Island Hopping for 20 euro.

VLYCHO, LEVKADA.

Awoken in the night by revellers & motorised street cleaners. Up at 7am therefore with difficulty. Rosie calls at a supermarket for chocolate for the boys. Only rabbits are available but on a 2 for 1 offer. Rosie buys 8 & gets change from 5 euro!

We're expecting much smashing of pottery at the church before we sail. Anastasia tells us that takes place in Preveza. Totally confused.

Manos helps us to park whilst Nastasia takes the boys to church but no smashing of pottery reported.

The boat sails at 10am and returns at 6:30. We expect to pay 50 euro for the two of us but Rosie returns with 10 change. There's definitely a translation problem between us and the Greek family (I call them that because their surname is certainly a winning hand at Scrabble). We call at Porto Katsiki, allegedly in the top 6 beaches in the world, Fiscardo in Kefalonia & Ithaca. We're able to disembark at all three although the presence of other boats means the queues prohibit getting served.

A major highlight of the trip came as we left Ithaca. Dolphins could clearly be seen playing in the wake created by our boat.

The trip continued to Meganisi, wherein a Greek submarine captain hid in a cave to hijack German shipping.

https://www.google.com/search?client=tablet-android-samsung&source=android-browser&dcr=0&q=papanikolis+cave+wikipedia&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiywsK1xaraAhVKKFAKHQxzBsUQ1QIoAHoECAgQAQ&biw=800&bih=1280&dpr=1.5

From there, we sail past the three islands once owned by Aristotle One said, a rich shipping magnate, and Madouri, the island on which the poet Aritotle Valaoritis was born. Who can forget that catchy poem "O Fastinos" on the Greek war of independence.

Much goodbyes to the Greek family. We exchange addresses, however we are last off the boat as Nastasia writes hers in Greek and has to rewrite it in English.

Pick a restaurant at random and fall lucky. Two starters, dip & fried courgettes, penne for P and chicken in white wine for R. Half a litre of wine and the bill? 31 euro.

Drive a couple of miles south and park up. Rosie persuades me to find a bar to watch the derby. Arrived at half-time, City 2-0 up. It ends 2-3 and to make matters worse, the owner is a United supporter.