Finally ready to leave

We always said it would take four weeks before we would be ready to leave Messolonghi, and nearly to the day, its been four weeks. And what a busy four weeks it has been.


Our original list of jobs were the huge things that needed doing. Primarily renewing the GRP and teakwork on the swim platform has taken most of David's time and I have being doing the usual 'boat jobs' like cleaning, cleaning, oh and more cleaning. Here are some before and after photos, first of Alhambra being lifted out of the water last October, and launched last week, and then a before and after photo of the teak work. To the uniniated, and those who don't know David that well, I can assure that the difference between the before and after of the teak is amazing - precision in all he does is shown in his work.

 

    

Last night we ventured into town, to a try a restaurant  recommended by our neighbours. An interesting experience in one of the oldest tavernas in town.

They have enourmous wine barrels situated around the ceiling of the taverna, which then have pipes flowing down the beams, to taps on the downposts, next to the tables (sorry photos not that good, but gives you the general idea). We went with a friend, Klaus, and enjoyed a variety of starters, tzaziki, ham and cheese patties (home made, not frozen I was informed by the owner) and courgette puffs, which went really well with the tzaziki. Christos, the owner then brought us a sample of this pork from the spit (the pork was from his own farm), which was unbelievably tender and very tasty, served with salt and freshly squeezed lemon. For the main course I had chicken from the grill, David had kebab from the grill and Klaus had an emormous meatball stuffed with cheese. We enjoyed a litre of wine from the barrels and finished with fresh water melon. All for €15 a head. The restaurant was well away from the main part of town, and only locals seemed to know it was there - you had to have directions to find it. A really good find which we will/have recommended.

 

     We have now been in the water for five days, our list of jobs was even longer - service the outboard, put up the headsail, install the log impeller and GPS head, buy new water containers and fuel, hose down the boat, pay the marina bill and check out with the Port Authority, tidy the cabins, put up the flag pole, Greek flag, life ring, and twinkly cockpit lights (a must for any cockpit), clean the bathrooms, sort out the hassle we've had with Skype, give David a haircut, reinstall the swim platform ladder, watch the tennis, then the Grand Prix...then we can leave. Oh, one final job is to see if the new folding bikes will fit into one of the cockpit lockers -

David can fit in there, so I don't see why they won't be able to - here's the proof. This was back in April 2007 in St Martin, an island in the Caribbean where we bought Alhambra, it was one of his favourite places... FYI I have been updating the Caribbean Page on this blog. I've been putting a selection of my original e-mails and photographs. I intend to update all of the new pages (as and when I have the time). At lest this way, all of our time spent on Alhambra will be stored in one place.
    
So the plan is to leave tomorrow, Monday 8th July, and take a pleasant motor up to an island called Kastos, around 35 miles (6 hours) away. It is a lovely spot which we stopped in on our way back to Messolonghi last year.
   There is not much there, a windmill on the hill that used to have a cafe, but we have been told that has closed now. However, there is a perfect little wine bar, in a stone building, from which this photo was taken, that is just a perfect place to end the day, with a glass of wine or beer, looking over at your boat, with a backdrop of mountains and the sun glistening on the water in the harbour....ahhhhh.

   Watch this space for more updates as the weeks go by...