Helena making a toast at the Nautilus

After a light breakfast this morning and a bit of pottering we walked along the road by the beach out of town, such as it is.  Helena had reconnoitred the route and destination yesterday to check with I would be able to hobble all the way, about a mile to the Nautilus restaurant perched on a small cliff overlooking the end of the beach.

Helena's former colleague and friend Dave, who lives in Cheltenham, had visited Skala several times before and recommended a particular dish at the Nautilus to her.  They often go on many dining excursions together around Cheltenham and through the power of messaging she was able to check all the details of the place and the food.

The Nautilus is built like the open deck of a ship on the cliff top, whilst the kitchen and bar are set in the main building on the landwards side of the road. After we had ordered some sea food, tuna souvlaki for Helena and sea bream for me, we waited for the special starter dish we had come for; caramelised red onions on a bed of pureed and mashed chickpeas, as well as a plate of fried courgettes slices.

My attention was diverted when a van pulled up beside the restaurant and several men piled out to deliver some of the contents. After a couple of moments I realised the van was loaded to the gunwales, a fitting nautical term, with onions and long strings of garlic with long roots still attached. When I grew up we still used to have French and Spanish men cycling around the countryside delivering strings of onion on bicycles and we had a gardener from Italy who would string our crop of garlic to dry in the old bakery shed. I immediately got up from the table and rushed out to grab the opportunity of a mass of garlic.

The two men then proceeded to lark about, getting me to take a picture of them holding up the garlic, in a not very photogenic manner, and then demanded money for doing so, which was  a bit annoying. I prefer the picture of just the onions and garlic, which I've added as an 'Extra photo'.

Returning to the table our carafe of wine had arrived so Helena kindly toasted me so I could grab this picture, as we sat above the edge of the cliff enjoying a wonderful prospect, both the view and the meal. The contrast between light and shade was a bit testing so not an ideal picture but it does convey the wonderful setting. When it came all the food was fabulous and very reasonable.  The red onion and chick pea mash was delicious and well worth the trip as was my huge sea bream.  So many thanks to Dave and a toast is due to him too.

Now I have to rush as our next meal is about to be consumed, this time at our hotel.  I have had a nap which was possibly a mistake as we need to get up early tomorrow for a big boat trip to another island, Ithaka. I think the weather looks good again.