Amaliada

Thursday, 15.06.2023

Our last day has arrived... It's raining softly, which makes the goodbye a little bit easier. After breakfast, we cycle to Amaliada, the nearest larger town that has a bank with ATMs and is about 6 km away. This lively Greek small town is the economic center of the region. With many stores supplying the residents with everything imaginable, the town is very bustling. We sit in a café for a while and watch the loud and colorful activity. By the way, the cafés are mainly populated by men. We sit on one of the main roads, where cars, motorcycles, and mopeds drive by each other, honking whenever someone stops and supposedly obstructs the traffic flow. There is a lot of honking in general... When we are cycling and a car approaches from behind, it honks gently before passing us. An old white Opel Kadett C (probably about 50 years old) drives past the café several times, honking at someone each time, apparently someone he knows. The last time, he steers with one hand while holding a snake just behind its head with the other hand, showing it to the acquaintance who is probably sitting somewhere behind us in the café, through the open window as he drives by... We are very astonished... The town definitely has a lot of Greek flair...

Back at the campsite, we start with the first cleaning tasks. The awning is cleaned and retracted, the SUP is cleaned and packed, and the bicycles are also stored away. All the mats are taken out and beaten, and the sand is swept out. In the afternoon, we go to the beach once more, and I take a final beach walk...

Feeling hungry, we go to the snack bar in the harbor again in the evening. From a distance, the boss waves to us, and when we stand in front of him (he doesn't speak English and we don't speak Greek), he asks us with hand gestures and foot movements if we want the six souvlaki and one patate (fries) again, just like yesterday. We are very impressed that he still remembers and confirm it. It tastes incredibly good again. We assure him that it's the best souvlaki ever (by the way, grilled by a woman, he only makes the fries!) and he is delighted.

Afterwards, we have a final ouzo and a last beer on the beach, unfortunately without a proper sunset today because it's quite cloudy. Like yesterday, we watch men at the beach who, at the beginning of dusk, put a small styrofoam board with a kind of sail into the water, let it float out for a while, and then bring it back in. We can't really figure out what they're doing, so I ask an older gentleman who sits in the bar every evening and always greets us kindly (as it turns out, he also speaks some German) if he knows what it's all about. And of course he knows! There is a net attached to the board below, and they use it to catch fish of all kinds, but that's actually forbidden... We sit on the beach for a while longer and watch the illegal fishermen until it gets too cold for us...