“Travels to a Different Time” : July 29, 1970: Sleeping in a Grape Arbour on the Outskirts of Skiros: Watch For Scorpions! I Love Goat Stew!

We arrived at the tiny port town of Linaria in Skiros and no luck in finding rooms. Somehow we ended up on the outskirts of the equally tiny town of Skiros sleeping outside in cots in a grape arbour. I have been to camp in Vermont so this was going to be another adventure. As long as we don’t have scorpions biting us this should be OK. At least we are a few minutes away from a quiet beach. There are few tourists here. Now to get to the town of Skiros we have to walk five minutes to the beach. We then have to climb down a ladder then walk along the beach then up a ladder to walk up to the town. There is only one restaurant in town. We have a nice routine here. Up early, go the bakery in town, get some fruit and bread for breakfast. Then go to the beach for most of the day with an outdoor siesta then back to the beach. I have turned a golden brown by now. I love the ocean and I can even open my eyes underwater and they don’t sting. Then at 6 or so we head into town not forgetting our flashlight and head to the restaurant for mezze which in Greek means a snack. We usually have a couple of plates of cucumbers, tomato, octopus and feta cheese. Like a true Greek Mom has an ouzo or two and we watch the ocean below. The restaurant does not open until 8 p.m. and don’t even think of eating earlier than that! As we can’t read Greek we go into the kitchen and point to what we want to eat. The cooks smile and give us advice as to what they think we should be eating. I am having so much fun here and dinner every night here is so delicious. I feel so far away from home on some tiny island in the middle of an ocean and like I am in another world. How can I ever explain my adventures?

July 30, 1970: We froze under the grape arbour so we asked for some wool blankets for the upcoming nights. We went into town for some bread and canned mackerel. We also bought some soft drinks, beer and a watermelon and headed to the beach for mackerel sandwiches. Like in Crete the ocean was rough today and again I had to drag a panicked mom back to shore. Dinner tonight was goat stew for me and some salty fish for Mom.