The first two weeks

We've settled in nicely to our new home. We can't get over the views and especially the blue skies.
I've taken to singing Electric Light Orchestra's song "Mr Blue Sky"much to Mark's annoyance! The words are rather appropriate though. The song was played as a wake-up call to astronaut Christopher Ferguson on Day 3 of the final mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky

The view from the patio. Mount Ainos, the tallest mountain on Kefalonia at 5341ft, in the background. (Typically - there are clouds in this photo!)

The previous owners (who are building their own villa two minutes up the road) have been round with freshly laid eggs. We made an omelette with these and had it with a Greek salad for lunch. George who lives locally, has been round with a bottle of home made wine which we had with the omelette, and the fish man has been round in his van selling fresh sardines (we bought some, pan fried them and had them with, yes you guessed it - a  Greek salad, washed down with a glass of Mythos. If you're thinking life on the island revolves around food you'd be absolutely right! It's all good stuff though.
The dogs have found their favourite lazing areas.

Rocky in the shade

Bobby in full sun

People here are so friendly. The locals wave at us as we drive into Sami in our banana split of a camper van. (That's why he's called Snorky by the way - He looks like a banana split -bright yellow with a cream top -The Banana Splits on TV in the 1960's?).
We've been to the local supermarket where we could taste the different cheeses and were even given a complimentary tub free of charge. On leaving the supermarket we were also handed a six pack of Bueno chocolate bars. Mmmmm....

A lovely couple called Jenny and Colin who were part of a flotilla that moored in Sami harbour happened to call in on us quite by chance. They had walked from Sami to Grizata and were intending to climb the mountain opposite us when they saw the Donkey Trekking Kefalonia sign. We were outside doing a little gardening when they asked about the donkeys nearby and then they saw our camper van. They also had a camper van - a 1966 blue split screen one at that. That was it - an hour later we were still talking.

Jenny & Colin

Naming the villa turned out to be a good idea. The postie delivered our mail to the previous owners and had said - "What is with this Sunflower Villa?" They explained we were the new owners. We've met him now so he knows who we are and where we live. We've also put up the house sign. Looking good.

We've had an early morning trip to our local beach at Antisamos. This beach is 10 minutes drive from home and is absolutely stunning! For those who don't know, it was used as the location for the Italian encampment in the 2001 film "Captain Corelli's Mandolin"with Nicholas Cage, Penelope Cruz and John Hurt. Cage plays Corelli, Penelope Cruz is his lover, while John Hurt plays the father in this tale of love and brutality, set amid the Italian occupation of Greece during the Second World War. In fact the whole film was shot on this beautiful island of Kefalonia.
The Antisamos beach scene is 1 hour and 28 minutes into the film. I only know this because I have replayed it so many times before arriving on the island!

Antisamos beach

Beach all to ourselves. (It was only 9.00am)

Early morning swim for Rocks and Bobs at Antisamos beach.

We've had a trip to a garden centre in Karyvomylos to buy some pots for the sunflower seeds (courtesy of my sister-in-law Julie). Typical - We need sunflowers due to the name of the villa and we have everything but sunflowers in the garden. We've bought some tomato plants too and were given a complimentary basil plant. Smells gorgeous. It will sit beside the pot with the mint cuttings I've already taken from the garden.

Our early morning dog walk takes us past a lovely old church.

There's a morning chorus of barking as we walk past the local farms, each of them with a resident dog. The local dogs are free to roam on their own farms and stay all day and night in some cases, so us with dogs on leads must look strange. We always get a wave and a "Kalimera" though from the residents. Their english is good and it puts me to shame that I only know a few words in Greek. Must look out the Rosetta Stone and get going again with it. I like languages and started on Greek before we came out here. Having done Russian to "O" level, the alphabet is sort of familiar and so I can often interpret road signs.That's where it ends though. Greek here I come.

I've been to see the Bavarian horse riding stables (Bavarian Horse Riding) just 1km up the road. I've always wanted to learn to ride a horse but never felt inspired to actually do it back in the UK. The setting in the valley is fantastic. The horses look lovely but rather tall I have to say. Just have to book lessons now.

Mark is fishing as I write this blog. Hopefully he'll catch our lunch and we'll have it with a Greek salad.

I could really fancy some fresh fish!

We're home!

Monday 25th April 2016

We arrived at the port of Poros today at 11.20am. It was sunny and the sea was a sparkly blue. Unfortunately, instead of driving straight to our new home just outside of Sami, we had to drive in the opposite direction into Argostoli and pick up the house keys from the Estate Agent Vinieris before they closed at 2.30pm. I suppose we've driven over 1600 miles so another few is nothing. It's a lovely route along the south coast and brings back memories from previous holidays.We passed Katelios where we were based last year while looking for property. The view was stunning. I just had to send a photo to a work colleague back in the UK (Hello Ken!) who holidays every year in Katelios, to tell him how gorgeous Katelios was looking! How cruel am I? I think I caught him at a bad time as he had just finished a meeting.  It was a Monday morning too!
Sometimes you just have to do these things.
Vinieris were really pleased to see us. They were probably thinking - at last the mad english people with their 2 dogs and camper van have arrived. We collected the keys and we were off again to Grizata, just outside of Sami.

We've arrived - At last!

Going Home - Mark Knopfler

The house is just how we remember, but we head straight for the garden and it's looking lovely. Full  of shrubs and flowers. Lots of colour and fragrance. We love a nice garden and are looking forward to  spending time getting to know what's in it, tending to it, propagating from it (I like plants for free!) and the most important - eating and drinking in it. On a Greek island like Kefalonia, it's not about the house it's about the garden.  Even now, I'm writing this blog from the garden in glorious sun. (I'm actually in the shade as it's hot). The birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing, the goats are clanking with their bells, and the donkeys are making a racket!
The shrub that gets our attention straight away is the "Bottle Brush plant" or to give it its proper name "Callistemon". Believe it or not, it's an Australian plant but has been grown in Europe since being introduced to Kew gardens by Joseph Banks in 1789. The word Callistemon comes from two Greek words - kallistos meaning most beautiful and stemon meaning a stamen.
Being a scientist, I have used bottle brushes many times - Did someone get the idea of a bottle brush from this plant. Nature at its best again! I found a patent for a bottle brush from 1904 which was filed by an American, Lawrence J Widness.

The Bottle Brush  plant or "Callistemon"

Close up (It really is a bottle brush!)

Patent from1904 for Bottle Brush

Another thing - the bees love them. There are always swarms of them on the plants when the sun comes out until the sun goes down. The noise is amazing.
Since arriving on the island, I now know these plants are everywhere, but we hadn't seen them before so thought they were very unusual. It seems as though they have taken over from the bougainvillea. Gorgeous though.
Rocky and Bobby have made a bee-line for the garden too. You can imagine what they're doing! They are under trees, behind trees, and in hedges. It's great to think that they will love this just as much as we will. There are lots of shady places too so no worries there.
Snorky is parked out the front having a well deserved rest. He's been amazing for a 30 year old. We've had no bother with him at all. He's been up hills, down hills, through tunnels, and on ferries.

So........ now we're here.

It's time to live! Let's get going!

The continuing journey!

April 20th 2016

Stage 3 -Today we travelled from Wisques, just outside of Calais, to Dijon (333miles). Weather was lovely. Mark was stressing about the road toll booths!  I ended up stressing about Mark stressing about the road toll booths!

April 21st 2016

Stage 4 - Today we travelled from Dijon to Aix En Provence (304 miles). When we pulled up outside the hotel in Aix En Provence it looked fab. We couldn't park Snorky the camper van in the underground hotel car park as he is a high top. The other car parks nearby were also unsuitable for the same reason, so we had to abandon him outside the hotel which was a Tow Away Zone! Things got worse when we were shown the room/studio. It was tiny and very claustrophobic.
About 5.00am, I woke up to hear clanking noises and imagined Snorky being towed away so I thought I'd better investigate. Rocky and Bobby aided me in my recon. Where was Mark I hear you ask? Yes, he was asleep. It was just a delivery van unloading though.

Snorky parked in a Tow Away Zone in Aix En Provence! (He's still shy!)

April 22nd 2016

Stage 5 - Today we travelled from Aix En Provence to Piacenza in Italy (308 miles). We went via Monte Carlo. It was a bit hectic in Monte Carlo - too many peeps for me. Stunning scenery though and lovely and sunny. Again hard to park Snorky, but we eventually managed and had a walk through the streets. Then it was onto Piacenza in Italy, through what seemed miles of tunnels. The hotel seemed to be situated on an industrial estate! No coffee making facilities in the room and the restaurant was closed the night we arrived, so we had to order in a take away. The Wifi was non existent. Apart from that it was fine! I think I need to have a word with Booking.com!

April 23rd 2016

Stage 6 - Travelled from Piacenza to the port of Ancona today (239 miles). Arrived at Ancona for the ferry but had to wait a  few hours to board and it was a couple of hours late leaving port. The ferry itself was nice inside.
There didn't seem to be much in the way of instructions as to what to do when we boarded the ferry. We parked up on Level 2 and Reception was located on Level 7 but we couldn't find any lifts so it was up 5 sets of stairs. Rocky and Bobby weren't too impressed with that! Mark ended up carrying backpacks and food bowls up and I carried Bobby up. Eventually we got the keys for the cabin. We had a pet cabin so Rocks and Bobs could stay with us.  I'm not good with small spaces and have to admit to being a bit claustrophobic in the cabin.
I had to immediately have an escape route planned in case of a Titanic situation. You never know, there may be a stray iceberg floating about in the Adriatic what with global warming. Mark mentioned that there was a muster station to the right when exiting the cabin. Not me - I'm to the left straight along the corridor, up two flights of stairs and jump off the top deck into the sea - DONE! I have walked that route just recently so I know where I'm going. I also have to make sure I have clothes ready to go, placed easy to access in case of emergency as I'm not exiting the cabin during the night in my PJ's (Catastrophes always seem to happen in the middle of the night). You may think I'm being a tad organised here but the survival instinct is strong in me.
Sleeping on the ferry was impossible for me. Every time I laid my head on the pillow, it was like my brain was being used as a pneumatic drill. How on earth is Mark asleep AND the dogs?

April 24th 2016

Stage 7 - The next morning we had breakfast, which was really good. We spoke to the waiter in a variety of languages, who was then completely confused. We started off with French, then Italian then Greek ending with English. When I say "speak" I mean hello, thank you etc.
Looking around, I saw the spitting double of Mark! Then I realised it was a mirror! (I didn't have much sleep last night)

Breakfast on the ferry - that's our reflection!

Arrived Patras in the early afternoon and booked into a fantastic hotel.

April 25th 2016

Stage 8 - An early start this morning and a one hour drive from Patras to catch the 10.00am ferry from Kyllini to take us to the port of Poros on Kefalonia! Woo hoo - nearly there!!! Can't quite believe we are nearly HOME!!
There was hardly anyone on the ferry and when we arrived at Poros on Kefalonia it was a lovely sunny day. The sea was a sparkly blue. Good start to a new life.

WE MADE IT! - WE'RE HOME! It took us exactly 1 week and a total of approximately 1600 driving miles.

Arriving at Poros on Kefalonia