A Lovely Day

Dear Friends and Family, After our disappointment with the rocky beach at Kastraki, we decided on another beach day. After a cool, but invigorating morning walk into Drepano, we got our act together and headed for Karathona Beach, which is a great expanse of sand and crushed shells just over the hill behind the small city of Nafplio, located about 7 kilometers from our bungalow. We drove over the hill that looks down on the bay

We wound our way down to a kind of public park that sits beside the bay

Unlike the day before, there is no charge for the lounge chairs and tables. You just pay for drinks and enjoy the water. For the price of a Mythos beer (4 euro) we had the place to ourselves and could have stayed there all day. However, we are trying to be careful with the sun here. It is very hot and, in fact, for the first time since we arrived, I got a bit of sunburn. We did about an hour, perhaps a bit longer, and then decided to have lunch out since is was a lovely day. Actually by the time we left Karathona, the wind was really beginning to pick up, so we chose to drive to the Plaka beach, about half a mile from Ingrid’s. There it was very calm and we tried an old, traditional taverna that we had once enjoyed years ago, but which has been closed when we have visited out of season. It was the right choice. One way you can tell, is when you see a large table to Greeks eating there. That is a good sign.

We had a Greek salad and a half liter of wine. Both were excellent. As I have mentioned, the tomatoes right now are wonderful. Why would you have anything else. Then it was home for a siesta. We spent some time reading out books and just relaxing in the room. About 6 we went down to the bar and our little German friend, Jasmine was there waiting to talk with “real” Americans. After about an hour and many questions from Jasmine that do begin to take their toll, especially on Polley (an American ideal for a young German girl), we headed for dinner. This time it was into the heart of tourist country: Tolo. We decided to escape the calm and quiet of country/village life for the hustle and bustle of the “city.” As I have said, Tolo is a typical small beachside town. It is actually the home of Aristotle Onassis.

There is an unimpressive little gyros shop (can’t really call it a taverna) that we were introduced to last year. The owner, Ilias, catered the party that we had at Ingrid’s and we also attended a dinner at the place with some friends of this Italian film director. Each time the food was very good. So, we went back and visited Ilias. First it was a glass of ouzo at a little local bar a couple of shops down from Ilias’. It was very reasonable, which was not surprising as it was filled with locals. Locals drink where the prices are low. Then it was back to Ilias for dinner. Ilias himself was the waiter and he actually remembered us from last year and that we were staying at Ingrid’s.

He gave us a long list of specials, but they all seemed very large. We opted for what we thought might be smaller, but in fact, was too much as well. We had fried courgettes, something that was called “Russian salad,” a mayonnaise-based salad with bits of pepper, okra and potato. Not too bad, but not something we need to have again. They we tried a pork gyro. It was huge, with grat pieces of pork, several pieces of pita with tzatziki and a great heap of fries. All for 12 euro, including wine. We will be having pork gyro for lunch today! As we finished the wine, we just watched the tourists pass by in downtown

Following dinner, it was back to Ingrid’s. Obviously the sun had done us in. We went to our bungalow almost immediately. No late night carousing for us. Not a lot accomplished, but it was a lovely day.