Leevi & Sarahs Travel Blog

It is with a sense of melancholy that I sit here in the airport departure lounge summarizing our time at the Marianthi Hotel, Molyvos, Lesvos, Greece.We approached this holiday with little research or preparation not knowing to final outcome. As fate would have it we where dealt the royal flush of last minute discount holidays.Since our last update we have turned a little more brown (Sarahs pasty white colour has had a miraculous improvement) and over indulged in too much of the local produce, olives, blocks of feta and ouzo.She is nudging me in excitement to say that “She has a tan!” and that her skin as previously described as pasty white is better reflected by the likes of Nicole Kidman or Renee Zellweger.

Day Two - Continued

Friday 14th JulyFrom our last post you would know that we planned to go snorkeling later that afternoon.So Sarah eventually bought some high quality snorkels from the local mini-mart and we headed down to the beach to test them out. One broke almost instantaneously which I inherited but we managed to make it work. We started at the main beach in Molyvos but due to poor visibility we moved around closer to some submerged rocks near a large cliff face.The water was quite still and as we covered some hundred plus metres we saw a couple of species of fish and a small crab in a shell burying itself in the ocean floor.I was quite suprised at Sarahs willingness to enter some deeper open water as she took the lead and kicked elegantly ahead. We explored for some more time headed back to the beach and dried off under the sun.We would head back to the beach a couple of more times snorkeling and I can see it becoming a compulsory part of our future beach / island holidays.The day was ended with a mezze dinner by the harbour surrounded by stray cats looking for a scrap of Mousaka or a small piece of marinated anchovy, both of which I was reluctant to share.

Day Three - Hot Springs of Eftalou

Saturday 15th JulyWe had heard about the Hot Spring of Eftalou from our tour guide and decided we would hire a scooter and cruise on over. Unfortunately we where denied on the scooter hire because we didn’t have motorbike licenses or an international license. This didn’t seem to stop the 10 year old greek kids with no helmets doubling their mates around the island tho.As with most business on the island the springs close their main public bath between 2pm and 5pm. Lucky for us the private baths where still open for a cheap price of €5 per person.Our guide told us that the basths where very hot (40°C - 46°C) and instructed us to lower ourselves slowly into the water. With the hot mineral spring water blasting from the tap the steam started to rise and we could instantly feel the heat of the water.I braved the heat and entered the bath very slowly and Sarah followed. Just incase you where freaking out we where in our swimmers. With a cold shower dripping onto our heads while watching out the window overlooking the Turkish mainland we completed our baths and headed out to dive into the cold sea.If you ever have the opportunity to enjoy a natural mineral bath, take it. If time allowed we would have been back a couple of times Im sure.Walking up the beach we took a short break to sun bake with a couple of nudists (once again swimmers on) and headed back to Molyvos.The day was completed with a home cooked pasta meal with, shock horror, olives and a couple of ouzos.

Day Four - Absolutely nothing day

Sunday 16th JuneWe did what everyone should experience who is on an island holiday should do, absolutely nothing. Oh I think I drunk some 46% local ouzo.. not sure can’t remember it.

Day Five - Donkey trekking across the universe

Monday 17th JulyDay five of our getaway yielded more snacking, swimming and unique experiences. After completing our newly formed ritual of swim, shower, sleep, ouzo, olives we completed the day with a donkey trek to near by Eftalou.The trek was guided by Dino and we where accompanied by a swedish and danish family who spoke excellent english.Dino partner me with a donkey named Maradona who had a small issue with excessive flatulence, much to the delight of Sarah. Eventually most of the donkeys succumbed and let rip over the course of the trek.Sarah was paired with her donkey, obviously they hot it off because she cant remember its name. Lets just call it the naughty white donkey. Within five minutes it had Sarah completely sussed leading her around the enclosure, later into the middle of the road and over to the tasty sugar cane.Dino eventually had to tie Sarahs donkey to the back of another donkey controlled by a five year old girl who must have had more experience in donkey trekking.We made our way over the hills and ended up at Eftalou Beach.Planes boarding gotta run..Ok back now, currently flying over an unknown body of water which I can see. Guess I must be the only person with a window seat and no window. So where was I … Oh yeah the donkey trek.We tied up our donkeys and made our way down to a protected part of the beach where Dino produced a wire rack for our BBQ dinner. Twenty minutes later he had a good pile of hot coals with pork seasoned with rock salt and oregano sizzling away on top.Producing what I thought was a four massive bottle of olive oil, later to be informed by Sarah that it was apple juice Dino offered us all a drink and with one large gulp Sarah alerted me to the fact that the apple juice was actually wine. I already knew this because I took a quick whiff first to check and spotted the grapes on the front of the bottle as my glass was poured.Our dinner was excellent, although Sarah only had the salad and bread. We did inform the booking agency of the vegetarian issue but it just have been lost in translation.An hour passed and we had nearly finished the wine. Sarah got the last drop from the bottle which our european friends informed us was the super concentrated fertility dose.After the last drops of wine where finished and the BBQ wire rack had been packed away we journeyed back home in the dark where our donkey companions were penned up and well fed.We where picked up by Dino from our hotel and he dropped us back to our door. There is something a little unsettling about being in the bus, on windy greek roads, with no seatbelts, while your driver is on a mobile phone, after 5 glasses of wine. Anyway I am here to tell the story so I wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Day 6 - Absolutely nothing, again.

Tuesday 18th JulyAte a greek salad, had an olive or two, swum in the pool, got burnt, turned brown… the usual.

Day 7 - Turtle pond @ Petra

Wednesday 19th JulyWe had not been to Petra although it was only a €5 taxi from Molyvos and didn’t really know what to expect. Our goal was to see a pool of turtles that a couple we had met at the Tropicana Restaurant the night before.We instructed the taxi driver to drop us off at Cuco Baywatch, a beach bar in the middle of Petra. We found the tennis courts as per our instructions and right next to them was the small body of water described in our directions.Im not sure what we expected to find but we didn’t expect to find a smelly stagnant pond full of rubbish. The banks of what would have been more accurately described as a drain we littered with empty plastic bottles and dried up melon shells.After searching for a minute we did see turtles albeit small ones. There where probably about 20 we could see with the naked eye and a couple of different varieties of fish. Not sure why they where there, maybe heavy rain in the winter washed them there or they went the wrong way after hatching on the beach.Our turtle search successful we headed to Cuco Baywatch to enjoy a cold coke and plan our next move. We spotted a collection of large inflated floating objects about 25 metres off shore as we approached Petra. With a little more investigating we found they where part of a small water playground run by the bar.The fee was only €5 per person per hour and well worth the asking price. The water park included a giant slide called “The Iceberg”, 2 trampolines, a see saw and various other obstacles.Sarah successfully climbed the “Iceberg” slide and out maneuvered everyone on the “Moonwalk Bar”. No easy feat.An hour passed and I had sustained a couple of abrasions courtesy of the hard black handles on “The Rock” and “Saturn”. We puled our goose-bumped bodies from the freezing cold water and warmed up on the beach before heading back to Molyvos for the night.

Day 8 - Homeward bound.

Thursday 20th JulyWell here I am finishing up another super long post recapping our 8 day adventure. Planes about to land in 30 minutes and Sarah just finished watching a teen movie on the in-flight entertainment.So for all of you reading this, we will see you again same bat time, same bat channel and don’t forget to check out the pics below and post a comment.