Skopelos (Tuesday-Friday)

We finally made it to the island Skopelos Tuesday afternoon after a bit of a stressful journey there. Our cab picked us up from our hotel at 6:30 am so we could make our 7 am bus to the fairy. Well the crazy lady at the hotel had originally told the cab company the wrong place to take us... thinking she knew everything. Well he took us to the port of Athens even though we told him the address for the bus station when we got in the cab. As mom was freaking out, we called Elaine from my cell phone(My bill will be interesting with the number of times we have called Elaine needing help. Many of the Greeks act like they know English, but that doesn't seem to be the case as NONE of our cab drivers have known where to take us!) Well sweet Elaine got on the phone with the driver and told him that he made us miss our bus so he had to drive us the 2 hours to the port to catch the fairy and for half price! I'm not sure what all she said to him, but he did it! We were going over 100 mph most of the way and beat the bus there!

We were met on the island by Elaine's uncle George and Yianni's cousins Peter, John and James. The were all extremely kind and helpful during our stay. We stayed at Yianni and Elaine's home in Loutraki near Glossa... both villages on Skopelos. The home was perfect, and it was so nice of them to let us stay there!

Mom and I left with Peter, John and James to go see about a rental car for us in skopelos town which was about 45 minutes on this winding road up the mountain to the other side of the island. The views were just amazing!! But the road was a little scary... However it did not compare with what was to come!

We returned to the house 3 hours later where Merlyn and Lyn were waiting. We could get an automatic car until the next morning and none of us were brave enough to drive a standard in the mountains!!! The rest of the day we got settled in - went to the store, had dinner, walked around... Then ended the night sitting under the Lemon tree outside drinking wine and visiting.

Wednesday morning Lyn and I decided to go for a run.... Well the only road was the one road up the mountain (we later found out about the ""old road" which was much more pedestrian friendly! Everyone that passed us gave us a you are crazy look! And we were!!! We walked up the mountain about 30 minutes the jogged down.... I'm just thankful to be alive after a bus almost ran over me on the narrow road without even slowing down!!! Needless to say Lyn and I didn't do that again!

Our car was delivered that morning so we headed back to Skopelos around 1 for lunch and exploring. I drove the car which could be automatic or manual... And we didn't have very god instructions on how to know when it was in either... Well our first steep hill the car stalled!!! But perfect timing.... Peter was rounding the corner and came to the rescue. We figured the car out and were fine from then on. Scary moment though.... Quit an adventure! On the way back we went to one of the beaches where part of Mama Mia was filmed... It was a beautiful beach. The beaches in Skopelos or the ones we saw are mostly smaller beaches with amazing views! Unfortunately the weather turned a little chilly Wednesday so we didn't enjoy the beaches like we would have...we stayed a little over an hour then headed back to the house around 6.

Elaine's Uncle George came back for a visit and took Lyn and I to see his wife (Mr. Ballas' sister) and his wife's sister and brother in law. None spoke English really except for George, however the the Greek tradition, they were such kind hostesses...even to the unexpected guests! The George's sister-in-law went and prepared Lyn and I this cherry dish and water. The were all so gracious and kind!

Thursday we made the trek up to St. Johns.... The chapel with amazing views where the wedding scene in Mama Mia took place. It was quite windy and chilly. The road to it was narrow and curvy up the mountain. I drove but mom almost had a heart attack looking over the cliff with no guard rails....

We climbed to the top of the steep path and steps to the chapel - and it was definitely worth it! Amazing!! Mom decided that she is a bit scared of heights though....and it didn't help that you felt like the wind would blow you off the cliff!

Afterwards we went back for lunch and shopping in Skopelos Town. That afternoon we tried to visit the monasteries, but the road was very steep and narrow...everyone else had hiked up except for us - so we didn't go any further up!

We stopped at Mila Beach on the way back - also beautiful.....

Before dinner George and his wife invited us over to their home. What a view they had!!! And again they were wonderful hosts! She had made all kinds of treats and coffee for us...I think our favorite were the Greek cookies like Mrs. Ballas made. We had a lovely visit - I just can not tell you how nice they were.....they have been in Greenwood several times visiting the Ballas' - I really felt like I had met them years ago...

Thursday night we had dinner in Glossa at a restaurant Elaine recommended (which was also in our travel books). It was definitely the best meal we have had in Greece!! And the owner, Nick was very attractive and so friendly!!! Lyn ran into him the next day - He said he would have asked us to join he and his friend out...but he didn't because we looked like we were spending time with our moms. Oh well.......

Friday was a relaxing day - I went to the beach for a little while. Lyn made the hike to Glossa on foot...this time by the old road. We didn't know the stress this was going to cause our mothers!! We thought our fairy was leaving at 5:30. George offered to come help us get to the fairy. Well he called saying we had the time wrong - the fairy actually left at 4:50! Needless to say the moms went into panic mode with Lyn being gone and no way to get in touch with her! But it all worked out -Lyn returned early and we made the fairy in plenty of time. Lyn did mention that she was glad I had to deal with the stressed out moms instead of her! hahaha

We made it back to Athens Friday night and have a full day ahead of us today. It is now raining though, but hopefully it won't slow us down too much!

I'll try to post pictures from Skopelos later.