"Homeward Bound",,,,,,,,,,,, Well almost!

Well the season is almost over and it seems to have shot by this year. Up until today this year has now become my best season but we still have Oct to get through and with the tour companies basically killing off Oct for the island with only 3 airports flying to here after this weekend that will only bring all together 560 tourist a week from the UK for the whole of the island for the last 3 weeks, so it could be slim pickings but we'll see, at the moment Oct is going well. Many places are closing after this weekend and few have already closed with the odd business have done a runner.

Why don't people just quit as soon as they can see they are struggling to keep up and just hold their hands up, be honest with landlord saying its not working, give them what they can afford and leave on good terms being able to return to the island for holidays instead of staying open and building up more debts then when they got a bit money in their pockets leave before anyone gets paid, landlord, staff, suppliers, electric, tax and accountant. Everyone else has to pick up those debts and its worse for the landlords as they have to clear those debts left on the building before anyone else can open the business and the landlord doesn't get his rent so its a double kick in the teeth. All I can say to those people is shame on you that you have done this and can never return to this beautiful island.

 

So What have I got to tell you, loads and loads as its been over 2 weeks since my last confession, sorry blog update, that was my Reverend side coming out.

 

Been out and about eating lovely food with Helen while she was here. We always like to try and find new places to eat in little villages or in Zakynthos town but we are starting to run out of villages to visit now as we have gone through most and especially me after being here for 13 years now. So lets start our tour of a few tavernas we visited.

 

This tavern we have visited before but enjoyed the seafood so much that we went back there. Its just part Tragaki and Kipseli and its on the sea front, now the name was in Greek so sorry I can't give you the English version of it but I took a pic of the entrance.

 

This is the indoor seating area which they use through the winter, looks like it would have a nice cosy feel to it sat next to that fireplace.

But we sat outside in gale force winds but the sun was shining so it was OK. We had a fisherman's platter for 2.

Now its not the best presented looking dish but who cares, after all you don't order food just to look at it, they say you eat with your eyes...no you don't and I've had pretty looking food before and its tasted awful so why go through all the bother to have a pretty looking plate of food, as soon as its in front of me it's fork in and stuff my gob LOL There were prawns, calamari, octopus, large mussels and cod pieces, lovely.

Here is another little gem that only opened this year or did I go last year, maybe last year or was it? Anyway great food here. If you go to Base café in town you will see it opposite down a little side street, now I did know the English name for here but have lost the business card, DOH!

I had the mixed grill that was really good value at 8€, unfortunately I had already started stuffing my face before I remembered to take a pic so some of the meat and chips has already been eaten.

Helen had a fish platter, now this was really good value, a big whole fish (species unknown) large tiger prawns, octopus, cod, sardine and smaller fish (again species unknown) all that for 10€, BARGAIN!

And instead of the usual bread we were given mini pitas with paprika and salt on, lovely when dipped in olive oil, mmmmmmmmmmmm.

To continue the food theme, one night I fancied a pizza but with the bike its difficult to carry one home, so I got Helen to collect a large pizza for me from my fave take away place Big Boys, unfortunately Helen doesn't like cheese so I had to eat it all myself, aww shame LOL. Now when I got home the box was huge, not lying now but it was the size of one my ikea tables in the bar and the only way I could show you the size was by putting a Warburton Crumpet (other well known brand crumpets are available) next to it. I was eating pizza for 3 days ha ha.

And finally on the food front my blog wouldn't be complete without a crumpet creation. This time its topped with black pudding and a hybrid mixture, not a Bolognese and not a chili its a sort of combination of both that Helen had made for me before she left. I can see my Crumpet Creation shops now rolling out around the world, watch out Mcdonalds (other burger stores are available).

I like to ride around the island with the spare time I have and now I really am running out of places to visit, so I decided to look for historical sites. Historical sites are brown signs that you see dotted around the island such as churches, monasteries, wells etc etc.
The only problem is they don't say why they are historical. Take for instance this first sign "Old Village", Why is this sign here? What importance has this village? How old is the village? even when you got to the village it didn't say anything. You can't just put a sign saying old village, tell us why and how old. Wales would have bloody hundreds of these signs around the place.

Next sign, "Old School" again this isn't in relation to the music reference, it just says "old School" again why, what and where? I followed the direction of the sign and never saw the school as there wasn't another brown sign anywhere to be seen.

This sign was high up in the middle of the island near forests, scattered around the forest and on the road were shotgun shells and bullet shells, I guess you could say that the area where I was would be known to American Rednecks as "Squeal Piggy" country.
"What shall we do today Bo?", "Lets go shoot some sign Jessy", "Yeehaa, bring the moonshine"

Now this sign I have never seen before but I was excited at the fact of finding the WW2 forts, so I made my way down the direction in which the sign was pointing.

And there just around the corner was this stunning view and a perfectly laid road, unusual for Zakynthos LOL.

This then led to a isolated cove which the perfect road stopped at, I was the only one there, it was bliss.

If you swam just around the rock you can see there was a beach there but I think I would be a bit scared of any falling rocks.

You can see the cliff faces did go up very high but the sea was so clear it was a perfect place for me.

And just to prove to you that all the pics I post on my blog are real places I've visited myself and not copied off websites like some other people do, here is me at the cove with Virago taken on a timer. The cove is called Porto Sellinas.

But there was a down side, like all the other places that had signs, the first sign was there for the forts but then no sign after that to say where the forts were and it couldn't be that difficult as there was only that one road, not even a dirt track led off it and I still couldn't find the forts.

On the way back up the road from the cove I stopped at this cemetery. All the cemeteries over here are kept immaculate, well the ones I've seen are. Look at the ones in the UK, food wrappers, empty cans of booze, head stones pushed over, condoms and some spray painted. That's what I've seen in the cemetery that I used to live by in Cardiff. The one in this picture didn't even have a stray leaf on the floor.

Now we took a ride along the east side of the mountain range on the west coast and went through a few little villages, in a village called Pigadakia I saw this huge building. Now at first glance you may think its a hotel, WRONG, it is in fact a family home. I think that all the generations of family must live in this one building, it was stunning, I may put in an offer as 2 bedrooms just aren't enough  LOL.

I have posted this before but next door to our house, and I do mean next door is where Solomos wrote the national anthem of Greece, this is the monument to him at the place where he sat.

And this was his view. While he was writing the anthem he was watching the civil war take place down below with gun fire and cannons going off. I would like to ask a question at this point, Why didn't he have a gun in his hand helping the troops down below instead of pen and note pad? ha ha

On my travels I came across a sign (yes another one) that I had never seen before and it was to "Myceane Tombs" at Kampi, OOOooooo now that sounds good, After seeing the "Tombs of the Kings" in Cyprus I was thinking it would be along those lines.
Nope, it was 5 square holes in a rock and to be honest they didn't look like tombs to me.

I mean if someone had been buried in this tomb they would have had to have been very short (please, no jokes about it was made for me) or they were hacked up in to pieces before going in it or the were folded up like human origami to fit in it. Very disappointed indeed.

So as I continued on my travels I visited a church at the highest point in Kipseli, there is also a tavern next to the church but I didn't go in it as there was only the couple that own it in there and they seemed to be having a domestic, shame really as I was so thirsty and needed a drink.

There were stunning views from all around the church.

On we go and next was a little village called Macheirado, this was such a lovely little place. Helen had been twice before at night with friends to the little tavern that fed the village.

The tavern is called "Dennis's", original I know but that's what the sign said so that's what it is. I was told that they do the best freshly cooked grilled food, shame it was daytime so I just had a frappe.
If you have a hire car at some point during your hols give it a go.

Helen left the day before my birthday which was on Sat 28th but I didn't celebrate it then so I waited till the next day when I celebrated it alone. I don't mind that, I was a lone rider for years previous to meeting Helen so I took myself off around all the places I have just shown you. But here is a pic of me on my birthday at one of my fave hotels on the island.

Look how happy I am and how much I'm enjoying myself, can you see my feet smiling? or should that be smelling?

Well its almost time to pack up our house for this season but Helen I think has gone mad, bowls of salt left everywhere in the cupboards, in fact so many I now haven't got a Bowl for cereal. Also she said she had brought those silicon saches that you find in shoe boxes to stop any damp, good idea I thought for the drawers, nope I was wrong. These were huge versions compared to those ones. When I saw them the first thing I thought of was "Bodyform" (other sanitary towels also available). If you walked in the house you would think there had been an explosion in a panty pad factory, they are bloody everywhere.

On the back of the sofa.

On the welsh dresser.

On the bread bin.

By the TV.

And that's not the half and no I haven't just moved one from place to place, they are on the beds, on shelves, in wardrobes and even in the corners of the room on the floor. good job I never invite anyone to the house LOL.

Its starting to get a bit changeable the weather and here is a pic from my garden last Mon just as a storm was brewing that hit that night and we are due another this week.

Well folks the bar is now in rain mode with inside turned in to a nice cosy lounge, outdoor heaters under the roof and all furniture also in under roof to keep everyone dry and warm. This season I am staying to the bitter end and will be travelling back via Athens around the 31st. It actually works out cheaper to go via ferry/coach to Athens, flight from Athens to London with free luggage, free inflight meal and free bar and then a train to south wales than just the direct flight to Gatwick without luggage or food and drink. How crazy is that. Nothing booked yet though as it will be all last minute. Will be home soon beautiful girl, not long now.

I've got some great news about the bar for all my lovely readers, loyal customers and friends but I will tell you all about that on my last update from the island.

So until next week.

Serve All, Love All, Peace All, Kevlar Out!