Morning arrives. Coffee, coffee, coffee. About eight the “pool guy” arrives and the day begins. Dora is also here and cleaning outside. She shows me what she has brought for the shower and I tell her that it is the right stuff. (Kit’s not up yet and she doesn’t want to wake him to check.) She also says that the plumber will be here between one and two this afternoon after he has finished a big morning job. The electrician will arrive about the same time.
The morning proceeds without incident and the plumber arrives about eleven and soon has the problem fixed.
We get ready for an outing today — we’re going by boat to a restaurant about fifteen minutes, by boat, further up the east coast of Corfu for a late lunch and some time in the sun and water. (One of David’s friends had recommended it.) The boat will pick us up at the Nissaki harbor.
After we’ve got our stuff together a little after one, David drives Trish, Di and I down to the harbor entrance and drops us off because Di is unable to walk either the hills or distance. We sit in the shade to await the arrival of everyone else (there are eleven of us) as they are walking from the villa.
I find the boat driver and we move our, too much, stuff to, and he places it in, the boat. Eventually, everyone arrives walks to the boat moored on the far side of the harbor. I’d looked earlier and decided to have Di walk up the three steps to the taverna and then wheel her through the taverna and then have her walk down the seven steps to the harbor rather than try to navigate the standard walk to the harbor. It’s a few more steps but they’re normal steps rather than the uneven large steps and uneven concrete of the shorter route.
A few minutes more and we’re off.
The trip is quick and we pass several large hotels and beaches enroute. Villas dot the landscape. We enter a cove with several boats moored to buoys, a dock for perhaps a dozen small boats in front of three tavernas including the one we are having lunch at — Taverna Agni.
Getting off is the reverse of getting on except that we leave some of the beach stuff in the boat. The only problem is that the beach and about fifteen feet between the end of the pier and the tavern are gravely and pebbly — impossible for Di to use her wheelie on. So, it’s Di, her cane and one of us on her other arm to get to and up to the taverna. We leave David’s rucksack, stroller and Di’s wheelie in front of the taverna as our table is right in front and next to the entry.
Our table has been reserved so we are seated immediately. Di is at the head of the table, facing the beach and sea, and the other ten of us are seated on the sides. Water and wine are ordered immediately and menus are brought and cogitated over. There is no rush — the meal lasts about four hours — and nothing happens in a hurry here. The restaurant is half to three-quarters full when we arrive and just about empty when we leave. The reserved signs on the newly re-set tables when we leave are all for seven or eight-thirty or so — a large lunch crowd, a large dinner crowd and little in between, is my guess (at least during the week).
Several starters are ordered and shared around the table; Di has a tasty Greek salad for herself. Some of us then order our own dinners and some share a couple of orders of mussels and chips. David’s little girls, having consumed several pieces of bread, butter and humus are off swimming with their mother to return during the meal. Remember, this is happening over a four-hour period.
Charlie has a Lamb Pot. (The lamb is excellent as I find out when she cannot finish the last two bites.) I have their Seafood Platter — anchovies, octopus, mussels, prawns, calamari — an excellent dinner, especially, since I had avoided the starters and bread consumed by everyone else over the previous two or more hours.
There is a sweet dessert wine and dessert for those who want it. David’s girls have an apple fritter with vanilla ice cream and chocolate ice cream. It looks so good that Di and Trish order the same and split it. No, I didn’t have any dessert; my seafood had been quite good and I didn’t feel the need to be rolled down the taverna steps after we were done.
Five o’clock rolled around and we adjourned to the beach. A real “pebble” beach right in front of the three tavernas in the bay. I sat at one of the taverna’s beach tables in front rather than bake in the sun or under a parasol — the temperature has been in the high eighties to low nineties every day we’ve been here.
It took a few minutes to get Di into the water — the pebbles and stones of the beach were slippery and difficult to walk on but we got her in and out a couple of times and she enjoyed her swimming.
David, who paid for the boat and dinner, had to wait forty-five minutes to get the check to pay. Like I said above, no one was in any kind of a hurry here. (Yes, the food had been hot, that was hurried to the table when it was ready.)
We re-boarded our “water taxi” for the ride home about seven and took a little detour north to Gerald Durrell’s White House before turning south. Fifteen minutes later, after a refreshing ride, we arrived back at Nissaki harbor and disembark. Trish, Di and I have a drink in the taverna, two lemonades and a beer, while the others walk up to the villa. As I finish my beer, David arrives back with the car and we load up and back to the villa — a very nice day indeed.
(to be continued)