Last Look at London

In the car we shared to catch our flight to London from Preveza, there was a couple from the United Kingdom and a driver from Afghanistan who had been an interpreter for the US.  He was an extremely vocal supporter of our president, whereas the couple were the opposite.

We were fortunate enough to be able to spend our last two nights in Greenwich where we saw the Cutty Sark ship.

Summer was yet a month away, but it was still a gorgeous evening for a stroll along the Thames.

On our last day we returned to Tate Modern via a river boat to see the rest of the free exhibits and eat lunch at the window bar while watching all the people out enjoying the lovely weather.

A last view of the Shard:

We finally found The Design Museum which had moved across the river and to the west side of London into a brand new building built just for its exhibits.  A special exhibit, California: Designing Freedom, was opening the day after we were leaving.

  Until next time...Good bye, London!  

Sivota to Vliho on Lefkada- May 20, 2017

We all had a good night sleeping-with dreams!  On our last day of sailing, we had our last excellent lunch in Portofini Bay; one that Jim and I thought we had never been...but we had.

 Slowly we sailed back to Vliho for our last rum punch at the Sail Ionian roundup. 

Tonight's supper at the Quay Cafe was no exception to the rule of always having great food in Greece...steak and baked potato, sole, bangers and mash, samosas, wine, and baklava to round it out.

The week has sailed by full of fabulous food, funny stories, and fantastic friends.  Tomorrow we share a car back to Preveza to fly back to London Gatwick taking wonderful memories and planning our next voyage.

Agia Efimia on Kefalonia to Sivota on Lefkada- May 19, 2017

 
          It was such a calm and beautifully warm morning as we motored on the west side of Ithaca.
                                        A small family of dolphins swam and fed around us.

Being close to the shoreline, we could see Stavros high in the mountains and several secluded homes.

We had lunch just outside the marina, eating wonderful leftovers, new spinach pie that is available in every market, wine, and John's lethal ice cream desserts.  

I went for a swim in hopes of burning off some calories from all the magnificent food we had been eating.  The water was really cold until I swam into shore.  No one else ventured in.

Elena was at the helm to take us past the northern point of Ithaca, then I took over.  The wind was great for sailing once we passed the point.  Eventually, I got cold and tired and passed the helm to Jim.  Suddenly the wind rose to 20-21-22, and we were in trouble because we could not reef the mainsail safely.  Luckily, a deep, narrow bay was close by into which we sailed to get out of the wind and to reduce the size of our sails.

The second moment of terror of our voyage had passed, and we sailed on into Sivota on Lefkada where another bit of excitement awaited us.  The marina used lazy line anchoring.  Neither Jim nor I had ever even seen it done.  Yannis, the owner of the nearby restaurant, jumped on and carried out the proper actions to anchor us while his wife and neighboring yachties fit us in between two other boats at the same time without crashing into the other boats or the quay.  Sometimes it takes a village to tie up a boat.

Once settled, John immediately headed for a nap.  Elena, Jim, and I walked to their favorite bar on the far side of the bay for espresso with ice cream and two Mythos beers.

That is an old olive crusher in the corner of the bar.

The menu tonight included stuffed roast pork, briam (a stew), pork souvlaki, broad beans, arugula salad, Greek salad, eggplant dip, bread, wine, and chocolates.

Poros to Agia Efimia on Kefalonia- May 18, 2017

It had been a rough night trying to sleep with rubbing and squeaking lines due to the wind and wave movement.  An added springline at 3 am made it tolerable until everything died down.

In the morning the wind was up again, and we all were eager to be sailing.  The captain took the helm.

Just before lunch, we tied up in Agia Efimia.  The small village is popular with tourists because it is so attractive. 

Clorinda II

Agia Efimia is not a large village, but it had a big variety of fresh produce available in the market.

 After another amazing supper of baby back pork ribs, prawns, steak, stuffed tomatoes and stuffed peppers, hummus with pita, chips, Greek salad, green salad, and wine, we were given small, shot glass sized chocolate covered ice creams that you can see in the glass fronted freezer below.   Then we had to walk around the village where we saw more of the most delicious looking breads, pastries, and ice creams.  Of course, we purchased several pastries for tomorrow's lunch.

Vathy on Ithaca to Poros on Kefalonia- May 17, 2017

With bright spirits, despite the gloomyish day, Jim and John led us out of Vathy. 

The round buildings are repurposed windmills.

 We stopped at German Bay for a delicious lunch of leftovers, spinach pie, and Pimm's cup.  I went swimming , but the warm shower afterwards was what I looked forward to most... with soap to wash my hair.

Facing directly into the wind, we motored to Poros on southern Kefalonia.  Few boats were here because it is almost too far south for the regular flotilla groups to reach.

After arrival drinks and snacks and a bit of a lie down, Jim and I went for a walk around the south side of Poros to see the large ferry.  I wonder what the sign says.  I recognize that there is a problem if a car is driven too close to the edge of the pier.

Soon we found a most unique bar and restaurant that was built into the rock formation.  It had a great view of the sea.

Supper was up and over the hill to the northern part of the town.  With numerous restaurants to choose from, we had tuna pizza, lamb chops, swordfish, broad beans, french fries, skordalia with dipping bread, Greek salad, wine, and a nutella crepe with ice cream.

An old American car drew John's attention.