Roemin abit

  The main visit of the trip was a visit to the Beamish Heritage centre but we stopped to view the Angel of the North statue which was close by.  We spent all day wandering around in the different areas using the vintage trams and busses. The whole site was set up for Christmas with Santa and Mrs Claus driving around in his horse drawn coach. It was very interesting to see the 50's area as it brought back so many memories of our childhood homes. The various shops were full of vintage toys, gramophones and vehicles. There was even a cinema and some of the houses were dedicated to trades and professional people like bakers and doctors. We went down to the colliery village area and had a nice photo taked by the school master. Back at the reception area we had a toastie and coffee before the coach took us back to the Holiday Inn. It had been dry all day but we got soaked going back to the coach park.

  We went on a Skills 3 day coach trip with the Dean Family to Durham, Beamish and York. We stayed over night with Kim and Keith as it was an early start to catch the coach in Bulwell. The taxi for 6 did not turn up as arranged by CJ so it was a bit of a panic to get 2 more, but we got to the departure point dead on time. Phew. An uneventfull journey until we got close to Durham when it started to pour with rain. We waited for 20mins in the coach for the rain to stop and proceeded to the Cosy Club that we had spotted on the way.  After a relaxing coffee we walked over the river into the old town centre where we wandered round the indoor market before going up the cobble stone hill to the cathedral.  We looked around the magnificent building, without going for the full tour, then lit candles for recently departed family and friends. On the way back down the hill we stopped for a snack lunch and returned to the coach to travel on to the Holiday Inn at Washington for our 2 n...

We were very unlucky with the weather on this holiday but the thunder storms and cool rainy days did not stop us doing our thing and we enjoyed the return visit after 40 years. The Kefalonia Grande Hotel was a very friendly boutique hotel with a minimalistic design, it did not have a pool and not really grand at all, although the retired mayor has breakfast there every morning. The breakfast buffet was very good and as we were only B&B guests we lunched and dined out every day, except for dinner in the hotel on the first day. We chose the hotel so that we would be on the promenade, close to the main square and walking distance to the bus terminus and ferry port. We used the €2 bus to go to two beaches at Lassi, with nice tavernas where we had drinks and lunch, then a taxi back.  We had dinner twice at the Captains Table restaurant which was highly rated and just along the prom and twice at restaurants on the main square. We flew from EMA on Wednesday and landed in a thunder sto...

We are off home today but not being picked up until 6:30 so we have a full day in Argostoli. It's also forecast to be the sunniest and driest day of the holiday would you believe. We stayed local and went down to the De Bosset bridge again. I walked all the way over the lagoon and met Rosemary at the obelisk on the way back. We didn't spot any turtles but chatted to the young turtle survey girl, she hadn't seen any either. We had lunch in a small Greek taverna/take away full of local workers. It closes at 5 pm or when they run out of food. Very tasty authentic cooking and run by a family, all the male staff looked the same. I had stuffed tomatoes and peppers, while Rosemary had pork chop. All selected from trays of food on the counter. Best lunch value of the week. Next we did the pedestrianised shopping street and bought a very small amount of tack and an ice-cream at I Scream shop. Wandered back to the hotel, shared a massive banana waffle en route and relaxed...

It looks more promising today on the weather forecast, but that remains to be seen as the dark clouds seem to come from nowhere. Hoping to try a proper beach today on the Lassi side later. Didn't bother to take an umbrella today, so needless to say, we got a bit wet in sharp showers on the walk to the bus station. We went all the way round the airport loop on the bus and back to Makris Gialos beach. I spotted the hotel we stayed in 40 years ago en route, but it seemed to be closed. We walked down to a traditional taverna perched above the beach and had a very good meze selection with a lovely view over the sea. Sunny and warm this afternoon so I descended the beach steps after lunch and had a brief paddle.  We found ourselves between buses again (every 2 hours!) so took a taxi back to our hotel. Just sitting in a coffee shop at the side of the hotel and down comes the rain again. Will it ever clear up.

We awoke in a flash this morning, lightning that is. It's going to be a wet morning again but hopefully a dry afternoon. May go to Sami this afternoon on the bus as there is a big cruise boat in port. We did go to Sami on the bus, €4 each way through the mountains - goats, donkeys and all. It was grey and drizzling in Sami so we did not see it at it's best, but not much to see in fact, except lots of sailing boats, some nice craft shops and plenty of restaurants. I had fish soup for lunch, Rosemary had mussels and we caught an earlier bus back. It seems to be drying up a bit as we approach Argostoli. The TUI cruisers were filling all the Argostoli bars and cafés. Went to the Captain's table for a late dinner, Moussaka and  Lamb Steflika, then spent a lot of time chatting to the Albanian manager. Clouds have cleared and there is a brilliant full moon. Maybe tomorrow .....