Above - Servos Bakery in Vathy has a new man delivering its delicious bread. Nikos is the new Psomas. You can buy bread straight from the van, still hot from the oven if you get to it early enough. Yum!

Right - Even Stavros, the north island center, is starting to liven up as May continues onto June.

Friday 22nd - Yesterday Ithaca celebrated the anniversary of the Eptanisa (7 Islands) joining Mainland Greece with Parades by the Primary School children of ithaca. Day Trippers also started in ernest with cruises coming in from Lefkada.

Right - 3 Stoogies | Musketeers | monkeys. Choose 1 or all. L - R - Niko (Elvis), Sam and Oz.

Saturday 23rd - If the pics below don't make you want to strip down and jump into the blue Ionian, nothing will. At Aetos beach, the colour of the sea is more than an invitation, but a magnet.

Above - Dina from Kalkanis Taverna just behind the Vathy village square, gets ready for business. Summer or winter, Kalkanis offers great grill and Greek kitchen.

Below - The vasilopoulos girls from Symposium Restaurant do a little brainstorming over the 2009 menu. It's bound to be just full of their fresh, home-produced cheese, meat and wine.

The bay-sides across Ithaki are becoming more and more colourful as May continues. It's a terrific time on the island, and with the very warm weather we've been having this past week, ideal to jump straight into the water for a refreshing swim in our crystal blue seas or to hire a boat and discover a private cove you can have all to yourself.

Vathy town is a busy little center now that the Flotillas in the bay are common place again. Ithaca, in this time of economic crisis is down around 10% say the holiday companies, while other places in Greece is down around 40 - 50%. In my humble opinion this is due to the fact that Ithaca is one of the rare places that is still so full of tradition, tradition that can't be replaced by a cheaper ticket elsewhere.

Left - Lucas Anagnostatos (some of you may know him from the Nostos Hotel in Frikes) is a member of the Frikes Committee which is petitioning for the floating pier to be removed and replaced with a safer mooring area for the flotillas and private yachts that sale into Frikes harbour. If you would like to lend your support and rally behind the locals of Frikes for a safe mooring area, you can email Lucas at lanagnostatos@yahoo.gr

Usually in May, our horizon is crisp with clear views of the other Ionian islands and parts of the Mainland, but over the past couple of weeks, the Summer mist is doing its best to obscure our views. Still, the skies are bluer than blue and we don't have much to complain about (?) well, maybe just a couple of things, such as our older residents in the north and south, not having reliable or affordable transport to get around. How hard would it be to mobilize a mini bus that went Vathy - Kioni, stopping at the villages in between a few times a day or even a few times per week. Reasonable fee at a reasonable hour would really help our elderly citizens be mobile. Everyone has to shop at some time and taking a taxi to do the chores, just isn't a viable solution.

Tuesday 26th - A very hot day yesterday with a little respite with the afternoon breeze and a comfortable night.

Left - Yianni may not be driving taxis anymore, but you can still catch up with him at his taverna in Stavros, called... you guessed it - Yiannis Taverna.

Sunday 24th - Temperatures continue to climb with tomorrows high of 36C forecast. This heat isn't normal for this time of year, but visitors on the island don't seem to mind too much. It's perfect beach weather and with the refreshing afternoon breeze coming off the sea, there is respite from the heat, depending on where you are of course. Locals have skipped their Spring wardrobe and gone directly to Summer. On Wednesday, temps are predicted to drop a few degrees with some thunderstorms north of Ithaca also predicted.

Only a few days away from June now. Soon the walkers and cyclists will retreat to make way for the sunlovers and beach-goers.