Judy and Dave - October
For anyone who doesn't know, Judy and I worked together at Swindon College although in different areas. She teaches Maths (which hates me) and I IT. We share a birthday, left-handedness and are as arsie as each other and got on famously.
To Richard's and my joy, she and Dave (whom we had not met) decided to come over here for the October half term and had booked BA to Athens, and Olympic for the short hop to Leros.
Their plane was diverted to Crete due to fog in Athens. This caused them to miss their connection to Leros. When they eventually arrived in Athens they were able to book a flight from there to Kos. No problem, Olympic didn't even charge them.
In Kos, they booked the 17.25 catamaran to Leros and enjoyed a pleasant lunch and turned up well in time for the catamaran. This duly arrived. They stood, watching it being unloaded of cars, lorries and passengers, waiting to be told to board. The ramp was lifted and the catamaran left - Judy and Dave standing on the dock still waiting politely to be told to board. The locals of course had piled on at the same time it was being unloaded.
Back to the ticket office. The only transport leaving was the G&A Ferry at 21.20 - taking 4 hours to reach Leros as opposed to 1.5 hours on the catamaran or hydrofoil. This ferry is the one to be avoided if possible - it was one the old Torrensen Line - remember the Herald of Free Enterprise? Simon Skinner and I came back from Athens on it. Loo wobbles as does the tap fitting when you wash your hands afterwards. Rude barman and everything dead tatty.
Judy and Dave arrived at 12.30am shattered. So what could we do? Stay up till 4am talking and drinking of course.
We all had a great week. We showed them something of the island although many of our favourite places were closed, among them the Savana Bar and the Cafe Del Mar.
We went to the church of Panagia Kavouraidis - Church of the Crabs - Rich
and I hadn't seen it before. The story goes like this:
"While a fisherman was collecting
sea shells among the rocks, he was bitten by a crab. At that precise moment
he saw the icon of the Virgin Mary on the rocks. He immediately prayed and
soon the wound healed. Witnessing this miracle he picked up the icon and devoutly
took it to the village church, telling his compatriots about the event. That
same night he had a dream of a woman in black who said to him "you
must put me back in exactly the same spot where you found me". The
next morning, after searching, the icon was once again found on the same part
of the rocks as it had been the previous day. After this it was decided that
a small church be built on the same spot as where the icon had been found."
(From The Municipal Committee book)
We very much hope they'll come again but without the hassles of arriving!
While a fisherman was collecting sea shells among the rocks, he was bitten by a crab. At that precise moment he saw the icon of the Virgin Mary on the rocks. He immediately prayed and soon the wound healed. Witnessing this miracle he picked up the icon and devoutly took it to the village church, telling his compatriots about the event. That same night he had a dream of a woman inblack who said to him "you must put me back in exactly the same spot where you found me". The next morning, after searching, the icon was once againfound on the same part of the rocks as it had been the previous day. After this it was decided that a small church be built on the same spot as where the icon had been found.
