by motorbikes that pass under the main gates of our  hotel – and considering the disposition of the building – the outcome is quite obvious. All the noise tends to echo inside the tunnel- like structure of the entrance. We have to sleep with balcony doors wide open, as Sylva rejected to use the air conditioning, and therefore, adding to the list of utter madness and agony, are also bloodthirsty Greek mosquitos, that don´t buzz before they bite (and let me tell you – you don´t know you´ve been bitten until half a litre of your blood  is gone!)  In the morning came yet another blow to our system : no running water in whole Parga. In a while we´ll be taking off by boat taxi and shift ourselves to Lichnos beach, which is short distance away. We will be getting back home at around six.
             The boat ride was great fun. It took us along the cliffs in a billowy waves that splashed their salty water all around and people aboard kept laughing each time they were hit. At least the first hint of a fresh breeze since the time we have arrived! In the evening we hiked up the hill to Siraki restaurant in the most awesome and quiet part of Parga, that has some stunning views of the sea. I had Lamb exotico and Sylva had Musaka. Very nice indeed. I´m charred to the bone and everything aches me – maybe that´s why I´ve dreamt of a nasty witch that tried to kill me – and nearly kicked Sylva off the bed while asleep!
              Today we stayed at home till 1pm, had a lunch and then went to Piso Krioneri, where we rested and baked until 7pm. The wind was slightly blowing today. The programme of last evening was repeated in same order for its success. We went to Siraki again, only this time we had to go across the road to Three Plane Trees, because there were no seats left, but it mattered not – for we enjoyed the best view of the Valtos beach and far beyond – while vigorously chomping on our delicious Musakas and sipping on the great chilled Rosé wine. There is nothing as good. Musaka must be the real food of Gods! Tonight was pretty much the same as the first – we slept with earplugs to avoid the sound of hysterically noisy motorbikes that kept driving us mad until 2 am!Today we left for Valtos and spent there all day. While I swam in the sea, an older Greek guy approched me with cunning smile and strong shake of a hand, introducing himself as Hercules. I guess this Hercules was past the fighting the Nemean lion centuries ago....As he kept asking intrusive questions and slowly arranging our next mutual trip around Greece, I attempted to escape by excusing myself to swim little further into sea – but alas! – he offered to join me without hesitation and started to get warmed up already, in which moment Sylva (sensing I´m in mortal danger) got up from her comfy position on the beach and swam towards me. She is a real Rescuer! Hercules swam away like a wounded giant octopus and while we swam in the safe distance, he managed to sneak to my towel and leave there some mysterious item (judging from distance I believed he just planted a bomb into my bag). After we crawled out of the water, we noticed two cans of soft drinks with matching straws, but decided to ignore them. Hercules rested few metres away from us, but said nothing at all whatsoever – not until half an hour later, when he could resist no more and matter of factly mentioned:“this is for you my friends. We are friends, no? Drink it!“  We both muttered something unintelligible in a decent way of refusal and when Hercules dived into the waves, I gave the orders of immediate departure. We packed our belongings in a record breaking time and off we went – not looking back again. It was not that we would want to be rude, but having had the experience with Dimitris from Samos, we expected nothing good coming out of this casual encounter that might have been quite innocent in its nature – but you never know. We definitely didn´t want to spend the rest of our holidays being followed by Hercules giving us lessons on Greek mythology! 
       I burnt my face furthermore (which I thought is impossible), so now I´m putting thick layers of Greek yoghurt on my face to bring down the heat, and bag of ice cubes on my burnt head. In the evening we went down the promenade for a quick fix – hot Gyros with chips – which we graciously nibbled on at the beach, while sitting cosily in the chairs (at this hour free of charge), and then we went for a pistachio ice cream. I well deserved it after 12 rounds in the sea!
        This morning we went for a local mass into the church. One lady gave each one of us a thin lit candle, that we held during the ceremony. The priests in long golden-black tunics and tall black hats sang liturgies and the small group of local villagers watched on with all their devotion. Later on, Sylva went to the beach by herself, as I decided on sparing myself another sun treatment. I will follow her at 4pm. After two rounds of swim, we packed up and went to talk to Jana and to buy our Corfu trip. After that we went to our favourite ice cream parlor to have Mango and Raspberry sorbet. In the evening we went for dinner to Romantica tavern, as all other ones were overcrowded with hungry tourists. In this one we both had Lamb shank.
          This morning Sylva went to local markets to shop for fresh tomatoes while I cooked our pasta bolognese. Then we spent all day at Piso Krioneri and later on we dined in Rudi´s tavern, which is situated at the main square overlooking the harbour and has balconies along the second floor landing, where we sat like two divas in some opera. There I had the best beef dish I´ve ever tasted called Beef Stifado, which contained only pure beef with tomato sauce and tiny onions. Of course we didn´t  forget to spoil ourselves with red wine and coconut ice cream. I nearly forgot to mention that while swimming,  I got chatted up by young Greek guy from Athens, who was swimming next to his friend. We talked for a while and when he heard that I´m vacationing here with my friend, he descreetly swam away, never to return.  I finished reading my detective stories, so now I had to buy another book called Mum´s list. It got so hot at night, that I was forced to jump into the cold shower at 2 am! In the morning we were awaken by crude noise from bellow – the new tourists have just boarded. Must be the Romanians, according to what Jana told us – the whole Parga is occupied by such nationalities – and according to the language, I´d guess I´m right. The omnipresent backing track of motorbikes and cikadas joined soon after. What a paradise on earth!
          Yesterday we´ve got some cloudy skies and I heard a thunder from afar. Half an hour later, while on the beach, it started pouring down and the lightning in Pindus mountains slashed the skies, while all beach goers run fast to their hiding holes. We entertained ourselves in much better fashion and style – having a latté around the corner in a small coffee shop. First time in 7 days we can finally breathe – the heat dispersed and the colder air made it bearable to live. We dined at home and later on went for a mango sorbet, looking around the shops for some presents.
         Today, after the breakfast, we went to Krioneri but as it got really hot at around 2 pm, we hid inside the beach tavern and had some taramasalata ( disgusting) and aubergine dip, then went back to swim – only to stay there until 5pm, when the Pindus decided to punish us all with some more thunderbolts and lightning that crossed the sky like spears of very pissed of Zeus! I made myself my favourite melon and haloumi cheese salad for dinner and I´m getting slowly ready for tomorrow´s journey to Corfu. Outside the hell broke loose and the huricane keeps blowing our towels and other items off the clotheshorse.
       This morning we got up at 7.15 to catch some good seats on Sarris boat. The journey to Corfu was supposed to be 2,5 hours long. Among our co-travellers was quite funny bunch of individuals – four Romanian girls in swimsuits of different bright colours that nearly blinded us – one with a hairsytle I called the Wasp nest – distantly reminiscent of Amy Winehouse after an overdose – and two extremely fat Bulgarian ladies (one of which sat in the middle of the tiniest stairways and blocked it at once with her enourmous behind).
         Corfu was amazing and splendid though. The old historical city reminded me so much of Venice, due to the strong influence of Italians during the war period, I suppose. The houses with shattered windows and peeling off plasters, and casually demolished courtyards, looked like some movie set by Fellini. The port was spreading wide in the distance and the Old and New fortresses were reaching up the sky like two giant volcanoes. The houses neatly fringed the outskirts and in sort of disorganised way gave the city quite unusual feel. We had a lunch at one sideway street tavern where the waitress was about 70 years old Greek woman wearing jeans.  When we started browsing through the Menu, the thick glassed man in his dirty pants and greasy top came out from the kitchen and begun pinpointing meals from the list that he would recommend. We assumed he was the Chef. There were hundreds of meals among his repertoire, which was rather suspicious. He either had everything pre-cooked or he had to run to a different tavern to collect their meals as he alone could never manage such multiple-tasking. I seriously didn´t  want to imagine the way he cooked his dishes! There was an old lady sitting at one of the tables, some local guest – and the two women started fighting with each other like dogs. Barking mad! What a lovely and homely atmosphere indeed.




















         After leaving Corfu, there was a religious procession through the city streets with all the Greek priests carrying Icon of Madonna and holding crosses. They encircled the harbour several times in the procession of boats, before ending in the chapel of Mary. The tradition says that Parga has been built after one poor Greek guy had a vision of Mary telling him to settle and set up the town on these shores. The very next day an icon of Virgin Mary floated into the harbour and the Greek decided to take the vision seriously by building up a city.

 In the evening we went to Perivoli restaurant for a proper meal of the day. I had a swordfish and we were served by a Czech girl, which was quite a pleasure, after hearing all those unfamiliar languages of the world.
         Today I cooked a giant egg omelette for lunch. Then we went to Krioneri, where we had a rain and got bit wet. In the evening we went for a dinner – to have a large waffle with nutella and fruits. Naughty naughty me! After that we went into the streets to look for some presents. I bought some sea shells and starfish. Now there is a hurricane outside and I can see the distant lightning. This weather is rather crazy.
         Today we went to Krioneri after homemade lunch and in the evening stopped for a proper meal in Krioneri tavern around the corner from our beach. There was a Greek night today, accompanied by electronic piano music (played by Lada Szabo´s lookalike) and ukulele man. At first the choice of songs sounded more like pick from Ein Kessel Buntes rather than anything Greek.
I ordered veal stifado only to discover that Greeks probably don´t register the difference between young calf and old cow, calling a veal simply beef, as it´s the same animal after all! We ate a delicious taramasalata as a starter, and when we finished our meals, the waiter came over to ask us to dance before we pay. However, we were so stuffed and immobile at that stage, that we had to refuse his generous offer. I think we were the first tourists ever to skip the Greek trad dance for such a poor reason! I couldn´t understand how could Sylva manage to eat her dinner – she ate an ice cream and melon just before the dinner itself.
       Today we went to Krioneri at 1pm. There were huge waves in the sea. I had just a melon for lunch, and in the evening a bowl of salad. After dinner we went to shops to get some more presents. Tomorrow we´ll slowly start packing up. I didn´t  sleep much today. Way too hot and way too noisy.
     As for the last day, we visited our most favourite tavern at the top of the hill, where I had a lamb Kleftiko and Sylva ate a fresh sea fish. The sky looked as if raining anytime, but thankfully it didn´t. Our last night was the worst of all, as there was a bunch of youngsters  who woke me up at 4 am and started talking so loud that I yelled back at them to shut up. We were supposed to get up at 6am to get on the road. I put my clothes on and screaming furiously, I was ready to kill the whole lot of them. I eventually calmed down, but there is no way I will just simply ignore this – and our travel agency will have to deal with it. Sylva and I wrote them a complaint letter and we will require 20% off the price. I´m sorry to state this fact, but this was the worst Greek holidays ever so far, due to the lack of sleep (motorbikes, tourists), crowded promenades, lack of personal feel of the town, distant and overcrowded beaches, and excession of humidity and heat. The only positive point was probably the fun we had with Sylva (which comes free), the good food, and beautiful Corfu. I often think of Samos and Kokari. There is no place like it. And nothing compares to it. At least for me.