July 16

Finally a chance to sleep in although I thought the wind will blow the roof off.

Another warm, blue sky day - YEAH

Lazy morning, plan to visit Ambelos, the village on other side of island where Stan's mum, Poppy, grew up. It's a beautiful island, mountainous, blue clear water, lovely people. Typical Greek Island house but these look real, not dolled up for tourists.

Ballos is very small yet has 5-6 places to eat! We spent the Wednesday locally. The girls did a couple of hours of homework, Alex managed to Skype her school buddies although this was touch and go given the intermittent Internet connection. Luckily as we got up at 6 am for her to do this. We ate at a little cafe playing jazz music on the beach offering sunbirds, smoothies and wifi. Great combination. The pebble beaches a bit tricky to navigate but we managed, the water crystal clear is so inviting, but it is chillier than expected.

Alex had a tummy bug for a few days, so she woke early each day for next few days...our sleep in days.

Bit of a summary of the trip:

Things we have lost:

Stan - camera lens cover, maybe his Swiss Army knife

Ewa- lock for suitcase

Alex - face moisturiser, but found it again few days later. She would say biggest loss for her has been missed time with friends and fitness.

Cassie - her camera, poor Cassie

Not bad really.

Favourite bit for all of us is undoubtedly the canal boat. It was pretty scenery., had to go with the slow pace yet not be bored , good company, fun of our master chef challenge and nightly games of charades.

Stan's second favourite is Ballos, I know he wishes he could have stayed longer and explored more.

As with all holidays we will hopefully forget the frustrations, the tediousness of waiting and getting between places, the tensions of being in each others space for 6 weeks, the cold, the heat, the uncomfy pillows, the upset tummies and we will remember the amazing places , the laughs, the surprise finds, the great food, nice people and general "vibe" of the trip.