Destination Porto Heli

So, here we are in Porto Heli, the fishing village that to me holds so many amazing memories from my 20s! We arrived yesterday after a crazy taxi ride to the port of Piraeus and then a three hour journey by the Flying Cat high speed ferry via Paros, Hydra, Spetses and then Porto Heli. It seems the Greek sea faring genes of the Kailis family skipped some generations including Manny's - he took a while to find his sea legs in the less than rough seas. No major damage done though (although we wont be taking a kiaiki to Spetses as I had originally planned!). In fact it was the start of a bit of illness all round. Manny has been feeling like he's coming down with the flu and Cassie has had a temperature, which has meant the two of them have been pretty much hotel bound until this afternoon (Cassie is on the mend now Yia Yia and Nanna...). Finally, we all got out today to join the Mavroleon's for lunch. They are the family I used to work for 12 years ago here and they were generous enough to invite us over. They have a new villa called Axinos and spend 4-5 months here each summer entertaining. Mr Mav is now 81 and Mrs Mav is 65. It was fantastic to see them -they were so welcoming and it was bizarre to be sitting down to lunch with them while someone else waited on us (I was once the waitress for them!). Even Cassie felt the magnitude of her surroundings and was very well behaved. The villa is like something from Vogue Homes and Living - amazig views over the ocean with a pool right in front. Mr Mav entertained us with his history lessons about Greece, not to mention the fact they'd only this week had dinner with the former Crown Prince of Greece who lives nearby. Anyway, it was a fantastic lunch and I was so glad to share the Mav experience with Manny and Cassie.

So, our little Porto Heli has grown up - now about twice the size in fact with countless cafes, restaurants, bars, hotels, private apartments and new houses. There are now 20-30 private villas around Hinitsa, where only 12 years ago there was 5 or 6. Still, some things don't change and we have caught up with old friends including fruit and veg Takis, his wife and two daughters. Their shop is going better than ever. It's so nice to be somewhere so Greek and still see old friends. Most of the tourists here now are wealthy Greeks so I'm rapidly trying to brush up on the language skills as English is rarely spoken.

Tomorrow we will take a drive inland and back to the coast to a town called Ermioni, then it's back to Athens and then a flight to Crete for stage 2 of the Greek Odyssey. Stay tuned!