Edro III

M and I woke early today and had a quick breakfast of leftover fruit salad before heading out to hire a buggy for the day. It was a cross between a go-kart and a quad bike, and much more reasonable than renting a car for the day! We decided to call him Cricket because he was noisy and looked a bit insect-like :o)

We headed out to the bar at Coral Bay that S and H had taken us to, and took some photos of the ship that had grounded a couple of years ago. The water was beautifully clear and almost turquoise in the shallows. After a wander, we had booze-less mojitos in the garden overlooking the sea caves, then got back to Cricket and headed up the coast towards Lara Bay. The road became a track, but we were determined to reach the Last Castle, a restaurant S had recommended to us.

Despite hills that seemed entirely made of dust and potholes large enough to swallow Cricket, we made it up to the restaurant and were rewarded with a spectacular view of Avakas Gorge to the back and the Mediterranean sea stretching to the horizon at the front of the restaurant. The seating area was outdoors, although you’d have hardly known it as the tables were shaded by a dense canopy of vines dripping with heavy bunches of green and pink grapes. The tables were all stone, with small wicker chairs dotted around. The sun shone through the vine leaves, projecting circles of golden light like a disco ball onto everything. It has to be the most beautiful restaurant I have ever eaten in and a highlight of our trip. The food was simple: BBQ’d pork or chicken with a simply dressed salad, bread and chips. Everything was exquisite and cost only €12 each!

After a chilled-out lunch, we started back down the dusty track, only to find that a set of sprinklers had been turned on, so M had to get us through, Indiana-Jones-Stylee, without the water spraying us through the open sides of Cricket. M got us through: stop/start/fast/slow with nothing more than a drop on the bonnet. Impressive! I found the whole thing hilarious!

The supermarket isn’t far from our apartment, but it’s so hot that walking back with the bags is like wading through treacle, and we decided to pick up some of the heavier items (water, beer, vegetables) with Cricket and take them home. After a brief break, we took Cricket out for one more spin, but got a bit lost! M was starting to get tried and we were both coated in a fine layer of dust and grit, so we dropped Cricket off and walked home.

After our big lunch we didn’t need anything for dinner other than tzatziki and pita, with a cold glass of beer. We tried to watch a bit of TV but it was 31 degrees in the living room (despite the air con), so we’ve retired to bed and M is reading while I write down our adventures to Blip later. Tomorrow I think it’s just a lazy beach day, and maybe a lie-in: perfection!