When I'm dreaming of... Cephalonia

So here I am still miserable,still studying, but this blog has turned into a very sad one and I'm fed up with it. So instead of crying my heart out to my incredible misfortune study I shall post a story of my previous summer holidays.

2 of my best friends and I had decided to spend four days in the Ionian island Cephalonia... We wanted to rest, go swimming, and basically get the chance to sunbathe and gossip at the beach till the sun went down. So this was the deal: every morning we would have breakfast on our room balcony in Argostoli, then we would get a coach (none of our parents would agree on a car in a Greek island) and travel to one of the many lovely beaches of Cephalonia (see photo, again, NY times). We would take the last coach to return.

So one day, we decided to go to the beach called Skala. A lovely long, sandy beach with complete facilities for lazybums and whiners. It was the same day we decided to walk to the coach in the morning instead of getting a cab (a very wrong choice as proved later).

So there we were chit-chatterin' in happiness, flip-flopping in the morning sun... Needless to say that by the time we arrived at the station we were panting for breath and sweating like pigs. Anyhow, we waited a kind hour and a half and eventually we got on the bus to Skala.

Now when I say "bus", don't you dare think about air-conditioning. I mean thank god the windows were open. I'm talking flies everywhere ladies and gentlemen, literally attacking you as they were blinded by the heat, and as if that wasn't enough, it turns out that this was the bus that stopped in every single frickin' village of Cephalonia. I should inform you by the way, that in Cephalonia a minimum of 4-5 houses CAN actually be named a village. Now multiply every village with a couple of locals carrying a bag or two of groceries, meat, fish, other necessities, or even a dog or a large smelling piece of goat cheese.

Yep... it felt like a tasteless movie... Anyway after many stops our stomachs started to feel a bit nauseous, but we manged to make a laugh out of it all...

After what seemed an eternity, we heard the driver call "Skala"...

We jumped to our feet in anticipation and exchanged unsure glances at each other. I wanted to make sure before we got off, so I asked out loud "Is this stop for Skala?" and the response I got was "Yes, Skala". And before I got off the bus, a young man asked me the same and I told him too, that this was, indeed, the stop for Skala.

As the bus slowly drove away, we came to realise that the long sandy beach we were expecting was nothing but a small, stinky, muddy, old marina, with a few tavernas (aka fish restaurants) along the coastline. It was hideous. Walking behind us, the two young gentlemen we had misguided.

After some walking back and forth (the pace getting slower and insecurer with every u-turn) we asked for information a lovely middle-aged, grey haired lady,the only human being in sight in that dreadful place and she said, that yes, that was actually Skala, the village. The beach,was 8km away.

Hear hear, like every Greek island, most beaches are named after the closest village. It was a rookie's mistake...

We could either walk that country road up and down that mountain (if you've ever been to a Greek island, you'll know what I'm talking about) or call the only cab that is shared by the four villages, and if he is "in the area" he might drop by. Tough luck or what?

But you know, being young and happy and foolishly optimistic we took a chance at it, and in a moment of total craziness we starting walking up that road.

After 20 minutes of walking under the August sun at noon we were helpless. We seriously discussed hitch hiking, but being quite reserved and risk phobic all three of us we came down to some rules. We would only aim at cars with women (quite the daredevil aren't we?!). After a few shots in which we hesitantly turned towards the car and smiled or waved in our unsecure attempt to perform the "going my way" gesture we had the fortunate luck of hailing... a cab.

That cab was from heaven.

The driver told us off for doing such a foolish thing as walking in the sun on such a hot day and, as we climbed in, we realised that it already had two passengers- the two misguided gentlemen from the bus :-)

Man THAT was awkward...!

Not only we were embarassed, but as I climbed in the back seat, the one of them sitting in the back sort of "flinched" away from me and stuck on the door with fear that I might slightly touch him... (wtf???) I couldn't help but turn to my friend and smile.

That was it. All the way (the long 4 minutes to the beach) we would try to hold our laughter and the guy in front seemed to look back at us just to check that everything was ok, that everything was in order...

It was the most expensive cab drive I have ever had (the driver ripped us off, both gangs) and we left to go to the long, sandy, promising beach of Skala.

This was one of my most bizarre moments of my holidays in Greece, and now that it's over, one of the funniest ones. :-)

Btw, Cephalonia is a GREAT place, and I highly recommend it. It has amazing beaches and I have visited 5 times in my life and had a blast every time. Just make sure you rent a car...

Now I'm done with the narrating... back to the reality of the present... ;-)