My first day as a tour guide!

30 September - Serifos

 I met my friends in Livadi after they got off the ferry. We decided to have a coffee in Livadi before we went up to Hora. It is now very hot again and no wind. None of them had been to Serifos before, although they had been on ferries that visited  the port. We then drove up to Hora and parked the car. First time I think that drive is quite interesting,  all the switchbacks on the road up to the top. We unpacked the car, they had all sorts of goodies  for me, including a kettle, my clothes from Sifnos and much more. After unpacking it was getting on, so we had a whistle stop tour of Hora going all the way to the top. It is a bit like Castro on Sifnos. I think they liked it. We popped into to see people I know, the bar, supermarket and so on. On the way to the house, we had a beer in the bar, I introduced them to Vasileas. He had some music on which my friends loved. I think they agreed this was the place to hang out.

( that is not one of my friends in the photo!)

We went back to the house and freshened up and had dinner at what is the only taverna left open now. Big shame, that is closing next week. But it was a super meal, we went back to the house, had a few more glasses of wine and went to bed. Ronnie decided that he was going to share my single bed, so I had to lie around him. Later on though he left and went somewhere else. I do remember him coming to see me later on in the night, and I heard him having a dream, chasing something. 

In the morning, I made coffee for my guests and then took Ronnie out as it was still cool. We started the reservoir walk on the new track and when we joined the old one, we turned around and went back. We saw one of the guys who has horses for moving things in Hora. We had a coffee at Marinos, I managed to get some water for Ronnie. I used google translate to tell Marinos what we going on! 

We then popped into the bread shop, got some bread for breakfast, and  a stuffed Danish style pastry and a couple of other things. We had our breakfast on the roof under the umbrella. By now it was getting hot! We have put some towels on the sofa to protect it against Ronnie’s fur, and he ate his dog chew on the sofa. 

After this we decided to go on a tour of the Southern half of the island starting at Kalo Ambeli. I had forgotten that to get to the beach from the car park is quite a trek, and also downhill on a scree type surface which is slippery. Ronnie with his four legs doesn’t mind it at all. The beach had a bit of rubbish on it, and lots of bits of dried seaweed. But it was still nice. We carried on to Koutalas, which was easier to get too, we had a drink at a taverna, they were cleaning the kitchen out, they are going to close soon. 

Our final stop was Mega Livadi, I think they liked that best. The lovely beach and the iron mine relics. They have made a bit more progress on the administration building which is being renovated. We then drove back to Hora by a different route, so they saw more of the island. Their bags were packed in the car, and we drove down to Livadi for lunch. I don’t really know the tavernas in Livadi, so we picked one that looked good and between ordering we got some Greek lessons from the waiter! He was very good. We met the owner Vanta, she  told us about a Facebook group I should join full of ex pats. After we had the meal, we saw lots of fish in the harbour, a cormorant was diving and fishing for these.

Ronnie wanted to join in! I saw my friends off. I am now looking after Ronnie  for the weekend and a few days next week. While we were having lunch I got an email saying my Residence card is ready to be picked up, I can do that after I see my friends on the return leg of their trip, they come back here, stay the night and then go home,  with Ronnie to Sifnos. He is clearly missing his owners, it’s very hot, so I will have to be careful with him and  the heat.