2015.05.20 Wednesday - Nydri, Lefkada

Nydri is a little port on the island of Lefkada, popular with sailors. It was great waking up this morning to a picturesque island view. Anne and Bob had booked a tour so were away early. Greg and I were doing our own thing. This time I knew where to get and a map and info before we went ashore. Once again, we were using the ship's tenders. After a quick walk up the cafe strip and down the tourist shop strip we decided to get a taxi to Lefkas, the capital, about 20 minutes away.


 Ship to shore tenders from Seabourn Odyssey

Tour cruise boats at Nydri



How very Australian!

We met Gerry and Rita from North Carolina at the taxi rank and opted to share the taxi ride with them. Lefkas was quiet, no other tourists. We wandered down the main street with Greg shopping for some traditional Greek "worry beads". We needed a loo stop so found a cafe and ordered tea and coffee. Next thing along come a bunch of tourists but it was only the Seabourn excursion Anne and Bob were on.

Refreshed, we followed the map down some pretty back streets and into some ornate churches. Even found that the chairs in one church were exactly as the dining room chairs we had in Sydney (bought about 1978).




Spotted the public library so popped in for a look. I introduced myself as a former librarian from Australia and asked to look around. That was fine until we tried to flip through the books on the shelves to see if we could see any Australian authors. A staff member raced over, exclaiming loudly in Greek then English - we could look but not touch! The library was not very inviting and the stock was in poor condition.



The library in Lefkas

Down lots of the narrow little streets you could see splashes of colour from old favourites - geraniums and bougenvillia. In the main square again we meet Bob enjoying some icecream and Anne returning from a successful shopping trip.

We catch a taxi back to Nidri and the taxi driver tells us about the yachts in the huge marina. Many are rentals but some are owned by millionaires from overseas who just use them once or twice a year. The local economy is strong because of the popularity of sun and sea with the wealthy.

In the afternoon we relaxed at Seasourn Square in the comfy chairs to blog. Then the four of us formed a team with a couple of Americans for trivia. Our team was the Outbacks playing against the Wallabies, the Sitting Ducks, Wise Guys and Behind by one - trivia is obviously popular with Australians. Not saying where we finished, lets just say we didn't win (but the winners did have 8 players to our 6 -not that I care)

Dinner was on the deck at the Colonnade again. This time an Italian theme. I passed on entree, thank goodness because when the Osso Bucco came it was huge. Delicious but so big. Wish I hadn't had that rich tiramissu!

 From our cabin balcony, leaving Nydri. Then off for ...

 
... dinner on the Colonnade.