Very lazy morning reading in bed…bliss. Caught up on admin & phone calls with the doors open & the day carrying on without me involved in it. It was another perfect weather day, sunny & hot, very unusual for this time of the year.
The seafront was buzzing at midday when I got down there ready to meet Melanie & go to yoga. Lots of Turks & islanders alike, enjoying the weather & sharing food together. Lots of people come for a day trip from Mitilene to have lunch & catch up with friends apparently. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday in the lead up to Greek Orthodox Easter.
Melanie arrived & off we went to Milelija Retreat Centre to practise yoga in a lovely yurt type space with a German instructor. It was a great class, gentle & kind on the body, perfect for a Sunday session 🥰 The instructor teaches every Sunday & after next week classes will be taking place in his garden in the shade. I’m looking forward to making them a part of my routine whilst I’m here if I can get there without a car!
After yoga I had a coffee in Petra & enjoyed just sitting watching the world go by. I called Mark & we had a good old catch up, me filling him in on all the Greek gossip! Life really is very sweet here, I am going to be sorry to leave I think? I have been blaming all the bread for the expanding waistline but I wondered today if it might not be the coffee metrio? God knows how much sugar is in a medium sweet coffee??? Just to be clear, I have no need of the ashtray!
Back home I ate a salad for lunch, with minimal bread & spent a lazy afternoon reading & doing Greek homework. And….drumroll please….I started an outline for the book!!! Just as I was getting to my limit of concentration Maria called to say she missed me today & so I went the twenty steps to their balcony & spent a good while catching up with them & filling them in on my movements since last we spoke.
When I got back from yoga today I found a scroll rolled up & tied with ribbon in my room. It was a citizenship certificate welcoming me into the Paradise Family! So sweet. I do feel really at home here & it’s lovely having people to talk to if each day, if I choose. Maria always has a story & likes to hear about what I’ve been up to. We have had other guests here this week so they have been busy again but this week they expect things to slow down a bit. They have said that they will have time this week to take me out & about. I am going to be meeting Maria’s family so that will be great.
She was excited when I said I was staying until the end of May, because I will now be here for Orthodox Easter & she goes up to the church on the rock each year so I may be able to go with her & have an immersive Greek Easter experience. This is what I’m here for, real people, real living, my kind of travel.
After it got chilly I left them to walk to the seafront to have some dinner. They suggested that I try the women’s co-op which I noticed was open at lunch time as I passed today. It was another beautiful sunset tonight as I walked along the front to the restaurant strip. They do get some cracking sunsets here.
When I got to the co-op the lady said that they didn’t have much food left because lunch time had been so busy. I congratulated them & said I would come back another time. I debated where to go & settled on the only place that I have tried so far. I know them, the food is good & they are open all year so it feels good to support them. They too had been very busy today with the restaurant being full twice over.
I sat inside tonight as it was already starting to cool down at 8pm. There are housemartin’s out everywhere all trying to find places to build nests. We have them just outside my room here & where I was sitting they were above me at the restaurant. I could foresee myself getting shat upon so I moved to another table with the encouragement of a couple sitting at the only other table.
Of course, we fell to talking & what a great night it ended up being! Monique is a Dutch tour guide who comes to Lesvos for 6 months a year & Panagiotis is an Albanian who has lived here for 20 years with his family. They were so much fun, funny, irreverent & not into taking life too seriously.
As you can see from the pic we are already firm friends ❤️ I’m pretty sure there will be some shenanigans occurring with these two! After a couple of beers, a compilation of Australian, Dutch & Albanian Eurovision 2024 songs & a lot of laughter I said my good byes & walked home.
Not a very exciting blog day but a lovely day never the less. I feel somewhat refreshed after my week of rushing around in the car & satisfied that I did some homework & a book outline. Let’s hope I can keep the momentum going with the book!