Determined to “do” the Kali Strata, but wanting to avoid the heat, we rose at 5am one morning. Walking around the harbour, you could see people sleeping on boat decks, the bakeries doing their deliveries, and lots of cats climbing out of dustbins. Checking the temperature on the thermometer that always hung in Pat’s we saw that already it was 36 degrees. Onward we marched armed with our water bottles.
The things the guidebooks can’t tell you about the Kali Strata is just how beautiful a street it is. How your attention will get grabbed by a ruin, or by an exposed courtyard mosaic. I think the walk up probably took us close to two hours simply because we kept stopping to admire the view, or a cat, or a ruin, or a stunning house….it goes on. We saw the donkeys too, and what was funniest, was the little kitten that decided to follow in their footsteps! We hung out in the village for a while when we got up there, and mooched around, we grabbed some breakfast – just rolls if I recall. (You must remember dear reader that this was 10 years ago now..) We have climbed the Kali Strata several times since that morning, but no climb has ever matched that initial discovery. I look back on the photos of that morning and I’m not kidding when I tell you that my eyes mist up.
We took a cruise on Triton one of the days, a hilariously funny cruise. Arriving at the boat about 15 minutes before sail off to get a good seat, we commented how quiet it was. (Oh goody we were secretly thinking). Then, all of a sudden, just like in a movie, a little convoy of cars turn up with the “SAGA Louts”. 80% women, these were demon possessed wrinkly little harridans. Chief lout tells us that we have to get off as they had exclusively booked the Triton. “No no no” says the captain – “we don’t do that. These people have paid their money – you are all guests on the Triton”. I loved the cruise, and managed to zone out the oldies. I loved Panormities, and we even managed to lose a harridan there as they didn’t come back to the boat! Arriving at Selskia, we said hello to the donkey, went on a little walk and swam for ages. The smell of the BBQ lured us out of the sea. Chief lout pipes up again “This BBQ is for us – not you!” “No No No” says the captain (are you seeing a pattern?) We have never eaten so much in our life! We piled our plates as high as they were go, plopped our backsides in front of the Chief Lout and ate…and ate….and ate. We went back for seconds.
The cruise back to the harbour was peaceful, just the noise of the boat on the sea, and pages turning from books. Slowly the boat is trying to get tied up side on, and Chief Lout is being very impatient as she can see the little convoy waiting to take them back to Pedi. She’s pushing and shoving her way to get off first, the boat is still trying to dock. I can still see the picture in slow motion now, but Chief Lout sees that we are 4ft away from the harbour wall, and decides she is going to make a jump for it. It was a majestic moment when she plopped straight into the sea!! Frantically the boat was pushed away from the wall to prevent a squishing, but Scott and I were beside ourselves with laughter, we didn’t even bother to try and hide it. It could not have happened to a better person.
All too soon the holiday came to an end. On the last day, breakfast and a mug of tea was taken at Pats, we walked around all the other restaurants saying our goodbyes, and settled at Kanterimi to finished the afternoon off. Little Georgie Skiathitis (he really was little once) was tricycling around, and we all sat there with glum faces. The time came to get on the boat, we put our cases on and went up to the top deck. As the boat pulled out, I started to sob. These tears were a mixture of sadness and happiness. Sad because I was leaving the island that I had become besotted with, and happy, that at least I had found it.
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