We try not to book flights that leave too early or too late, but on this occasion there wasn’t much choice.
The car arrived just after 4am and we’d only driven about two minutes from the house when we had to pull over because Mum wasn’t feeling well. Although it would have been a pain, I suggested turning back and trying again in a few days. We had a long day’s travelling ahead of us and hadn’t even made it to the airport yet. But despite Mum having been sick, my suggestion was promptly poo-pooed.
With the windows wound down, we arrived at Stansted at around 5am. I’m always amazed at how many people seem to be around at that time of the morning, but we got through quickly and, with Mum holding up well, boarded our flight.
Some three and a half hours later, following a rather bumpy landing, we touched down in Samos, made our way through immigration and picked up the car.
The first things we noticed were how windy and mountainous it was. I immediately began questioning the satnav, which was telling me it would take fifty minutes to drive the twenty miles to Ormos, where we’d be staying. But as we began climbing into the mountains, I quickly understood why.
The road twisted and turned as we climbed higher, before descending through a series of hairpin bends on the other side. We then wound our way through several small villages along narrow, single-track roads before making one final descent towards our apartment, just ten metres from a wonderful stretch of coastline that looked like the perfect swimming spot.
We settled into our little routine quickly. There was a great little coffee shop, a gentle stroll into a typically Greek village, a lovely restaurant beneath the trees beside a small beach, a few more restaurants and a supermarket at the end of the street. Oh, and a little bakery tucked away behind it all.
For Mum, who strangely enough had never been to Greece before, it was even better than she’d imagined.
It wasn’t long before we’d adopted a very handsome little cat. We weren’t entirely sure whether he came with the apartment, but he was always around for cuddles and the three meals a day, plus treats, that Rachel had decided he needed.
Every day seemed to be windy, but as we were staying on the southern side of the island, every day was also a swimming day. The stretch of Aegean Sea in front of our apartment was sheltered on either side, giving us a wonderful place to swim regardless of what the wind was doing elsewhere.
