The fact that we are still at Camping Hellas means two things: firstly we have met and get on with our too near German neighbours, whose caravan still imposes on our pitch and secondly Mabel has earned a gold star by not once barking at our neighbours – she has instead reserved her contempt for the many campsite cats, ubiquitous throughout Greece.
Yesterday was sunny and hot and save for a walk into the closest village of Kato Gatzea, we spent most of our time on site at Camping Hellas. The peace of the site was slightly disturbed from early afternoon onwards, by a group of eight men, who were old enough to know better, drinking in the campsite restaurant and becoming rowdier and rowdier as the day, and their inebriation, progressed. At times their football chants made me worry that they were English, bringing further shame on our nation, but it turned out that Germans can make a nuisance of themselves just as well as the English. There shouts finally died away close to midnight.
Apart from planning the next part of our trip and lazing about, I spent my time engaged in two long conversations. The first was with a German man whom I engaged in light conversation and who, after a few minutes, asked me if I had a Bible with me in the motorhome! As it happens I was able to answer, truthfully, that I had, because I carry a copy of the King James bible on my Kindle. So we then spent the best part of an hour engaged in a discussion ranging over theology and the history of the Reformation in Britain and Germany. We parted the best of friends, but without Basil acquiring an additional Bible.
My second long conversation was with a Scottish couple who arrived yesterday with a large caravan. My assumption about caravaners is that they are not, or are not able to be, as adventurous as motorhomers. These two proved me wrong. They had taken their caravan all over Europe, including to Eastern Europe fifteen years ago, and were full of interesting tales of their travels.
In the evening Team Basil, minus the big man himself, walked to Kato Gatzea for an evening meal at a restaurant at which we had eaten in 2017, and which I had then described as almost free, because the prices were so low. As we were eating, at one stage I looked down and saw Melek’s harness empty! Somehow Melek had achieved the seemingly impossible and got out of his full harness. There was a short lived panic as we though Melek had gone off to join the street dogs, which is not a life which would have suited our diminutive team member, only to discover a much more predictable explanation: he was busy scrounging food under other diner’s tables!
So we finished our meal, completely stuffed with a free starter, our main courses, a complementary desert, wine, a beer and a complementary Ouzo like drink as an aperitif all for the total price of €19. Guess where we are going this evening!
Today has been overcast until late afternoon, when the sun broke through. We walked in the opposite direction for a longer, and prettier, walk to another seaside village called Kala Nera. Kala Nera is a moderately large holiday village by Greek standards, but did not deserve my sobriquet of a Greek Skegness! It’s only resemblance to that bleak North Sea seaside town, is that it has one small arcade with electronic machines – the rest of the village is typically picturesque.
Camping Hellas has yielded more small scale amusement today in the form of a German camper who we remember from 2017. Two years ago there was a caravan owner on this site who made us chuckle because he had all sorts of power tools which he used, for what we didn’t know, every day. To cap it all he had his own lawnmower to keep the grass short around his pitch. Today Sarah was walking the dogs when she discovered the same man is in exactly the same position this year and he still has his lawnmower. Little things count as entertainment when you are away from home for so long.
Tomorrow we move on. To where, we have not yet decided.