Monday 23 June 2008

Week 11 Stoupor, Greece

Dear Ethel, Family and Friends,

We are now on the mainland of Greece in the Peloponnese, Its the middle finger of land that juts out towards Crete. We are staying on the western side of the peninsular about half way down. We started the week in Rethymno and moved to Kissamoss at the western end of the town where we got accommodation for 25 Euro a night so even cheaper again and we were staying right on the esplanade again there is a big difference in the number of tourists. The population is only about 8000 in the town and surrounding area. On the Wednesday we hired a car and did a bit of exploring down the west coast of the Island, when we return to Crete in a week or so we will look forward to doing some more travelling like this as you get to see more and get away from the crowds. Wednesday evening we had dinner and watched our ferry come into harbour. It only comes in once a week on the Wednesday and leaves Thursday morning.

The ferry journey from Kissamoss to Gythion on the mainland takes 8 hours but is a large enough to take cars and trucks and stops twice on the way to a couple of Islands. There is a bar and cafe onboard. We were met by Ralph when we arrived and he drove us the 80km or so back to the other side of the peninsular to a tiny town called Stoupor where he and Titia and their son Janni stay in their holiday house. Like the rest of Greece we have seen so far, it’s a beautiful place.

So since arriving here we have been beaching out every day as Janni just loves the beach. It’s been great to have some enforced rest time on our holiday and catching up with Ralph and Titia who we haven’t seen for 8 years. The Euro Cup is on at the moment so I have been forced to drink beer and watch football with Ralph while Louise & Titia drink wine and gaze out over beautiful harbours.

We catch the ferry back to Crete on Wednesday, so will be reporting on our hardships from there.

All the best till then.

Ric & Louise

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