Tripping down memory lane. Mama Mia!

It was amazing being back in the beautiful island of Skopelos – more than 40 years after the last of several visits there.

I had got to know a few locals way back in the day including a delightful couple who had run the restaurant my group of friends always frequented.

The couple were called Spiros and Asimina and they had a little girl called Varvara. I wondered if the family were still on the island so when having dinner at Kyratso’s Kitchen (which has been open since the mid 1980’s) I asked the lovely proprietor whether she knew of them.

“Know them? They are my neighbours! I will phone them!” She said. I was dubious – after all, there must have been literally thousands of tourists who had patronised their restaurant over the years!

However, all those years ago I had eaten at their home and had shared Easter with them at another family’s house. They were the people who invited me to a local girl’s wedding which was a fantastic cultural experience. Nevertheless, it was so long ago – I had subsequently moved to Australia, met my husband, settled there. Skopelos was in another lifetime.

Although I was curious to see them it was a kind of relief to hear later on that day that they were in Volos for a few days but when my new acquaintance rang them, they said they did remember me and my group of friends!

On the day we were leaving the port to sail round to the other side of the island to the natural harbour of Panormos Bay, we realised that the data we had purchased in Lemnos for our router had stopped working.

We had tried topping up on line, using the app and Jonathan had talked to someone from the telephone company. Finally he had bought some more data at a kiosk to see if that would work – all to no avail.

So I thought “what we need here is a young person” and went to the coffee bar closest to where we were moored and asked a couple of girls who worked there if they could translate the instructions on the phone for for us.

One young lady, Stella, a barista, was enormously helpful and despite being at work and having to break off between times to go and make coffee, kept at the task for well over an hour.

It seemed that the person at the telephone provider shop in Lemnos hadn’t added on the data package we’d requested and had also incorrectly entered our passport number so we couldn’t get through the security questions when Stella phoned the telephone company. The person she spoke to gave us some free data to tide us over until we could get to a physical store so at least we had some internet again!

We were so grateful to Stella who cheerfully held on waiting to speak to the phone company for what seemed like many hours! If you ever go to Skopelos, go and say “hi” to her and drink a cup of her very good coffee!

We managed to untie ourselves from the town wall without incident and as we did so I reflected on the time I saw a flotilla of small yachts entering Skopelos harbour all those years ago. At that time I thought to myself “I really want to do that”. Who would have thought that 40 plus years later I’d be entering this same harbour on a boat I shared with my husband after sailing 12,000 nautical miles in South East Asia and several thousand in Greece and Turkey? How strange life can be!

We motor sailed round to Panormos Bay and as Catabella had already anchored and tied back to the rocks, the crew were able to help us tie up. It’s very hard to do this when there are only two of you.

As Skopolos was the island on which much of the movie Mama Mia was filmed, Sue and John decided to host a Mama Mia party for their guests’ last night.

We all dressed up – I’m sure no one would recognise us as being members of ABBA let alone characters from the movie but it was fun nevertheless!

After drinks on the deck to the soundtrack of Mama Mia, and a couple more in salon, we all headed for Panormos Beach to a restaurant right on the beach where we enjoyed an excellent meal.

Early the next day, Jonathan hopped on board to help John tie up in Skiathos where Catabella’s boat guests would catch their onward flight. Rather than do the two crossings Sue stayed aboard Sunday and we waved a sad “goodbye” as Catabella motored away.

While we were moored in Panormos we had time to relax and also caught up with a few jobs as well as going on a couple of really enjoyable long walks up into the hinterland.

On the first walk we saw loads of fruit trees in the gardens we walked past – lemons, oranges, peaches, cherries and mulberries, as well as an abundance of gorgeous flowers – plus two tiny white washed chapels at the roadside.

The fresh air, the smells of blossom and pine needles was just wonderful and we felt far, far, away from the tourist trail.

During the second walk, we walked for ages up a steep hill and kept saying “let’s just see what’s round this corner”. We ended up almost at the top of the ridge but a fence across the road impeded our progress. A very large villa we glimpsed through the trees was probably the reason for the long and winding road up the hill and for the mysterious road end.

On this walk we met some very shy goats, found a deserted farmhouse that was now a hen coop for some talkative hens and marvelled at the fantastic views.

After a great few days in Skopelos it was time to head off to Skiathos, the most touristy island of the Northern Sporades. Although generally we try and avoid very busy places we were looking forward to seeing Skiathos which is renowned for its beauty and crystal clear waters. Plus we could get our phone data fixed up at the telephone/internet provider’s store at the port!