I am in the Sea, Very Cool, Very Free

Hi Tricia..to tell you the truth,make what is the best for you,becouse me i m in the sea,very cool,very free!The bus early morning come in Poros about 14.00′(very good for me)!!The second bus come about 19.00′(very good for me)..You see?Evrything is very good for me!Special becouse today the ship strike are stop,so you can come in kefalonia!!!!My opinion(just my opinion)come with the first bus(if you wake up early morning,if not ok!come with the next.How ever tomorrow all together we will dring ouzaki on the sea!Just let me know the time of your bus,and the rest i will fix it!!See you…

Ship strike??  Lucky me and good timing, that could have gone on for days and days.  Kyllini looked like a pleasant enough place to get stuck in for a day or two but really glad that I escaped that mess.  Vagelis sends the best emails!

So far all of my Airbnb experiences have started with wonderfully friendly, warm email exchanges with my hosts and unique first meetings.  In San Sebastian, I had to meet the friend of my host at an outdoor bus station.  I didn’t know what or who to look for, but thankfully her 11 year old son recognized me from the description of my backpack.  It was quite confusing to see a little kid you don’t know run toward you yelling “Pa-tree-cee-ah, Pa-tree-cee-ah” in the middle of a place you don’t live.  In Charlotte, my host (and roommate!), Diego, was also an Uber driver so we arranged an airport pickup.  I wasn’t using Uber at the time, and couldn’t get my phone to download the app so when we pulled over on an off ramp to figure it out, Diego had to talk his way out of a ticket.  And he did.  In Puerto Rico, I had to meet the host in front of his condo which seemed normal enough, but when I got there, we had to enter sneakily through the back.  Once I was in, I could enter and exit through the front.  My “cousin” was a great host, giving me a lift to the airport when I departed.  And on another trip to Charlotte, my host left a key in a lock box chained to a railing in a garage with a secret code.  I felt like a spy.

And here, in Kefalonia, as I disembarked in Poros and looked for the dark cherry-colored Ford fiesta to the right, there was Vagelis cheerily walking toward me, with a super friendly greeting followed by quick look around me “Wait.  Ahhhh, is it just you?  Where’s John?”  Huh?  “Who’s John?”  For a second I thought I might unknowingly be sharing my little art house with some guy named John.  Or maybe he also thinks Stanley is a real person, named John.  “I thought you were two.”  Nope, just me and Stanley, who is a bag, and this other little bright green monstrosity full of computers and work that weighs more than my bag bag.  Then I thought he may have gotten confused by my phone call from the boat.  “Ohhhhh, a very nice man let me use his phone to call and let you know I made the boat, maybe his name was John??  Nope, that wasn’t it either.  Oh well.

Poros has a nice little harbor with a lighthouse and lots of charm.  Before we drove to Skala, we stopped for a drink at a small, adorable cafe in the port.   Facing the sea, it’s to the far left and if you walk through the first terrace of tables to the back through some rock entrances, there’s a small terrace that feels like you’re on the sea.  I think “ouzaki” literally means “little ouzo” but I think it might be similar to “meeting for a drink”.  I’m not sure if I’m remembering this correctly, but when I was working in the apotheke on Paros, we would often go out for drinks and bar snacks before dinner that we called meeting for “ouzaki“.  Which may or may not have included ouzo. Again, I might be pulling that from my ass. It probably just means “little ouzo”.  I had a little glass of white wine.

We chatted a bit as the sun went down and then hopped in the dark cherry-colored Ford Fiesta to Skala.  The drive along the sea was breathtaking.  Dramatic rock formations in the water make the calmly beautiful sea even more enchanting.  It got dark quickly and we stopped along the road at St. Giorgios, a small church beside an archaeological site from the Archaic period.  Vagelis lit a candle and we were off again.  Drove through a pedestrian zone full of shaking fists so he could show me the main drag in the small town, drove by Manolis Taverna (best meat!) and the supermarket (there’s a psychopath don’t go there!) and  then we stopped at their hotel to meet Voula.

Okay, time for a beach break before work! Back later, or tomorrow.

Wow, the sea was perfect yesterday (and today too), crystal clear with jewel-like patterns from light-washed underwater stones. I swam for over an hour, what a great way to start a work day, or any day. Okay back to meeting Voula. Voula and Vagelis run the Hotel Skala in town, it’s her family business and from what I can gather, they built this house using stones from the sea and live in it when they aren’t airbnbing it. When we arrived at the hotel, I got a quick tour, and was welcomed with a glass of wine and an invitation to relax on the terrace and wait for Voula to return.  The smell of jasmine was everywhere, hypnotic and soothing, it’s my absolute favorite scent.  Voula returned from shopping and greeted me warmly.  We talked a bit about the hotel and the island and I assured her I would be okay in the house by myself.  She was really worried about me in general, but also that I might be disappointed with the house.  I can’t imagine the person who would be disappointed staying here. It’s magical.  Hope to chat with them more about the house and the village.  So now it was finally time to go to the art house.

The house.  What can I say, it is just spectacular. So unique, and I love every creative inch of this little gingerbread home made of sea pebbles and stone and tiles and colored glass and shells and cork and metal and wood and mosaics and just surprising details at every turn.  On one corner of the outside facade, there is a Tsantali wine bottle floating on a wall of pebbles. I have three of those bottles in my apartment on a floating ledge on my kitchen wall!   And there are spirals everywhere (I love spirals!) from the railing on the staircase up to the loft bedroom to the insets on the fireplace.  Yes! There’s a fireplace. And a cow print painted chimney!  Every day I notice something new. Like right now I am looking at this thing that’s suspended from the slanted wood ceiling over the fireplace that looks like an elongated corn cob still in its husk.  A straw hat lamp shade is peeking at me too. I’ve been here almost a full week and I’m still noticing new things. And I am still in absolute awe of the place.

 

It was dark when we arrived, but Vagelis showed me around the garden a bit. Flowers and trees and plants and sculpture. Little nap nooks and benches and chaises and a telescope.  There are a few garden cats that belong to the house, Astrology, Turandot and Gray.  Gray is gray.  Man, is he wild looking.  Apparently they don’t really like anyone, except at feeding time.  That’s okay, I wasn’t looking to make any new cat friends and I didn’t mind feeding them at all, despite my recurring cat feeding anxiety dreams.  They have their own little outdoor dining area and cupboard that says “Cats Food”, and they’re jumpy and a little weird and very cute.  There’s another nameless douchebag cat that comes and tries to steal their food. Then we entered the house and it was better than all the pictures on the listing.  They brought  me fresh eggs and wine and bread and all the ingredients for a Greek salad. Kitchen was stocked with olive oil and coffee and spices and fruit.  After just two days of travel, it felt like I just returned to my wild native home from a 10 year journey at sea.  I wonder how John is making out.

 

“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”
Homer, The Odyssey, c 8th C, BCE

“You see? Everything is very good for me.”
Vagelis, Airbnb Email, September 24, 2016