Droushia Discovery Day...

It was one of our monthly Drouseian Days out, discovering or rediscovering the island.  John will always be ready at least 10 minutes before we need to be whereas Rob will be ready at least 10 minutes after we need to be.  John thought it would be funny to set up our chairs outside Gregoris as we waited for the Veasey's to arrive - I didn't think so - I have had so many years of military timekeeping that sometimes I would like to throw a spanner in John's works and not be on time! John set up the chairs and was still attached to our wifi so sat playing games on the Ipad.

There was a bonus to being ready and being outside.  There was the most beautiful swallowtail butterfly taking advantage of the rose scented geraniums flowering in the front borders at Gregoris and Dora's.  I managed to snap it as it flew from bloom to bloom.  Rob and Di arrived in due course - after all we are retired so what's a few minutes between friends?

We had, what turned out to be, the bestest day which was so packed with loveliness that my posts will spread over two days so you can savour our experiences.  We started out by driving down through Kritou Terra and along the main road to Polis before taking the coast road towards our final destination of Pyrgos which is as far as you can go before reaching the boarder and crossing into the Turkish Occupied part of the island.

Our coffee stop was at the Santa Barbara taverna which is right on the coast and which is a brilliant place for sundowners and the sunset.  We haven't been there for ages, in fact not since Debra was staying with us and we had a very indifferent meal there with some even more indifferent service.  It was warm but hazy - perfect for car travel but maybe not so perfect if you are a sun worshipping tourist.

Our next stop before circumnavigating Kokkinos the Turkish enclave was at the sandwich wagon on the bend before Pomos.  It has the most spectacular view and one day we will stop and sample the sandwiches which I understand are very good.

We slowly made our way to the furthest point we could taking in the spectacular vistas.  You could be forgiven for thinking you are in Cornwall with the rocky coastline which stretches out for miles.  Very little traffic on this road but sadly quite a lot of litter - they need our clean-up team to help out!!  We discussed the detour we had to make because the enclave is still protected - madness really and it has meant that over the years Pyrgos has got more and more detached from the remainder of the Greek side of the island - this became increasingly more clear when we arrived at our final destination to find it like a ghost town even though it is nearly the end of May and the tourist season is in full flow.