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DAY 9

up for sunrise


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with Mrs Db back on a sunbed I thought I could walk down to the far end of Nidri to see how it looks down there, so through the town and out the otherside


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Passed the bypass turn off on the right


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Oh what's this a early Bronze Age Tumili


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nobody mentioned this but it's locked up


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I could pretend to be intelligent but I'll let the photo explain better lol, so nearly as old as the Pyramids


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a longway down the road, I came to a boat yard with a cemetary in front of it


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and Nidri Star 3 was tied up there not sure if it is used now


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The idea was to get to the far end and perhaps around a bit of the peninsular


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There are several restos over the other side which apparently have jetty's to tie up boats but would be a taxi to reach them for dinners


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also there is another promenade with a yachting community


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And fishing boats


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it's shallow down this end and you can see grasses growing in the sea and here is a jellyfish


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there is a footpath down this end which looked as if it lead somewhere rather than use the road I took it


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a couple of herons were in the marshland area


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The pathway just ran out and I could see a track in the scrub, however, I had been warned by the rep not to go into long grass as there are scorpions and snakes here in Nidri. One woman was bitten recently and was given the antidote for a scorpion bite but it turned out to be a snake. A new antidote was given and she spent 5 extra days in the resort getting over it


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but time to get back to mrs Db via a nice village


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the 12:15 ferry to Meganisi was getting ready to leave an island we could see in the distance I think the ferry takes around 30 mins


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after meeting up with Mrs Db we returned to Di Paris where Mrs Db enjoyed her Chef's salad she had another and I had a chilly burger and chips, scrummy


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after returning to the beach for the afternoon it was on the balcony for a cup of tea


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this evening we are eating on the front at Catamarans


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I had the chicken stuffed with mushrooms and bacon in a mustard sauce


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Mrs Db went for the tortellini with chicken and bacon


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all ok no extra's so just paid the bill

so back to hotel for coffee

END OF DAY 9

DAY 10

made the sunrise again lol

an angler fishing


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but he wouldn't stay around


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"how did we do Delboy", well I wasn't low enough to catch you right against the sun, perhaps tomorrow lol


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the morning was spent on the beach with Delboy still looking at flowers, there is a bee in there which kept hiding from me


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That is the island of Meganisi in the distance


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for lunch we just went a resto down on the beach


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we both had the chef's special omelette which had chips in it lol


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a nice setting under the trees


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after being on the beach till 4pm Delboy was going to make that trip up the mountain again as the sea looked blue enough for some shots, you know the way up now, so it will be shots from the mountain only but hard earned photos lol. But not before I had my watch battery changed in a jeweller/watch shop as it was losing time. The chap opened it and cleaned the inside, soaked the seal in a solution added the new battery all for 4€'s.

right i probably have a hundred photos but just a small sample


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for the evening meal we went to the Barrel again, it was becoming one of our favourites


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I had the beef stamnato which came with chips


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Mrs Db chose chicken in pepper sauce


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and of course those free puddings and liquors


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afterwards Mrs Db said she was fit enough to do the day boat trip tomorrow but wasn't going to get off the boat, so Delboy neogotiated a good price
So it was back to the hotel for coffee

END OF DAY 10

DAY 11

It was the day of the cruise, something I had been looking forward to since deciding to go to Nidri

I was still up for the sunrise of course and this is a yacht and not our boat


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We had to have an early breakfast, as we were told to be at the boat for check in at 9:15am


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Just like a real cruise, this I suggested to Mrs Db, will we get ticka tape send off


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Lots of anticipation as the captain kept coming aboard then going back on shore, we finally left at 9:55am

you can see that zig zag mountain I climbed yesterday in the distance lol


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as we left Nidri port a closer look at the little church at the entrance to the harbour


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from here we will take a 50 minute journey around Cape Lefkada to Porto Katski, the dream beach I wanted to photograph, going into open sea here hope I am ok lol


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Meanwhile the captain had allowed all children to come up to his cabin to wear his hat, well how could Delboy miss out on that.. CHILDREN he said as Mrs Db's voice disappeared into distance lol


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the coastline is quite rugged along here, the captain then announced we will be stopping in Porto Katski for one hour for swimming etc, now I heard there are many steps to get to the top would i get time to get up to the top and shoot some photos


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just a few people on the beach, no brollies but shade under the cliffs


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I got off fairly quickly but had to get around a boulder overhanging the sea and the beach is fine little white stones all the same size and you sink into the sea with sandals and they get under your soles


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but I was on my way up after emptying out the stones lol


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well that didn't take long but wow on the view


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so let's see where are the best views


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oh the boat has gone out


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so the best shots must be over the bridge Indy


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Glad we got here first here comes the Nidri Star 20 minutes behind us


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Our boat had turned around to allow swimmer to dive off the back of the boat


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Mrs Db said I didn't need to spend the whole hour on land I could comeback to her when finished lol


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notice the exit ladders on the Nidri Star I for getting down


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this is a photo of the sand, so it's scenic for me rather than a nice sandy beach, we had to take our shoes off going aboard where our feet were hosed down to rid us of any stones on deck


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Lunch was included in our ticket price and it was served as soon as I got aboard


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as the boat then sped off to Fiskardo in Kefalonia, a 30 minute journey


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In 1953 a large earthquake destroyed the whole of the Island of Kefalonia apart from the village port of Fiskardo, so a lucky place indeed

Entering the Port of Fiskardo we were told we had one hour on shore and the Taverna's were pretty quick at serving if anybody wanted lunch but we had eaten too much of a rush doing that


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lots of taverna's all around the port not sure where all the trade comes from, I guess yachters and those travelling around in cars


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We had a sangria and a beer in this place


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Mrs Db was not going to do any running around but i did have a quick walkabout


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I think these may be Venetian houses built before 1953


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It was nice for a toilet stop, as I think there were 3 toilets each for both men and ladies aboard


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the boat set of for the west coast beaches of Ithaka


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it was a stop for a 40 minute swim which both Mrs Db thought was a waste of time


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then it was off to cave of Papanikolis which is situated on the west coast of Meganisi. It was used to hide a submarine to pick off the Germans in the second world war


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The boats puts their noses in but difficult to get good pictures as all the phones come out and are in the way better to show you the Nidri Star going in lol


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then we come to Scorpios where the Russian Magnet lives your not allowed to land


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except we are allowed to visit one spot where the Paparazzi photoed Jackie Onassis at her private taverna


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and another swim


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finally it was around Scorpois, armed guard on the beach lol


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another here lol


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The boss's house behind his boat


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finally Madouri the poet's Island, a chance for Pam Ayres yet lol


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and the end of the cruise


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This evening we went back to Apollen


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I had the beef stamna


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Mrs Db had the chicken Souvalaki


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of course their free puddings


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along with free coffees, two brandys, bailey's and a liqueur

END OF DAY 11

DAY 12

I was up for sun rise , I found an angler fishing on the shingle peninsular


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But he decided to bait his hook during the whole of the sun rise, never work with anglers and animals lol


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another lady from eastern europe managed to snap a shot of a cat that had crept down to the water side whilst this was going on and she said to me, "cats good, men no good" lol, I assume she mean the picture of a cat would be more popular lol


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we had a morning on the beach and the heat haze was building up again


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for lunch time we went further down the beach to our left to Delfini


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It was a lovely spot sitting under the trees for shade


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and two cold beers lol


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I order a tuna salad which tends has a lot of lettuce underneath which I often leave but the tuna was all tossed up in it, so I had to eat the lettuce lol


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Mrs Db ordered the chef salad which had a lot of stuff in it


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This afternoon was the regatta but it started at the back of Meganisi and one had to go over there to see the start


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However, I had heard about a walk to a village called Paleokatouna, which would give me a different angle on the view over Nidri from the hills above the village. However, my instructions as a newbie were a bit vague. However, I missed the turn

instead I ended up going right through town and down to the bypass, I turned right here and followed the bypass


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eventually coming to this left turn which I guess was just across the bypass road from the turning I missed lol


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So I was now heading for the hills


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the road started to climb quite steeply


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I was told there would be a taverna in the village but I always take water with me


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which was fortunate as they were closed, i could see from a window they had a nice view over Nidri Harbour


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It was really hot but I was here now and going up beyond the village to get the views


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further up the hill I pass a cafe but nobody seemed to be around and there was a dog warning, so not too keen to find out more lol


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but I continue up


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apart from just getting a view a little further around the corner of the bay


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the views were much the same as before


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so there was not much point in going higher up


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so called it a day at this point


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on the way down I passed the cafe and a couple were walking down from their apartment towards it. I asked if they knew whether it was open and they said, "yes we are just going for a coffee". So I joined them to get a cold coke. An elderly lady didn't speak any English and the lady of the couple interpreted my order for me. I was given a cold coke out of the fridge and the cost was 1.5€'s. I handed over a 5€ note and opened the can to find the elderly lady had no change. The couple also only had a 10€ note as well, so they couldn't buy a coffee.

However, I said, "have a coffee on me if 5€'s pays for it all". The elderly lady was confused and that cunning plan just didn't work for some reason.

Plan 2 came into operation, where I took two further cans of coke from the fridge and signalled to the elderly lady to have the 50 cents change. That left be carrying 3 freezing cans of coke, one of which was open,plus my half bottle of warm water and a camera. I just couldn't drink the coke fast enough to lose my new inherited baggage lol

on the way down the taverna in village was open and may have been closed for siesta lol, I came down melting as it had been hot, the other route had been much more sheltered by the mountain

tonight we were eating in El Greco's


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I had Kiki's burger (not sure who KiKi is lol)


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Mrs Db went for the Chicken Madouri


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a free pudding to share and after sharing a litre of wine, two more large glasses of it came out lol


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look, I'm still managing to stand up to take photos lol


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END OF DAY 12

DAY 13


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Now are you going to stay there this morning lol


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this morning we were on the beach and we had booked at Sunset trip to Lefkada town via Sunvil


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but for lunchtime we went back to Defini's where we both had the chef's salad


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The regatta I think may be still going on, it seems quite a big thing in Lefkada and this was a tall ship in the distance


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but some kind of race seemed to be going on with the smaller yachts in the distance


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We had to be down at the Reflections office to pick up the coach for the sunset.

However, the sun had gone down behind the mountains, for us but the evening was hot outside waiting for the coach to turn up, it was 10 minutes late. There were two reps from Sunweb on the coach with a Dutch party. The temperature outside was showing 30 degs on the coach's dials but fortunately for us the coach was air cooled

The whole episode to follow could have been arranged by the producers of Top Gear where Jeremy Clarkson is set a task of racing a Ferrari to reach Lefkada before the sun goes down. However, we were doing it in a coach, which was to stop about 4 times to pick up more people on the way, whilst we anxiously looked at vast mountain in the way and not seeing any progress being made or where the sun had gone.

Finally the mountain had gone as we arrived in Lefkada Town but the sun had already gone behind the towns buildings All the reps said was to be here on the otherside of the road at 10:30pm. I think they had something arrange with the Dutch people and the rest of us were just filling the coach


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Mrs Db with her sore knees had no chance of getting to a position of seeing the sunset, so I suggested she waited in a taverna whilst I attempted getting to the sunset but she preferred to stay where she was. So being new to Lefkada my instinct was to follow the red glow of the sun. But every road I went down there were buildings in the way and it was a maze lol


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I ended up coming out in a car park with a couple of Romanian Traveller vans parked in it, not the sunsets I was looking for lol. I then spotted a monument and thought I good get a better position but it was all locked up lol.

So I followed on round it and you can see the monument in the distance


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so I now had to get away from the cars and umbrellas


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so another chase down the road as I spotted a bridge over the water


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I thought a better shot might be having the people on the bridge in front of me like a Lowry picture


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I quite like that shot but realised I was never going to get through the maze of streets back to Mrs Db and it would soon be dark, so I decided to keep the sea on my right and had a fast walk back to Mrs Db. We didn't have phones as didn't think we would need them but fortunately I picked right and got back to Mrs Db. However, the story continues lol

So now very hot indeed from my chase a beer was needed lol

we chose The 7 islands resto on the harbour edge and ordered a beer


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the owner was keen for us to order some food and I said to mrs Db here is as good as any, so I ordered moussaka and Mrs Db had lamb souvlaaki


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By the time the food came people had been coming in dozens every chair had been taken and the two ladies serving were run off their feet taking orders we couldn't even get any wine, the chef himself bought out our food, bless him. I think it may have been due to the regatta, as the place was a nightmare


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we got our bill and I slowly walked Mrs Db to the sunset bridge and then we cut down into the town.


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probably more chance of getting served in here but the heat was something else


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In the end we made our way to where the coach would pick us up and got a beer in a busy taverna on the harbour. The coach did turn up on time but discussions with other Brits whilst waiting, revealed some didn't get any decent shots of the sunset, another lady ended up in the same car park as me but some time behind me.

What is needed, the trip should leave half an hour earlier and the reps should tell newbies where to go for the sunset, or better still, the coach should take us up to the bridge and not leave us at the other end of town on something that is labelled 'a sunset trip'. I pointed this out to the rep the following day. Somebody even told me that the same thing happened to them last year on the same trip.


END OF DAY 13


DAY 14

Made it again lol


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beam me up Scotty


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our last day as such and it was a relaxing day on the beach


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watching others play on boats


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lunchtime was at Hotel Nidri Beach located 50 metres to our right


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Mrs Db had and omelette


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I had a burger and we shared those chips lol


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walking back to the sunbeds they have nice flowers out


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then about 5pm it was on the balcony and gathering the football scores


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for our last meal it was going to be the Barrel resto that had stood out for us


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for me it had to be the chicken and bacon souvalaki which is really tasty


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and for Mrs Db the pork in mushroom sauce


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and of course the last free puddings


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and the last ouzo and Mrs Db's peach schnapps lol


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END OF DAY 14


DAY 15

going home day


someone in for an early swim


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it was a muggy morning and thunderstorms were forecast later


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a picture of the blue building I reached on the walk in the hills on the thursday


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It was an early breakfast and we had to be at the church tower at 8:30am with cases and like all good things they have to end


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one last look at Lefkada Town before we cross the road bridge to the mainland and on to the airport


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The airport was organised chaos with three flights cramped in to the airport lounge and the aircon struggle to cope but eventally we were on our flight and on our way home


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lunch on board was chicken with free soft drinks or coffee or tea


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and eventually the the English coastline appeared


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I hope you enjoyed holidaying with the Delboys and will fly with us again next time lol

END OF DAY 15