Part 1: Visit to Athens with Tom and Tara’s family.

Tom and Tara very kindly asked us to join them for a holiday in Greece, as April and Cooper had been particularly keen to visit. We drove to a hotel near Manchester Airport in the late afternoon, and Tom’s family went separately.

We woke early but were delayed as there were problems at the airport with April’s passport, they put her down as April Cooper! But we all caught the Athens plane, thank goodness. A taxi took us to our hotel and our holiday started with an evening visit to a nearby restaurant, with views of the Acropolis.

An interesting building in the foreground with the Acropolis and the Parthenon at the top of the picture.

We stayed in Athens for a few days. After breakfast we walked in the morning with a local guide who took us around the Acropolis. The sun was warm but not at the higher temperatures that had been forecast earlier. We did some site-seeing and had lunch and dinner.

The Acropolis

The Parthenon

On our second day we went on a food tour which included pies, doughnuts, ice creams. In one location we saw coffee cups heated in hot sand. She certainly knew her onions. Luckily, she also knew her way around Athens.

I had an email from a friend in our village who reported that I’d had a photo of a badger published in the local paper.

I had an email from a friend in our village who reported that I’d had a photo of a badger published in the local paper.

A supersized mural on the side of a building. Definitely not the Acropolis nor the Parthenon, nor Buckingham Palace, nor the Eifel Tower, nor the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, nor the Colosseum.

Cooper eyeing up the fruit and vegetables.

The Temple of Poseidon at sunset. The sky looks rather strange, due to nearby forest fires.

Not the Acropolis/Parthenon at sunset.

Warning: these soldiers have a reputation for cross-dressing!

Those of you who are familiar with Monty Python’s Flying Circus will remember the Ministry of Silly Walks. This is, possibly, the Grecian equivalence of changing the guard or the cancan. At least they don’t have to wear bearskin hats like they do at Buckingham Palace (thought for the day – how many bears had to die?).

Part 2 – Kefalonia, a Greek Island

We flew to the island of Kefalonia for the rest of our holiday. The children enjoyed swimming in the pool and in the sea and exploring the beach and the caves.

Cooper makes a splash.

Illegal immigrants!

Smugglers leaving their booty in the cave.

Cooper treading water

We discovered a lot of shells in the rocks, which Cooper loved, and he chatted about some of the different sorts of shells. We remembered an old tongue twister:

She sells seashells by the seashore,

The shells she sells are seashells, I’m sure.

So if she sells seashells on the seashore,

Then I’m sure she sells seashore shells.

Cliffs, rocks and an island

Tara and Tom corral Cooper

April, cooling down in the pool: “I saw a shark this long”.

Donkey rides on the sandy beach in the evening.

Annabel, Tom and April acting out the story of the Odyssey!

Turtle – definitely not turned – in the harbour at Atastoli, capital of Kefalonia.

The scenery was wonderful, and there were many cliffs, bays, pools and beaches. The food was excellent, and the temperature bearable. The children thoroughly enjoyed the holiday as did we adults, though Annabel and I did need to take an occasional rest during the day. The journey back home went by without mishap, and it took a day or two to recover.

Thanks very much Tom, Tara, April and Cooper for sharing you holiday with us. We’re very proud of you all. That’s all, folks. Next month’s blog will include Dumfries House – no, I’d never heard of it either – and Kynren.