A festive spell by the sea.

The blog has been dozing for the last couple of weeks because so have we. On a journey where we rarely stay more than two nights in one place, we have spent the Christmas and New Year period in a small campsite near the village of Foinikounta on the South Western tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. In the summer the area is heaving with holidaymakers from across Europe, attracted by the beautiful beaches. In December we have the place pretty much to ourselves, sharing the space with a huge 12 tonne German 4x4 motorhome, they have previously travelled from Patagonia to Alaska in it, and an Austrian couple who build motorhomes for a living and have arrived in one of their own vehicles. 

A bit of company

Time-wise we are now pretty much halfway through our European journey, having travelled a little over 10,000 miles since we left Lancashire on July 4th. We will be taking another 6 months to get back to Blighty but won't be going around the north of Norway on the return journey. The general plan is to stay in Greece until the end of March then, as Spring begins to arrive, cross to Italy on the ferry and meander north, with the occasional diversion. 

Florence having a much-needed rest

The time here has been a welcome break. We have access to a washing machine and have fresh water on the pitch. Better still we are about 50 yards from half a mile of pristine Greek beach where the spaniels have enjoyed running across the empty sands. Max, who has developed as a strong swimmer, has now taken up surfing having learned that he can swim out and ride back in on the waves. A little disconcertingly he has also taken to swimming out 70 or 80 metres from the shore and ignoring our entreaties to come back. Elsa meanwhile has discovered she can run past a local house and set the guard dogs barking, something she has enjoyed on a daily basis. 

Nothing worse than a crowded beach

There is very little happening around here at this time of year. We took a half hour walk into the village of Foinikounta to find almost every bar and taverna closed and shuttered. On most of our daily beach walks we haven't seen a soul. There is a small grocery shop about ten minutes walk away where we have been able to get any necessary supplies, albeit at prices a bit more expensive than our normal Lidl shop. But the staff are friendly and the fresh bread is a delight. On my last shopping trip the owner gave me some delicious Greek cakes.

Foinikounta is a pretty fishing village

We don't have an oven in the van so our Christmas lunch was a Greek meze with dishes

Christmas Day Swim

being prepared and eaten throughout the whole of Christmas afternoon and early evening. We rounded off the feast with a bottle of Tokay which we had picked up in a Hungarian vineyard. It has certainly been strange celebrating Christmas in bright sunshine and warm temperatures. Apart from two or three wet days when we first arrived, the weather has been gorgeous, so much so that Neri had a Christmas Day swim with Max, and it has normally been warm enough to walk in t shirts. 

My attempt at saganaki

Pigs in blankets...Greek style

Hungarian nectar

Neri's tiramisu

The evenings have been spent catching up on His Dark Materials which I have managed to download from iPlayer. We are much enjoying it, so much better than the awful film version from some years ago. We have also been watching Christmas University Challenge. When we are at home we join a number of our neighbours on New Years Eve for a quiz night, organised by Ray, a retired teacher. Before we left home he handed us an envelope with a prepared quiz so we wouldn't miss out and we had our own quiz night in the van. New Years Day was so warm we sat outside and had a barbecue. 

New Years Day BBQ

Our sojourn here is coming to an end. We have used the time for a bit of cleaning and a few simple maintenance tasks. Last night we shared drinks with the Austrian couple who, like us, will be moving on tomorrow. Our plan is to drive towards Kalamata, top up with LPG and get some shopping done. We will then spend a couple of nights near Analipsi, where we have stayed before, then head back into Kalamata on Tuesday (Monday is a public holiday) to see if our delayed post has finally found its way through the tortuous Greek mail system. From there we will spend our time exploring Mani and Malea, two southern peninsulas of the Peloponnese. Lonely Planet voted this area of Greece in top spot in its Best of Europe list so we are looking forward to seeing it. 

Plenty of room for spaniels

Elsa does like a good pose

Our Christmas neighbours