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Limonas Discovered
Tuesday 19th October 2010
Limonas Discovered
All the photos from today can be seen on my Flickr site.
After admiring the scenery from the hotel room balcony we wondered down the road in search of some breakfast. There is quite a large cafe that serves a selection of cakes and pastries so, using the established technique of all Brits abroad, pointing my finger and talking slowly, I ordered two baklavas and two coffees. I had to order espresso as that was the only one I could understand. Talking to a Canadian woman sat behind us, she said I should ask for Americano or French Press coffee. However, even then the waitress didn’t seem to understand me. After breakfast we went back to the hotel and checked out, then sat in the foyer waiting for Ilse to take us to the cottage. There were a few cumulus clouds out to see, but on the whole the sky was clear and blue.
Ilse arrived on her moped and led us out to the cottage. We parked the car at the side of the road and walked up the stream bed to the cottage, hidden behind a wall of bamboo and in front of an olive grove.
Denise walking up to the cottage
The cottage is very pretty, but incredibly basic. We were soon to discover how basic. The electricity is provided from a set of batteries that are charged from solar panels.
Our first view of the cottage
In theory the water is also heated by solar power but given that these panels are on the ground at the back of the house and shaded by olive trees they do not receive much light and certainly during our stay did not heat the water at all. It may be different during the height of summer but during our stay we had to have cold showers or wash in water heated on the cooker. Both the cooker and the fridge are powered by gas, stored in cylinders. More about the fridge later. The batteries also power a converter which has a UK 3 pin socket and USB port for cameras and phones, so there was no need for me to have purchased a separate in car charger for my camera. It would have been really useful to know about this before we got here.
Having unpacked and made the bed (we had to take our own sheets, pillow cases and towels) we headed up the road to a little shop (Mini Mapket) for some bread and cheese then headed south, down the coast until we reached Agios Fokas and could go no further. The road ended at a small chapel on a little island connected to the mainland by a causeway.
The small chapel of Agios Fokas on an island
From Agios Fokas we returned north and headed inland toward Neopoli. The road was very steep and narrow with lots of very sharp hairpin bends (a theme that was to be repeated regularly during our stay in Greece).
One of the many hairpin bends
However, the views across the valley and out to sea were stunning.
The view from Ellinikio - the cottage is down there somewhere
We made it to the top and followed the road along the ridge, giving us views of the sea on both sides of the promontory. Finally we headed back down towards the coast, stopping at the mini mapket for more supplies before heading back to the cottage for coffee and biscuits.
The following was written on Tuesday evening:
“The notes for guests at Limonas say that the electric pump should be turned on when having a shower. I had no idea on how to do that and Ilse had not mentioned it when she gave us a very very brief tour of the cottage. Can’t get the gas powered fridge to work either, it just won’t fire. Ilse gave us the number for Gillian and Brian, an English couple who live about 20mins away. I rang Gillian and she will get hold of Alex (who has done the renovations on the cottage but doesn’t speak English) and they will come over tomorrow morning and hopefully fix the fridge and explain the shower to us.
Just had a phone call from Gillian. Alex is working tomorrow so they are coming over this evening. I don’t mind basic facilities but I do expect those facilities to work and have them explained / shown to me properly, like what do we do with the rubbish?
Gillian and Alex arrived, even managing to drive all the way up to the house. Alex changed the gas canister for the fridge and showed me how to start it, in case I needed to do it again. He also showed me where the switch for the electric pump is – behind the door in the outside toilet – disguised as a connecting block. I know they do things differently here but if I was rewiring a house then I would mount the switch in the inside bathroom on a wall, not leave it hanging outside! Knowing me I would probably label it as well, especially if other people were going to be using it.
Gillian also told us how we can leave our rubbish in the roadside rubbish skips.
After they left we tried the hot water and although water flowed, which was an improvement, it did not get warm, let alone hot. Hope tomorrow is better.”
As it was getting dark we headed out for dinner, taking a hurricane lamp with us, as none of the torches in the cottage worked. There was a slight delay as D searched for her wallet, only to surmise that she must have left it in the car, which it turned out she had.
Stopped at the the restaurant by the mini mapket. The lights were on but the tables were not laid and they were not serving dinner. We headed towards Monemvasia with thoughts of going into the old town, as it started to rain. However, as we turned onto the “main” road we saw lights on (and people inside) a pizzeria so we stopped there. I had a 4×4 pizza (4 cheeses and 4 meats – although I struggled to find anything other than ham in it. As we ate we watched the lightning flash and the rain fall, and a cat curl up on a chess set under a shelter outside – oh to be able to wrap your furry tail over your own nose.
We each only managed 5/8 of the pizza so we got a box and bought them back to the cottage.
Later, in bed, snuggling under the covers we listened to the thunder roll across the skies, the waves crash against the beach and the rats running around in the ceiling. We both decided that the rain drops sounded like a gentle ripple of applause as if in appreciation of the orchestra of thunder.
Oxford to Monemvasia
Monday 18th October 2010
Oxford to Monemvasia
The alarm went off at 02:15 this morning, to allow an hour to get ready. We were up and dressed quickly. A slice of toast for D and a cup of coffee for me and we were ready to leave the house by 03:00. The walk up to the bus stop at Headington Shops took about half an hour, meaning we were only forty minutes early for the bus, which was due to arrive at 04:10. Fortunately it was not raining, but it was pretty chilly, so we spent the time huddled together (much to the amusement of a few passers by) and playing i-spy.
The bus arrived on time and a comfortable journey had us arriving at Terminal 5 for around 5am. We used the electronic check in to print the boarding passes then had to wait before we could drop the bags off. We went through security and made our way to the gate.
The inside of the departure gate
Rather than walking straight on to the aircraft we had to catch a bus from the gate to the aircraft. After a while a bus pulled up with the flight number and “Athens” on the front -cue several comments about a long bus journey coming up. I don’t where the aircraft was parked in relation to the terminal but it did seem like quite a drive from the terminal, going through several tunnels under the taxi ways before we finally made it to the aircraft.
We took off into the morning sky and turned south heading over the channel and then over Germany, before turning left at the Alps and heading down the Italian coast before turning left again towards Athens. There were some fantasic cloudscapes during the flight, especially over the Alps, where the snow covered peaks of many of the mountains could be seen poking above the clouds.
We landed in a very wet Athens. Passed quickly through security and picked up our bags before heading outside to pick up the car. After a slight detour through some of the car parks we made it to the car rental area and collected our hire car, a Skoda Fabia. Now for the fun part, the drive to Monemvasia.
There was torrential rain on the drive from Athens to Tripoli and the driving was not helped by the large amount of surface water on the roads. Fortunately, as we turned off the motorway onto the road from Tripoli to Sparta the rain stopped and the sun even came out briefly, creating one of the most fantastic rainbows that I have ever seen.
Rainbow on the road outside Tripoli
Thanks to D’s map reading and the Co-Pilot sat nav software we only made a couple of mistakes. The scenery was stunning, when we could see anything of it. Heavy rain, with lightning, loads of water on roads, cloud, fog and the occasional sunny spot. There was a tremendous lightning storm as we descended into Monemvasia, lighting up the rock and the surrounding sea.
Clouds rolling over the mountains
Ilse, our contact in Monemvasia, said we couldn’t get to the cottage that night as the drive was a raging torrent, also being a river bed, so she had found us a hotel that would put us up for the night for only €30.
After checking in we went out to find something to eat. After a false start at a restaurant that only sold fish we found somewhere that had a limited menu, but at least it included meatballs for D. I went for Kalamari and a Tsatziki salad. Headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. There was more rain during the night, but we woke to clear blue skies and glorious sunshine, with spectacular views of the rock.
Monemvasia from the hotel balcony
All the photos from this day can be seen on my Flickr site.
Limonas: Monemvasia, Greece 2010
Well, we are back from our 12 day break to the small cottage of Limonas, located about 7km south of Monemvasia in the Peloponese, Greece. It could have been warmer and the facilities could have been better, but all things considered it was great to get away for a bit and to see another part of the world.
Now comes the mammoth task of documenting it all for posterity.
I will endeavour to edit this post as I go and make this the first port of call for all the information about the holiday.
Photos are on my Flickr site and I will generate a separate post for each day of the holiday, with links here. Each post will be based on the journal I kept during the holiday.
| Day | Date | Title (click on each title to go to that page) | Kms Driven | |
| 1 | Monday 18th October 2010 | Oxford to Monemvasia | 339km | |
| 2 | Tuesday 19th October 2010 | Limonas discovered | 90km | |
| 3 | Wednesday 20th October 2010 | Monemvasia | 25km | |
| 4 | Thursday 21st October 2010 | Exploring Lakonia | ||
| 5 | Friday 22nd October 2010 | A day around Limonas | ||
| 6 | Saturday 23rd October 2010 | Mistras | ||
| 7 | Sunday 24th October 2010 | Metamorfosi, Richea and Gerakas | ||
| 8 | Monday 25th October 2010 | Pyrgos Gerakiou and Badron Gorge | ||
| 9 | Tuesday 26th October 2010 | A day at the beach – Palea Monemvasia | ||
| 10 | Wednesday 27th October 2010 | Gytheio, the Mani and Kelefa Castle | ||
| 11 | Thursday 28th October 2010 | A day at the beach part 2 – Epidaurus Limera | ||
| 12 | Friday 29th October 2010 | Monemvasia to Oxford | 339km |
The cottage should appear centered in the following
map
Carl Sprake 