August 17 Goodbye to Rafina!

We are leaving Rafina and returning to Athens this evening. Our things are packed and we have had one last swim in the sea (we are already nostalgic) and we are at the internet cafe so we can check our email and I can do my blog, while they finish closing up the house.

Besides swimming and eating and sleeping, we have done a FEW other things. Wednesday was a holiday in Greece, a family day; all the stores were closed. Theodosia, Christos and Nikos went to church services. We were kind of looking forward to a festival, but we missed it, I guess, as shortly after we went to bed Tuesday night, after midnight, there was loud music. I thought it was somebody with a loud car radio, but the next morning Theodosia said it must have been from the village. We were disappointed. To make up for missing the festivities, on Wednesday night we went up the coast to a very nice place right on the sea, La Costa hotel. The water was lapping right next to our table. A band was playing some good dance music, but it was too difficult to dance on the pebbly beach. We ordered tall glasses of pagoto, which were delivered to our table with sparklers flaring on top of them. Very nice place.

Thursday when we came in to the internet cafe we had barely sat down to the PCs and got started when there were electrical problems and they had to close the place down. A bystander said there was a fire somewhere and that might be causing the problem. So we got no internet time and we had an hour and a half to kill. We did some shopping and then saw some roadies setting up equipment on a stage in the square. Obviously a band was going to play. Kathy asked one of the men when and he said 9:30, so we asked Theodosia if we could come in early in the evening to get seats and she brought us in, saying she and Christos would come later. They waited too long. The first 45 minutes by the Upside Down Band was some pretty good rock and roll. Then they changed to Pink Floyd and the music was okay but they used way too many strobe lights to be comfortable. Unfortunately that's when Theodosia and Christos came. We retired to one of the outdoor restaurants and had chocolate and banana crepes. Wonderful creations. Better than the one I had on my first trip to Greece. So the evening was not a whole loss!

We are looking forward to seeing the kittens in Athens, now two weeks old.