MEHR MEER - without Greece, without me!

Good morning Greece,... Good morning my friends... Oh no, that's French now... Well, whatever... I only understand Spanish anyway when it comes to foreign languages... (höhö)

Guys, my last blog post is ages ago. Just like my last vacation, I realized.

And funny enough, it also brought me here back then... to Skopelos - the most beautiful island in Europe.

I don't know what to say that I haven't said or written a million times before.

So, I can only repeat myself...

Well, alright, you wanted a sequel, so you'll get one too.

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Let's start at the beginning:

The idea of coming here (again) arose during a short bus ride... Booking the flights during a longer S-Bahn ride almost a month later.

And now (by now the 3rd day of our vacation) we sit here in the accommodation and observe spiders that are as big as hamsters.

In fact, it is so big that my phone says 'cat' when I focus on it.

You don't believe it?

Well, I'll bring it home.

However, I probably need my own ticket and a dog carrier for the creature, otherwise I assume it won't be allowed on the plane...

That's about it... 🕷

So friends... Today is already day 4 and besides an introduction I haven't accomplished anything here... The island life makes you damn sluggish... Every day already 30 degrees in the shade by 8am at least and a humidity of around 75 percent... 💦

Also, every day Tzatziki, turquoise water, plenty of sun and friendly Greeks (well, except for one choleric guy who didn't want us to park our tiny moped 30 meters in front of his shop entrance, where nobody would get lost anyway)...

The journey here was actually involuntarily longer than usual this time.

You know me... Planning and meticulously booking everything in advance is not really my thing... So I did it as always and set off into the blue... ✈

Flight Tegel - Thessaloniki (2.5 h)

From Thessaloniki Airport to the bus terminal (~1 h)

Bus terminal to Volos (2.5 h)

From Volos to Skopelos (19 h)

*cough

Yes guys, you read that right... There was simply no ferry on that day... I almost cried.. Well, it wasn't that bad.. But I was close.

Because... hello? It's almost one whole day less that I can spend on my favorite island. 😢

Arriving at the port, I put Maddy in a tavern and set off myself to find a hotel for us.... Damn, it was hot... And double damn - no hotel anywhere....

After about 3 hours, I finally found one, checked in, picked up Maddy and rolled our suitcases (mine didn't survive by the way - RIP)

I don't particularly like Volos... But I think we made the best of it... And I knew that I only had to sleep once because the ferry to Skopelos would arrive at 8am in the morning... ⛴

Every child knows that ships and boats depend on currents.... On the general sea state... On the number of people getting on and off... on their speed of stowing themselves and their luggage... and so on and so forth... . Nevertheless, they are always more punctual here than the Berlin S-Bahn... And therefore I arrived on time for a late breakfast at my favorite place. 💙

Manos was already there (have I already mentioned Greek reliability?), he drove us to his accommodation, where we greeted his elderly mother (who, at the age of 83, still has more energy than I have ever had or will ever have), and after throwing our dusty luggage onto the fresh white bed, we were already off again.

Renting a scooter.

Essential.

Since then, I hardly ever get off my vehicle.

He is reliable too.

Although he is also very sensitive and sometimes needs attention in the form of kind words and caresses - afterwards he takes us through the longest and narrowest serpentines...and up the steepest inclines without any problems... One must not forget... There are two of us on it... And we are pretty far from lightweight...

I like him. 🛵

Just like everything else here.

You know.

There is a reason why I am here for the 7th or 8th time.

There is a reason why the waiters sometimes greet me with a handshake and know exactly that I was here for the first time on Skopelos in 2008.

And guys - with all the years of Skopelos experience, I can say by the way that, for example, Berlin has changed more in 11 months sometimes than this place has in 11 years.

Of course, tourism has increased significantly.

But everything here is still so original.

No hotel buildings.

No consumer chains like McDoof or Starbucks.

Just Greece, as it should be and please, please must remain.

Forget Santorini, Corfu or Crete.

This is the place to be!

(But actually, it's not bad that so 'few' people get lost here - more of it for me!) 😝

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Today we left at 8 o'clock to drive to the other end of the island.

To Glossa.

It's really beautiful there too and besides, I wanted Maddy to see something different than just the same 2 beaches all the time, as great as they are...

When we arrived, we were immediately provided with apricots and mirabelles by a Greek family who lived where we took typical tourist pictures.

Apparently, we looked hungry.

And we were.

And since I'm not clumsy at all, the city isn't built on a hill, and we weren't standing on a steep hill on a staircase at all, and I think irony is a good stylistic device (k), if you listened closely, you didn't just hear the sheep bleating in the distance, the goat bleating, and the sea rushing, but also a stupid tourist screaming and frustratedly chasing her mirabelles, which funny enough were rolling down the slope and couldn't be caught anymore.

Darn, that's it.

Goodbye, free breakfast. 😌

The 'real' breakfast afterwards was so stupid that I don't want to comment on it any further, except that it was totally overpriced.

But the toilets there were nice. (and worth mentioning)

Anyway, after that we (finally) went to my favorite beach.

Well... have you paid attention to the other blogs? Which one is it!? 😏

(Leave your suggestions in the comments ;)

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long.

A thunderstorm was announced and it was getting pretty dark above us.

Not so great the idea of sitting on a scooter for over 1 hour and winding along the curves.

Of course... (how could it be otherwise) it was sunny when we arrived...

So, first things first, before we went back to our apartment to empty our beach bags and Maddy's bladder.

That was the plan at least.

Well...

What should I say.

It took another hour until we carried it out.......... 😅

When we caught sight of our door, we also caught sight of something that didn't belong there... A big bunch of keys with probably all the keys to all the rooms in our complex.

So, they were cleaning.

(Half past 3 in the afternoon)

So, our room was occupied. (just like Maddy's bladder, lol)

So, we couldn't get in.

(Or didn't WANT to)

I somehow felt uncomfortable disturbing the people at work.

And I mean, how long can it possibly take to prepare our little room and maybe change the towels.

So, we waited.

In the sun. At 62 degrees.

And at least 50% of us with a full bladder.

My little sweet usually big-mouthed sister simply didn't want to knock and I (as I wrote a few sentences earlier) didn't want to - for reasons. ;)

So, we continued to wait.

Laughed. (Me)

Or cursed. (Maddy)

Or both at the same time. (also Maddy)

We wondered why it was taking so long.

(Is she secretly trying on our clothes?

Is she lying down on our bed for a nap?

Is she looking for our cash reserves? - well, they are well hidden, so that can take a while...)

55 minutes had passed by now.

And my body was starting to signal slowly that I had drunk something during the day.

Well, sister won.

I knocked.

And went in.

And found neither a clean room nor a human being.

She had apparently just forgotten the fucking key.

DO NOT SAY ANYTHING NOW!

I'll leave it at that.

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By the way.

Do you like butterflies? 🦋

I know that about my big sister pretty much exactly. ;)

But the rest of you?

Well.. Are there people who would deny that now?

Those can only be the people who don't eat strawberries.

(Yup, I think this is an appropriate comparison)

Anyway.

I'm afraid this is the butterfly headquarters here.

They are simply everywhere.

Skopelos is the birthplace.

The mother ship.

I always found it nice to see one flutter over the meadow from time to time.

But here, they turn into butterfly bombs, into winged projectiles.

Especially when riding a scooter.

They shoot into my face at full speed.

They almost make the glass of my (fake) Ray-Bans shatter and hurt quite a bit when they touch my upper body during the ride..............

And what kind of creatures are they, that are watching me here while I'm writing on the rock by the water?

They look like a wild mixture of a woodlouse and a crab, have the size of a cockroach and are as fast as the wind,...

Well... Actually, I don't really want to know what it is.

There are more and more of them.

Time for me to disappear.

Just like the sun, which is now disappearing behind the mountain.

Over and out.