The Day After Friday 13th
.A good excuse for a special
 
After such a busy Easter time, lots of people everywhere, today, Ithaca seemed almost uninhabited. Empty roads, only the occasional bark of a dog, some birds singing, wild flowers in the all the fields and barely a two-legged soul to be seen. The sun is shining, it's warm and mild, nothing bad happened, despite Friday the 13th yesterday, so all is good with the world ... for 5 minutes. The last place you want is to be in front of a computer screen, so I went for a drive to see what I can see, sit, enjoy and then to share whatever that is, with you. Nothing too exciting, but very, very pleasant.
 
 
It's a shame that many of these grand old buildings are wasting away through decades of neglect and are now undervalued as storage areas. Not too long ago, the Stavros Palace was used as tourist accommodation, but to be used this way again, would take a lot of work.
 
The Stavros Bakery. Newly fitted out, despite a broken leg.
25 years experience on Ithaca and never once have I taken a peak behind the wrought iron gate of the Stavros Palace. There's no much to see now, but in its day, this house would have had palatial dimensions with views down onto Polis Bay and Kalivia opposite.

A spe cial on nothi ng speci al on Ithaca

Befor e we go full steam into Sum mer

 
 
Ithaki Calling
 
Morning coffee in Stavros wouldn't be the same without the great traditional sweets from Margarita Cafe, lovingly known to locals as The Zac. Most of the Greek sweets are made by Makis mum or wife. The pies are also worth noting. People come all the way from Vathy for them, that's how tasty they are.
 
 
 
It's nice to see the ferry from Lefkada coming to Frikes again. It gets the village buzzing for an hour or so, while people gather around the Cafes to catch it. It's incredible to see just how many trucks fit onto a little ferry such as this.
 
 
 
 
 
Saturday 14th April
 
 
When the ferry leaves again, Frikes returns to the sleepy village it was before its arrival. Things will change soon however, in May the first real tourists come to the island.
 
 
In Lefki, there's a little construction acrobatics going on. Ithaca has some of the most ingenious means of reaching unreachable places with very big and bulky construction transport and gear. There is no cliff too high, no corner too narrow. The boys in construction will erect, dig or die. If there's a will, there's a way.
 
So that's another Saturday morning on Ithaki. Blue skies and sunny days. The weather bureau predicts a drop in temperatures by 10 degrees next week, so let's get in as much sun and as much fun as we can before we're back to wearing coats.
 
 
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