Welcome To The Hotel El Paradiso

The best part of our hotel, because it's sooooooooo completely bereft of any sort of staff after about ten thirty, is that we can "play" hotels ourselves. 

Eric would absolutely love it and would probably make a much better job of it, single handedly, to be honest.

I can't tell you how much fun Darrell and I have had behind the desk, it's perhaps a good job there aren't any CCTV cameras! 

When we say it's quiet, it really is quiet ........

...... and always totally empty, except for ourselves! 

There's no carousing at the bar ......

....... no illicit skinny dipping in the pool, bombing, acrobatics or gymnastics, petting, shouting, pushing, running or ducking .......

....... no covert laying out of towels to ensure a choicely positioned sunbed at six o'clock in the morning ......

...... no cheeky Kpi Kpi of an afternoon to help cool down .......

...... or any other liquid refreshment other than what you actually bring in yourselves from the supermarket.

When we come in, after a night on the town, our de rigueur call, as we come through the front door is an admittedly facetious "OMG, it's really rocking and rolling in here tonight!"  ......

..... even the delicate flower arrangements look as if they want to be anywhere else but!.

The proudly framed 2014 certificates behind the reception show that this wasn't always the case......

..... as do the glowing testimonials in the two guest books of yore, George the manager as was, must have been the truly affable and consummate host, as they all mention and thank him for so many wonderful holiday experiences, all vowing to return as soon as they can.

The new management, who we have since learned, took over in October last year (after Darrell had booked this break I hasten to add), have a lot to live up to.

Where our fellow guests disappear off to, never to be seen again until the following day breakfast goodness only knows ........

....... but, in a weird sort of way, Darrell and I are more than happy to continue having fun, creating memories of when we had free rein of a real life hotel ........

What on earth are we like, if ever down?

A Holiday Tradition Fufilled

As you know, one of Darrell's most sacrosanct of holiday traditions, no matter what beach we are on, abroad or at home, is his quest to find a holey stone .......

....... or to be honest, let a holey stone find him, as a sign that we are being watched over by those loved ones who are no longer with us.

So, on a beach entirely made up of millions upon millions of stones Darrell thought this would be an absolute no brainer .......

....... however on an walking up and down the beach over several afternoons, eyes firmly fixed on the sand, he started to feel quite despondent, perhaps our loved ones had deserted us, displeased with this years holiday choice??!!

After a day or so I think he became almost resigned to not finding one. If he spotted anything that even vaguely resembled a hole, it was quickly discarded when he found that said hole didn't actually go all the way through. "The geology of the indigenous rock just isn't conducive to the formation of holes!"  he sighed.

Then, almost on the cusp of thinking he/we might have to return home, with a black cloud hanging over us, a little bit cursed, not having a stone to pop in our suitcase ........

...... there it was, a mere foot or two from the sunbed he'd been lying for most of our holiday.......

...... and what a beauty! Whether he found it or it found him was suddenly immaterial, this one was truly special, as it was probably one of the only holey stones on a beach almost bereft of holey stones ......

"A stone," he said "that looked almost like it was made to be worn!" 

A precious treasure, we are truly being watched over, even if, this year, we/they didn't get the hotel quite right!

A Trip To Argostoli

When there's an opportunity to explore the capital of Kefalonia, Argostoli with "Unexplored" .......

..... it would just look plain rude not to get ourselves booked in .......

..... particularly when given a 90% guarantee of seeing real life, turtles in their natural habitat. 

It was an absolute no brainer and pleasure to board one of Unexplored's very lovely, air conditioned mini buses ........

..... especially when within a few minutes of our arrival as we were rewarded with not one, but three said ninja turtles (that were probably more than teenagers, but definitely not mutant), if only fleetingly .......

..... as they swam off, once they'd had their fill of entrails, thrown into the water from the fishing boats, as their catch was prepared to be sold.

It was all very romantic and emotional!

From there, we moved to the main part of town where we visited it's two churches, which again, did not disappoint.

They were both very beautiful, one of which was the only Catholic church in the area, which was very interesting ........

......... and where we were able to light candles in memory of every one of our loved ones, who we are no longer able to send a postcard or take a fridge magnet back home for.

Fortunately, Darrell had had the foresight to put aside all our loose euro coins specifically for such a purpose, so no one was missed out.

Again, it was an emotional experience ........

....... as we really do, very much, love a Greek church and as such, visiting has always been an obligatory and traditional part of all our oddities. 

And then, just after we left and walked a little way, we stumbled upon something we'd have never ever dreamed of finding .......

We're not sure what it's actually called, (Mr D?), but it's a special shop that sells everything you could ever want for "decorating", if that's the right word, a loved ones grave .......

..... from icons, statues, artificial flowers, lamps, candles and vases, you name it.  It was like a religious Aladdin's cave, of which we were totally enthralled and in awe, but of a very respectful and contained type nature.

We don't really do this sort of thing back home, but perhaps our own affinity shows with such things is reflected, perhaps, in the lanterns we always light and leave out over Christmas.  

I suppose it goes without saying that we did make a purchase or two. Darrell bought himself a small, glow in the dark Virgin Mary (to go with his Mary collection) and a pomegranate shaped tea light holder and I bought a Mary charm to hang up somewhere at home, to be decided, but what an incredible discovery!

Then it was back into the glorious, bright sunshine to peruse some of the more traditional holiday souvenirs ......

.... although on this occasion, a cow bell didn't make the cut, even though it said Iris on the label!

 It was all very, beautiful ......

..... but soon it was time to get back into our bus to pay our respects at the Memorial Acqui Division, again more time for thought, which made us regret that we hadn't found time to visit the town's museum to find out more.

Memorial Acqui Division Kefalonia - Argostoli - TracesOfWar.com

Our final port of call was the Lefkada Lighthouse ........

....... where the setting was truly stunning.......

....... and afforded us a little time for companionable, silent reflection ......

...... before heading back to Skala.

It had been quite a day .......

...... with sooooooooooo many memories made ....... 

....... including a visit a traditional bakery, where our substantial purchases didn't last long enough for us to record them, so fabulously nomtastic were they. 

What are we like? If not always very appreciative of any sort of exotic baked item, happy days!