A day in the life

We've been contentedly happy with our choice of home here in Lefkas, so I thought I'd share a few of our winter activities, in an attempt to sketch the fabric of our daily life. One thing we love to do is take early morning walks along the harbour and through the town. The differing moods of the water and the intriguing windy lanes of the town create a wonderful backdrop for exploring.

Leaks town, looking from the marina.

The stillness in the early morning

Sun rising over the hills

Day tripper boats, dormant over winter

The windy lanes of the town that we love

Sometimes, friends will have a car and offer to take us further afield. Per and Anna, two Norwegian friends drove us up to a monastery in the hills behind Lefkas. This monastery boasted its own zoo, along with some superb woodcarving examples.

Entrance to the monastery

Monastic animals?

Bambi-ness is next to godliness

How's that for a censure motion!

Iconoclastic icons

Monastic wood carving

Carving detail

Monastery grounds

The bell tower

View from the monastery over Lefkas

Anna, Megan and Per

While we had the car, we travelled with Anna and Per to a secluded village on a wild beach on the west coast of Lefkas.

Lefkas coast

The village ends at the beach

Megan and Anna in the small village street

A second beach further south

Just loved this image

Megan and Anna

Anna, Megan and Per

Lonely hillside bell

Megan and I also love riding our bikes around the town, exploring and discovering new places. On this ride, we found a kind of monk's retreat, and a cliffside villa right above a beautiful beach. Megan couldn't resist swimming there, even though it's getting a little chilly!

Hell's Angel bikie?

A beach on the western coast of Lefkas

The monk's retreat, right on the beach

We followed the path past the monk's retreat to this villa ...

perched right on the coastal cliff ....

The path wound around the house ...

... to this beach.

Megan couldn't resist!

We wandered back past the monk's retreat.

Beautiful wildflowers out now.

We also use the public transport system as much as possible. We caught the local bus down to Vlicho,  a large bay and anchorage that seems to attract all the old besotted sailors that need somewhere to wash up on. There is a local yacht club there that upholds the tradition of sailing as an excuse to seek inebriation.

The bay at Vlicho, very sheltered anchorage

A venerable tradition, the Vliho Yacht Club.

Old style Vlicho boat yard

Megan on the prowl

Where sailors go to rest!!

Finally, local culture sometimes turns on a show. Last Monday was 'NO Day', much celebrated throughout Greece. This public holiday commemerates when the Greeks said NO to the Italians, refusing them access to Greece. This of course, made Greece enter World War II. Lots of marching and bands and stuff, the rest of the day spent catching up with comrades in the local cafe's.

Leading the parade

Saying NO to the Italians demands a certain style!

Charge of the bright brigade.

Enjoying the festivities with our Scottish friends, Anne and Gordon

The local schools were all represented.

A celebration of traditional Greek dress

More local colour.

So, that was a day in the life of the Pavlov crew. Well, three days to be honest. Its a hard life but somebody has to do it. It has its swings and roundabouts however. Today we've been up in Aktio furiously scraping the boat down so she is ready for her winter nap on the hard. Getting the boat on the hard should have been simple, Preveza (where Aktio boatyard is) is only 6 miles from Lefkas. However, when we tried to go through the Lefkas bridge, we were turned back. The bridge has broken down and could be out of service for 10 days. We had no option but to motor around the entire island, a trip of 52 nautical miles. We didn't get into Aktio until 8.30 pm, totally exhausted. Tomorrow will be more of the same, then we're off to Athens to catch the plane to Berlin. We're visiting our good friends Petra and Marco for a month. Und jetzt, wir sprechen Deutsch!!