Greek Odyssey Day 8: Myrtos-Assos-Fiskardo-Athens

One last shot of Argostoli in the morning, from our hotel balcony.

Sorry ye, PETRONAS tak ada branch di Kefalonia. Bonuslink pun takde.

I can't remember the name of this beach, but there's a lot more where this came from.

Myrtos beach.

Hubby testing the waters at Myrtos. At 15 deg C, it's not a good idea to go swimming.

Local mountaineering champions.

Geological evidences of seismic activity.

Another view of Myrtos beach. Yes, we had to drive down that twisting road on the left.

Picture perfect. Go ahead, copy it as your screensaver or desktop.

As proof that I was there and that I did not rip off the above photo from someone else's blog, here's one of me & Myrtos in the background.

En route to our next destination: Assos. There's a medieval fortress at the top of the hill that we wanted to visit, but the road was not open to cars and we did not feel like climbing up.

Right at the northernmost tip of the island is the fishing town of Fiskardo. We had hoped to stop there for lunch, but no shops were open. People were just busy painting to get the town picture-perfect in time for the tourist season starting in April (my trip was just at the end of March).

Just southwest of Fiskardo, we found a small lagoon, again with interesting stratified formations.

For lunch, we stopped at a small village somewhere north of Assos. On the menu was seafood fettucine, greek salad and tzatziki. All items were ordered as single portions to share between the two of us, but there were still leftovers.

A nice cuppa Greek coffee to wash it all down. Specially dedicated to you, Ubi!

Our flight in th evening at about 5 pm back to Athens. I thought this was the end of our Kefalonian adventure, but there was more to come...

The personnel at check-in must have been confused when they saw a travelling visa in Hubby's passport but none in mine. They did not realise that his visa was meant for Malaysian travellers to Sudan, not to Greece. Malaysians do not require a special visa to travel to Greece. The police questioned us, to the point of making themselves look silly but they refused to apologise.

The same policemen were manning the departure hall, so to further exert their authority they asked for proof that Hubby's camera really was a camera. I thought I'd take a picture of them but they refused, so all we got was this:

Greek Odyssey Day 7: Skala-Poros-Melissani-Sami

Our second day in Kefalonia. We drove down to the South then back up the East coast of the island to visit Sami and the caves at Melissani. En route we stopped by several beaches - I don't remember all their names, but here are the pictures.

Sunny breakfast room at the Hotel Moukis where we stayed.

A bright start in Argostoli.

The beginning of our road trip.

Typical vegetation across the island.

The mountain peaks have wind turbines to generate electricity.

My old man of the sea.

A Greek taverna by the beach. Unfortunately, like most establishments in the tourist areas, it was closed during the off-season months.

We managed to fit in a visit to an archaeological site. This was supposed to have belonged to a wealthy merchant in ancient times, but the remaining floor was only about the size of my condo in Damansara Perdana.

Next stop:

Poros also had its share of archaeological findings, but the gates were locked so we couldn't get to see it in detail.

The highlight of the trip: the underground caves and lake of Melissani. The source of the water is actually the sea at Lassi, all the way across the island. Part of the roof fell during an earthquake in the 1950's, which created the beautiful sights here. We were lucky that two large tourist groups had arrived the same time as us, otherwise the ticket counter would have been unmanned.

The hole in the roof.

One for the album.

The coast of Melissani, where the lake water flows out. Across is the island of Ithaki, anciently known as Ithaca, home of Ulysses.

We then headed to Sami, another major town where most of the filming of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' was done.

Three olive trees mimicking the three witches from Shakespeare's Scottish play.

Ruins, maybe?

Native inhabitants of Kefalonia.

We stopped at Sami for coffee. Hubby had the standard Caffe Latte while I tried an iced coffee concoction and pretended to appreciate a fashion magazine in the Greek language.

A tribute to the book and film inspired by this island.

Back in Argostoli. This time we managed to buy some souvenirs from the shops.

Dream a little dream of me

My heart, mind and other bodily functions stop at the sight of this gorgeous creation. So sleek and elegant, yet the smooth contours hide a steel nerve, like an iron fist encased in a velvet glove.

I long to touch it, feel its raw strength beneath my fingers. Feed off its energy, push it to the limit, culminating in a great roar at the peak of its power.

What would I give to experience such excitement?

Defintiely something beyond my current means.

Someday, you WILL be mine.

This Mystery is History

Teringat zaman2 muda dulu...

Sometimes it's fun to create or imagine a person's character or personality without really getting to know that person. You superimpose the most attractive and desirable traits on this object of your interest, that you end up putting him or her on a high pedestal. A so-called perfect creation.

And then you find out something so normal about this being, so much so that you feel so disappointed at this imperfection - almost like a betrayal. Never mind that all this hurt and disappointment was self-inflicted.

No wonder it's called a crush.

Greek Odyssey Day 6: Athens-Kefalonia

Last view of the Parthenon on the Acropolis from our hotel after the island-hopping cruise. At about 4 am, we had to take a taxi to the airport to catch our flight to the island of Kefalonia.

Near the dock at Argostoli, Kefalonia. We arrived really early but were so tired we slept half the day away. It was a cold and damp afternoon by the time we had our lunch.

Another view of Argostoli.

Our mode of transportation around Kefalonia - a weather-beaten and much-used Fiat Punto.

Lassi. Up to 50 years ago, the sea water here got sucked underground only to emerge again on the other side of the island. The flow was so strong it was used to power watermills like the one in the background.

We decided to drive over to Lixouri. On the way, we drove up a hill to check out a medieval astle, but it was closed.

Anybody home?

It was raining heavily when we reached Lixouri, so all we did was drop in for coffee and drive back.

Night time in Argostoli. Lots of nice shops selling clothes, watches, jewellery & souvenirs.