Kalimera Kalamos

In 12 weeks time we will be here. A sleepy backwater called Kalamos on the Pagasitic Gulf in Greece. This is the view from our terrace.

We will fly into Volos, collect our car, pick up groceries from "Champion" in Volos town then head off for the 2 hour drive to Kalamos, stopping only in Argalasti for some of the Nymphe local wine. That will be our last need of civilisation for 2 weeks.

We have been here before, last September, and thought we had died and gone to heaven. Arriving on a Sunday afternoon, not a sound could be heard other than the lapping of the waves and the distant put put of the little fishing boats. The only other inhabitant we saw for an hour or more, a kingfisher, using 'our' tree as a lookout post as he fished in the waters below.

It's a very Greek place almost untouched by tourists, no illustrated menus and display boards here. The single village taverna served what was in their kitchen, brought homemade bread in a basket and tomatoes straight from the garden. The neighbours arrived "Kalimerasas, Te kanete?" (hello, how are you?). They caught some fish, cooked and ate it, then packed up and went home to their main house up the hill.

In late May the temperature will be in the low 80's and cloud and rain will be forgotten in Greek skies until September. We can't wait, whilst days of rain and snow and bitter east winds fill our existence. Only 12 weeks for the promise of sun.

We fill our hours pouring over maps, making endless mental lists of the little places we missed last time and those places to which we must return, where they had the freshest fish, the sweetest orange juice, the spiciest walnut cake. Once we arrive all those lists will be forgotten as we slip into Greek Time and do nothing.