Koukanaries 2009

[john]

Well, that's it over! Covert operations, dodging flying plates, long silences and Jamie and my trip has come and gone!
everything was a rush for us as we were both at work on Thursday which meant it was a mad dash sorting out currency, packing and doing the last few odd jobs around the house. I didn't manage to sit down until almost 11pm so i am sorry i didn't manage to get into the chatroom as i had hoped.
I was up again at 4am which gave me an hour and a half to do my last minute things................i wish i had been up an hour earlier, it's amazing how time flies!!
Anyway, we got to the airport about 10 minutes before the check in desk opened so were virtually first in the queue. Thomas Cook put ALL their flights through the same check in desks now and it is alway in the back of my mind " what if my luggage ends up in Malaga?"
We went straight through to departures to have our breakfast and once again, Jamie was pulled at the security check and told to "assume the position"! I had removed everything metallic from myself and put it in my hand luggage. When i went through i also got stopped. When i protested she said, don't worry, you have just been flagged up as a random check!
I couldn't believe it. What a waste of time!
Our flight left right on time and we arrived in Skiathos 5 minutes early to cloudy skies and wet ground. Apparently the week before our arrival had been very poor.
We had not booked transfers and instead of taking a taxi down to our hotel, walked down into the town and stopped off for a couple of beers at the Milos taverna on the waterfront. This is a great spot to watch the planes approaching the airport.
We got talking to a couple who were staying in the same resort as us. They were virtually wrapped up in arctic survival gear! They said they had only seen one days sunshine since they had arrived. We were obviously hoping for an improvement but at the time were thinking "well, it isn't English rain!"
After a couple of beers, the rain started and we decided to get the bus down to Koukanaries. The fare had only gone up 10c since my last visit in 2007 and was now 1.8 euros. Not bad at all!
On arrival at our hotel (the Muses), i gave the receptionist our room voucher to be met with a blank expression. I told her that i had booked back in February. She said that the hotel was full.....shock! Then she smiled and said that we had been put in the Panorama next door. No problem to me as we were being upgraded from a 3 to a 4 star hotel! To be honest, Eileen would have loved this place.pure luxury! Huge beds, massive pillows and VERY well equipped! For 2 guys on the razzle a shed would have done but we weren't complaining at all!
We unpacked and went straight back out. We wandered up the road and ventured into a bar i had not visited before. Eileen and me stayed clear of this one last time because we just wanted a very quiet relaxing holiday because of everything we had to put up with before we flew out and the bar was quite busy and with the music it didn't suit us.
This time however.....wow!! Jamie and me adopted this bar straight away and it was our home for the next 2 weeks!
The bar is called "Stamelos" and the team in there are superb. The bar manager, Dino is a joy to watch in action. he is in total control of everything, mixing cocktails, sorting the music, chatting to his customers and much more. He has a wicked, dry sense of humour and we liked him straight away. Dino christened us JJ's the first night but later in the week christened us Stan and Ollie (after Laurel and Hardy) to which Jamie instantly replied pointing at me "he's the fat one"!
Efi, Dinos' wife was brilliant, encouraging us to speak a little more Greek everytime we went in and Lesley from Glasgow, who has lived in Greece for the last 5 years also became a good friend to us.
It was about 9pm on Friday night when the rain started coming down very heavily and we were enjoying meeting new friends and generally relaxing. It was about 1130 when Jamie decided to show us his swimming skills at the bar. One minute he was talking to Lesley and me, the next he was doing breast stroke on the wet ground!!
He got up and carried on as if nothing had happened but then repeated the excercise 30 minutes later. We all went further into the bar to escape the rain and at about 0130 after deciding that it wasn't going to ease off and that we were both shattered, decided to break out for our hotel. Jamie got his holiday off to a flying start by competing his hatrick of swims.....going down on the road along from our hotel, unfortunately losing a lens from his glasses in the process. He would spend the next 2 weeks looking for it!
We fell into our beds shattered and looking forward to the next 2 weeks. If only we knew what lay ahead!

More to follow.............

[Phil]

We fell into our beds shattered and looking forward to the next 2 weeks. If only we knew what lay ahead!

More to follow.............

I can't wait to find out if you were both arrested ............

[Janette]

Don't make us wait too long

[Rich]

Glad you (ollie the fat one ) and stan had a good start to your hols waiting with bated breathe for the next part.

rich

[john]

I woke at about 0900 on Saturday morning to an awful smell close by. I soon realised to my horror that there was a pair of feet sticking out from under the quilt less than 18 inches from my face!! I got out of bed and there was Jamie lying in my bed fast asleep. (I'd been worried about him before but now i was scared!!)
I got showered and dressed and went out onto the balcony. As i passed my bed i heard the shout "what's happening? Where the hell am i?"
"Jamie, i replied, you're in MY bed........and you are in Greece!!" He hadn't a clue where he was.
It took about 10 minutes for him to get pulled around and get his bearings and eventually we went down for breakfast. It was a good buffet breakfast with the usual cold meats and cheeses, cereal, juice, yoghurts and fruits, tea and coffee etc. Jamie not being used to "foreign" food wasn't too impressed. He wanted the full english. It didn't really matter because this was the first and last morning that we ever surfaced in time for breakfast in the whole of the 2 weeks! On several days, the maid just gave up on us altogether............We were still out for the count at midday!
Saturday morning was horrible. The cloud was very low and it didn't look like we were going to see any sunshine. A walk was out of the question because of the amount of rain overnight and obviously we weren't going to get a tan on the beach! We decided on a trip into town so we jumped on bus. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea.
Skiathos town in the sunshine is a wonderful place to explore. In the rain, like just about everywhere on earth, it was depressing. The shops were doing a roaring trade selling umbrellas and macs and everyone was sloshing around in the water running down the streets.
After an hour or so of this we stopped of for something to eat in the old port. and after a walk along the harbour front went for a beer in the Portobello. It was only one beer because at 4.5 Euros, it was the dearest i have seen outside of a hotel!....and it was a horrible pint too. We went back down to Koukanaries and back to Stamelos bar. There is only so much walking around you can do in the rain and we had passed the point of no return. We stayed there until around 6pm, went back to our hotel to freshen up and were back out for 8pm.
Liverpool were playing on Saturday night and there were a group of scousers in the bar. Dead giveaway with the red shirts on. They were really irritating with their chanting and when Liverpool scored they had one of those compressed air horns which they started sounding. Jamie couldn't take anymore and shouted to them"shut the **** up!!"....Everyone in the bar looked stunned, it was like high noon. It went VERY quiet. I was waiting for the potental fight..........then Dino butted in, "yeah shut the **** up" Everyone started howling with laughter. He even went and confiscated their horn! More torrential rain late in the evening, but at least it had stopped by the time we went back to the hotel ................at 0345!
On Sunday morning, we woke at about 1130 There wasn't a cloud in the sky. I suggested a walk and then a late breakfast. Off we went and had a three and a half hour walk around the coast and forest trails. There was some stunning views over to the mainland and Evia and i managed to take some good photos. Because of the recent winds and rains, there was a lot of seaweed washed ashore on some of the west facing beaches but the beaches on the south coast were pristine as usual.
We came to a peak on our walk and were surprised to find a seat, table and parasol erected. There was a stunning view over Koukanaries and over to the mainland from here so we sat for about 20 minutes soaking up the view. We wouldn't have normally stopped here but my knee has bee playing up a bit lately and i needed to rest it.
We set off again and started to drop back down towards Koukanaries, boy, could i use a swim right now! The walk was superb, the greenery, the smell of the herbs, the silence.............it was stunning!
We stopped off back at Stamelos and had our breakfast/lunch. It was Sunday and Sunday being club day, we stayed in the bar ALL day, watched 2 football matches drank loads and had an early night..............leaving at 0300
So Far there were no more injuries.................

[john]

Monday morning and Jamie had the mother of all hangovers! I managed to get him out of the room for breakfast at mid day, the maid came knocking on our door at 1145 trying to clean it! We went to Stamelos for our breakfast as usual and then hit the beach. 8 euros for the sunbeds. Koukanaries still had the sunbeds packed together in rows of 3 but now they had the umbrellas made of straw so they gave better cover. The downside was that i was taller than the edges of the umbrellas and kept walking into them which meant that i was walking around for much of the 2 weeks with scars across my forehead!
Koukanaries is a very busy beach and now has 3 tavernas on it, all in the shade of the pine trees. They are all now very good and provide quite decent meals too. The first time i visited Koukanaries was way back in 2003. Thee was only one taverna and it was poor to say the least. The prices are also very good too!
We managed to get a good 6 hours on the beach and then walked over to Aghia Eleni to photograph the sunset. There weren't many clouds about so the sunset wasn't as spectacular as some i have seen but i still managed some good pictures.
One thing i was starting to become very aware of was the number of mosquitos and "biting things" about! Despite smearing insect repellant and mosquito milk all over myself i was picking up on average 5 bites a day..not good!
After the sunset, we went back and got changed and then off to our local.
Jamie was by now giving dancing lessons to the staff of Stamelos..............and also to anyone else who showed interest. Dino has immortalised him on the beams of the bar "Jimmy the dancer" ok, the spelling is wrong but he has found fame!
After another very late night, Jamie was feeling very peckish and wanted a pomegranite. There was a huge tree in the grounds of a hotel which was dripping in them and he made me go in and pick some..........which i did.................and on my way out caught my leg on a bramble and ripped my leg and foot open on the thorns! What with the scars on my forehead and the scrapes on my leg i was looking like a walking disaster zone!
Jamie thought it poetic justice because he blamed me for getting him drunk and losing his glasses!
The next morning, err afternoon! Jamie woke up with such a hangover! The maid had given up trying to get into our room and we went down to our local for a VERY late breakfast! For the first time Jamie couldn't eat anything although he did have a slice of toast!. It was straight to the beach and it was great until about 4 pm when the sun disappeared behind a thick blanket of cloud. We gave up and went for a couple of beers and then back to the hotel. We showered and decided to go down into the town for something to eat and found this grill house in part of the old town. We each had a starter and half a grilled chicken with salad and chips and a Kilo of wine for a very reasonable 26 euros. While sitting having our meal it started spitting on to rain. They pulled some screens over and it got heavier by the minute. It was torrential by the time we finished and there was thunder rumbling in the distance. We went up to the Admiral Benbow. I have wanted to visit this place for years. It is a very popular pub among the English visitors to Skiathos, in fact i don't think you would every find anyone BUT English people in here. It is run by a couple of very eccentric English people with a great sense of humour. The music they play is outstanding with a great selection from the 60's, 70's and early 80's.
They have old 45's fixed to the ceiling and on the tables (under glass) I know we don't come to Greece to think of home but this is a great bar and woth a visit if you are in Skiathos.
While we were in Benbows, we were treated to the most spectacular of storms. The lightning was spectacular and the water was running down the street about 6" deep! This went on for about 3 hours.
We decided to make a break for the bus at around 1130. It was still raining and our local in Koukanaries was under water too.....luckily they have a closed in area at the back. It was 4am when we left..................yet another early night!

[Janette]

Is there more to come, I am sure some of us are anxiously awaiting the next part of the series

[john]

There definately is Jan, i'm just so busy at the moment i haven't had the time! It will be along soon though, guaranteed!
(i've noticed Jamie hasn't had much to say on the subject though!!)

[suej]

There definately is Jan, i'm just so busy at the moment i haven't had the time! It will be along soon though, guaranteed!
(i've noticed Jamie hasn't had much to say on the subject though!!)

Does Jamie remember what happened on your holiday

cant wait for next instalment

[Teggsy]

Does Jamie remember what happened on your holiday

cant wait for next instalment

Exactly what I was thinking Sue looking forward to the next instalment John.

Shaz