- An Exciting Journey Begins
- Touring Greece Without a Plan
- Day 1: Crete Arrival
- Day 2: It’s Windy in Palaiochora
- Day 3: Palaiochora Morning Exercise
- Day 4: Exploring South-Western Crete
- Day 5: Grammeno Beach Again
- Day 6: Finally the Wind Dies Down
- Day 7: Elafonissi Beach
- Day 8: Last Time at Grammeno Beach
- Day 9: Last Day in Palaiochora
- Day 10: Road Trip Across Crete
- Day 11: Preveli and Agia Galini
- Day 12: Phaistos and Matala
- Day 13: Gortyn, Heraklion and Sitia
- Day 15: Karpathos Arrival
- Day 16: Karpathos Beach Day
- Day 17: Karpathos Beach Day…Again
- Day 18: Ammopi Beach by Bus
- Day 19: Exploring Karpathos by Car
- Day 20: Rhodes Arrival
- Day 21: Exploring Rhodes Town
- Day 22: Rhodes Town Beach
- Day 23: Rhodes to Tilos
- Day 24: Cutting Tilos Short
- Day 25: Kos Town Beach Day
- Day 26: Kos Car Hire
- Day 27: Kos Beach Day Again
- Day 28: Kos Town Hotel Move
- Day 29: Why I’m Still on Kos
- Day 30: Ed Arrives on Kos
- Day 31: Boat Trip with Ed
- Day 32: Road Trip (with Ed!)
- Day 33: Ed Departs, I Remain
- Days 34-36: Nothing But The Pool
- Day 37: Back to Kos Town
- Days 38-41: Living Life in Kos Town
- Day 42: Visiting Tigaki
- Day 43: Moving Hotel Room
- Day 44: Moving Hotel Room Part 2
- Day 45: Last Gym Session on Kos
- Day 46: Kos Final Full Day
- Day 47: Kos to Amorgos
- Day 48: Amorgos to Naxos
- Day 49: Relaxing in Agia Anna / Plaka Beach
- Days 50-51: Agia Anna
- Day 52: Exploring Naxos by Car
- Day 53: Naxos to Ios
- Day 54: Exploring South Ios Magganari Beach
- Day 55: Ios Agia Theodoti Beach
- Day 56: Ios Chill Day
- Day 57: Ios Psathi Beach and Palaiokastro
- Day 58: Ios Last Full Day
- Day 59: Ios to Sikinos
- Day 60: Relaxing on Sikinos
- Day 61: Sikinos Sightseeing
- Day 62: Sikinos to Sifnos
- Day 63: Sifnos Cloudy First Day
- Day 64: More Clouds Over Sifnos
- Day 65: Sifnos Sunshine
- Day 66: Mum and Dad Arrive on Sifnos
- Day 67: Mum and Dad’s First Full Day on Sifnos
- Day 68: Bus Trip to Apollonia
- Day 69: Sun, Sand and Sea on Sifnos
- Day 70: Exploring Sifnos by Car
- Day 71: More Sifnos Sightseeing
- Day 72: Our Last Full Day
- Day 73: Homeward Bound
- Greek Odyssey 2021: Retrospective
Sunday 11th July 2021
More Sunbathing in the Breeze
We decided on another beach day after our sightseeing expedition yesterday. It was still fairly windy, though not quite as strong as it has been, so we avoided Palaiochora beach and again opted for nearby Grammeno instead.
At lunchtime, I was keen to avoid Choumaz having had a bad experience there on our first visit. The only nearby alternative was the taverna at Grammeno camping, a short walk around the beach from our sunbed spot. The food was nothing special, but edible and reasonably priced. I had a cheese & onion toastie and a beer.
By mid-afternoon we’d had enough sun for the day, so we drove back to the hotel and, after a short rest break, walked to a nearby cafe/bakery called Vakakis for a coffee and, in my case, giant waffle! It was delicious, though I wasn’t sure how I would manage an evening meal after consuming so many calories – the tough decision of being on holiday!!
As it turned out, I probably should have skipped dinner. We ate at a taverna called Parasties, and while the food was tasty, Dad and I both ordered the chicken schnitzel and it turned out to be a massive portion, to the degree that we barely got through half of the chicken and felt rather guilty at leaving so much on the plate.
European Cup Final
Somehow, England had qualified for the cup final. We narrowly beat Denmark 2-1 after extra time on Wednesday we had arrived in Greece. The final was against Italy, one of the favourite teams to win the tournament, and none of us felt England had played particularly well in any recent match, so hopes were not high.
Regardless, we found a bar just off the bottom end of the main beach and sat down to watch the game. Amazingly, we managed to score in the first 2 minutes of the match, but from that point onwards seemed to be on the back foot and couldn’t secure another goal. Inevitably, Italy equalised on the 67th minute and the game went into extra time and then to penalties when neither side could break the deadlock. Our record on penalty shootouts is hardly stellar, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when we ultimately lost the match. Lucky I’m not a big football fan so it was all academic to me.