For Friday we planned to drive up the West coast to the top of the island. We set off and drove through Argostoli, which is the island’s capital. They have a bridge that is now a causeway as it dropped so much during the 1950’s earthquake that nearly flattened the whole island. It certainly was an experience driving over it. The coastal road again reminded me of coromandel.
We stopped at Myrtos Beach, which is the most photographed beach in the Ionian Islands, often on the cover of travel brochures. It did look pretty from high up on the cliff. We didn’t drive down as it was a bit of a way and we had been warned that it was a dangerous swimming spot, and the lovely white sandy looking beach was actually shingle.
Fiscardo at the tip was where we were heading for anyway. It’s a great fishing village, my favourite place on the island. Lots of yachts go in there, including Madonna’s. She wasn’t there today though.
After a look around the shops we brought a picnic lunch – Gavin had his pocket knife with him so we could get buns, and spread etc. Then we hired a motor boat and travelled south along the coast to find our own private beach.
We thought we’d spotted one on Ithaca – a neighbouring island very close to Fiscardo, up after crossing the channel we found it was taken, we travelled across the waves – it was a bit windy and bumpy and finally found our own spot after about half an hour. It was just magic.
The beach was inaccessible by car, but we could see something of a track, and there were remains of a building and dock there. It was about 50 metres long and 10 metres deep, I suppose. We had our lunch and rested for a bit. As we were close to the cliffs the sun came over quite early so I wanted to swim before it got too cold to warm up again.
The water was clear so I could see the fish again, but I went out a bit deeper and kept my feet off the bottom – so that solved that problem. After half an hour or so, we got out and dried off, but the sun was almost gone.
We decided to go back in the boat and putter up the coast again so we could be out in the sun. It was so different to earlier – almost like glass so it was lovely. The motor boat had a little shelter thing to put up to keep the worst of the sun off. I got to drive us back, which was fun, a lot more steering than a car though. There were some nice houses and yachts on our trip back.
After dropping the boat back we enjoyed a drink in Fiscardo, and headed back down the western coast with the thought of stopping off at Assos, which is on a pensulia. When we got there the sun was setting and it didn’t look as inviting as people had suggested so we continued on and watch the sun go down as we drove. It was lovely.
We made it back to Argostoli for dinner and ate at one of the island’s best restaurants with live music. Very nice eating and listening to two old men playing their guitars and singing Greek songs. Argostoli is like a real town with a pedestrianised shopping street and some nice looking shops. Again we drove home in the dark and managed without taking any wrong turns.