Easy days

  Mon - Tue 9th - 10th Oct

It would be easy to stay in Stoupa and we did, for five nights, which is a record for this trip. The campsite is perfectly acceptable, with clean toilets and warm showers. I took a renewed interest in the domestic solar water heater idea, as I could easily climb this one to grab a pic of the label. A zoom wouldn’t do the detail.

Why don’t we use these? They do in colder places than here. I know (I think) that the primary circuit has some sort of no-freeze refrigerant in it. Possibly there’s a legionella scariness because the stored warm water would often be in the temperature danger zone. I will investigate, as a warmer-than-mains feed to the boiler at home would be handy, if lower pressure can be accommodated.

There’s a mix of campers in age and nationality. Most are German speaking (D, CH and A) and of those, a number have pre-school children. There’s also a motorhome from France with young children of school age and a large one from the UK. They can only use the major roads I’m sure. 

The UK registration plate was memorable and I remembered it from the site at Ionion Beach a few days earlier. A number plate ending FFS tells a story. Apparently it was a present to the lady of the house but although we chatted about their trip, I don’t think that we covered why FFS was appropriate. They are planning to ‘ferry’ back over to Italy and then take another to Barcelona. So no plans to go home to Ivybridge and time soon.

We enjoyed three increasingly long morning swims, along the line of the buoys across the bay. That was after ‘Marina’ first led us out from the beach at Patrico’s, to the the most distant one.

I lost count of how many double strokes it was but I think it was getting on for an hour of swimming. Stoupa has cold water welling up from the sea bed which was refreshing in these warm waters.

In the evening we ate out three times in five, which is an all time record and as a thank you for the use of the sunbeds, we had late morning coffee and cake at Patrico’s. Yes I know it’s a big piece but I didn’t cut it!

Stoupa is full of ‘local’ English speakers and there is quite a community, separate from the other English speaking visitors who fly in. When you hear a voice, you can play the game, ‘Manchester or Gatwick?’, It’s good fun for a minute or two.

The English lady at the Saturday craft market, which used to be an expat bric-a-brac sale, was happy to answer my technical questions about the manufacture of the glass pendants. “They are made from melted Bombay Sapphire gin bottles. My husband provides the bottles”.

She shouldn’t have mentioned that she melts the pieces in a microwave oven. That got me interested. Apparently you use a little kiln inside. She couldn’t explain how it warmed with the rays but it works.

Not surprisingly, as this is Greece, many things are the same as they were when we first came here in 2003. The huge concrete building frame above Kalogria beach is just as it has always been. The cultural centre at the beginning of the road to Ag Nik is also a bit unloved.

The site of the Pig Man’s daily hog roast is now fenced off. He was famous for his pork butties and we ate them on that first trip. The stall later went up in flames and for a year or three was left, charred timbers and all. Now it has a fence but sadly there’s no sign of the Pig Man.

We walked to Ag. Nik.and had coffee at a very nice place before being directed by ‘Peelchat’ to a swimming platform on the edge of the village.

It’s great to have a swim and be able to have an outdoor shower after.

Stoupa is a wonderful place which seems tuned to low impact package holidays, self-assembled fly-drives and the longer stay and expat community. I can see us coming again.