It's Saturday morning, 10 am on the 1st of May. The sky is blue, the sun is shinning and we are drifting down the channel out of Messolonghi Marina. It's great to be out on the water again after 7 Months tied up in the marina!!!!! We are in T shirts and shorts by the way. Sorry guys, but you will have to wait for the next post to find out where we are off to (although as we are not sure - I'm not sure the next post will be much help). I thought instead I would use this post to let you know how the winter went - given it's been 7 months since the last post.
I'll give Messolonghi marina good 8/10 for our stay. We were on the boat 5 out of the seven months (well almost). We stayed for a month in October when we arrived, went home to the UK for a month and then drove the car down to Greece!! Not quite as bad as it sounds, just a weeks meander through France and Italy and then the Ferry over to Greece. We then spent Dec, Jan and Feb in Greece and drove back for a rather cold March in the UK before returning to Messi for April.
Once again we made loads of new friends although it was a different environment to Lagos in Portugal where we did last winter. "Self Help" is probably the best description. Messi is a new marina - being built around an old unfinished one. By October they managed to open some toilets and showers, and connect up the lecky.Over the next 7 months -things have started to take shape. It has been a big effort to leave as it had become home.
The good things. As the marina was a good 20 mins walk from town (and the nearest bar/restaurant) Yannis and Joe (the management) let us convert half the office into a club room. This provided an environment to get to know everyone very well and provide the focus for all the activities (and there were many). Probably the highlight for me was the music sessions - persuading me to buy and learn to play a guitar - and to learn to sing!!!!!! The town was great with little English spoken but really nice people. No tourists!!!!! Having the car was a big bonus and we were able to travel a lot around Greece and see the sights. Favourite was Olympia with Delphi a close second. Oh, and the wi-fi in the marina was the best I have ever seen - but that was self help as well - with Svein setting the router to prioritise video downloads!!!! UK tv on demand and sky via the slingbox.
The bad things. The drainage system for the toilets was a bit 3rd world - in fact it was a lot 3rd world but the new ablutions block opened in April has sorted that. Cold water for the showers however was something that had us all up in arms. It seems to be a Greek thing however given the number of hotels we stayed at while travelling round Greece that didnt have hot water until 5.30pm - and then only for an hour. Just like the UK in the 60's. Quaint. The club room was a big bonus but as we all got to know each other well, the divisions started and a small number of people started to spoil it for the majority. You can't have everything!
Overall then an 8/10. A very safe place to leave a boat both from a weather and a security point of view. And it was very cheap. You won't find cheaper. Would I go back - absolutely - and we may well do so - that is plan 14z. We are currently on plan 14x.
Steve and June on Piper spent the whole winter there as well and their company was great. We did have two weeks off in the sun in Abu Dahbi with them when they went to visit their son. Wall to wall blue sky and camels. The weather wasn't that brilliant in Greece in Jan and Feb but since being back in April we have hardly had a cloudy day.
So, come the end of April, our winter contract is up and it's time to leave. Ditto for most of the others still left in the marina. Our last music session was on Wednesday night and everyone was getting ready to go last night. Everyone was waiting for the bread van to arrive Saturday at 9am and then leave. Typical Greece, Saturday comes - general strike - no bread van. We all leave without bread!
So there we are floating down the canal - in pursuit of Pyxis who is heading our way and frantically calling Orpheus who did a runner without seeing us - we suspect Bernie might have had a headache after the state she was in when she left our boat 8 hours earlier!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Absence to love is what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small; it inflames the great.Do you think so?
Posted by: jordan retro 11 | 19/07/2010 at 08:43 AM
Thanks! One of my favorite rapidshare SE ( http://www.filecatch.com/trends/us/29-07-2010.html ), with its help it's possible to find almost everything.
Posted by: Sadie | 30/07/2010 at 02:43 PM
does cialis assist with penis enlargement cialis adderall india cialis introducing http://www.maxipharmacy.com/ free trial of cialis.
Posted by: cialis to buy | 11/07/2011 at 12:51 AM
let's join our hands together to stop this kind of wrong doings. It may risk lives in the future if we just let them continue.
Posted by: Moncler France Boutique | 04/11/2011 at 12:37 PM