Saturday 31^st July – Messolonghi (Back to square one)

38:21.668N 21:25.004E

Our plan to get up and out this morning was somewhat scuppered by events last night.  After my trip to Lidl we had stored some cans of drink on the floor in the back cabin.  We decided to move a few into the fridge to chill as there was some space.  Unfortunately as Richard picked up a can of beer it exploded, presumably due to the heat, showering the back cabin – a can of orangeade had done the same when I first got back but it was still in the bag up in the cockpit.  So, having got the cushions washed and clean, and everything tidied, we were back to square one. 

Richard collected up all the washing and headed off to the machine, unfortunately someone else had got there first this time so there was a delay before we could get the washing under way.  Breakfast then provided an opportunity to clean the cockpit floor, Richard’s cereal deciding to make an escape attempt just after he had added the milk.

Given things were going so well, Richard left me in charge of the washing line and headed off to Carrefour for a spot of panic buying of essentials given the continuing fuel strike but apart from a few depleted shelves the supermarket was still quite well stocked.

This afternoon we put the back cabin back together but it was too hot by now to head out exploring.

This evening we decided it was time for a treat as a consolation and so we walked into town for dinner.  We went to the restaurant that had been described to us as the ‘Chandelier’ restaurant, its name deriving from the fact there is a large one hanging just inside rather than its Greek name. 

We sat at a table in the narrow street outside; having perused the menu we realised that it was in fact an Italian restaurant, so a quick change of plan in terms of what to have – and very nice it was too, just not as Greek as we had been anticipating. 

A couple of tables were just finishing when we arrived, including some people we recognised from the marina.  We wondered if we would end up the only ones there but we needn’t have worried - it was still only 9pm and as we were eating, people kept drifting along to the restaurant and then a very large crowd arrived, we think it was two or three Italian boats from the marina, and the place became full to bursting outside - inside became the overflow.

As we wandered back to the marina, the temperature had just about cooled enough for it to be a pleasant walk.  Just after we got back and were treating Lucky to a dog treat, a whole fleet of taxis arrived in the marina, bringing the large Italian party back from the restaurant.