Tuesday 22nd April 2008

Our plot at the campsite is on a terraced hill with a view of the acropolis of Ancient Asine that is positioned on the neighbouring hill between us and the sea. We walked down to the site entrance, beside the hill of the acropolis and on into Tolo. Two kilometres later we arrived at the small port of Tolo and the Hotel Minoa that we stayed in 25 years ago on our first visit here. It hadn't changed much, still up-market although more pretentious with its columned entrance and elaborate dining table and chair coverings. The charm however was still there with the entrance literally on the beach and nothing to spoil the view of the boats and the islands in the bay. We took a last minute holiday here when I desperately needed a break from working all hours (day, night and weekends) at Foster Yeoman. My very supportive director suggested that I took a break and it did me the power of good. Simon was still a baby and we have happy memories of sitting out on chairs on the beach in the evening directly below our open bedroom window, listening for any cries from Simon. He was a very good sleeper (once you could get him to sleep) and, although we checked him regularly, we were very rarely required. The Minoa was one of very few hotels in Tolo at the time but the town is much bigger now with many hotels and hundreds of rooms to rent. It was outside the Minoa that we saw an intriguing sight. A family drove on to the beach in their car (this was and is a common sight in Tolo where the beach is used as a road, providing the only access to some of the buildings), the father of the family got out and extracted a net from the boot. The net was circular with weights around the edge and, after inspecting the sea for a few minutes, he spun the net around and threw it into the sea. As it flew, it opened into a perfect circle and landed on the water. The man then waded out into the sea, which was very shallow, retrieved the net and emptied its contents into a bucket. He did this three times and with a considerable catch of small fish, he got back into the car and drove off. We decided that they were going off for a picnic and he had just caught their lunch in the space of less than 15 minutes. Very impressive.
We walked for a while along the beach and picked up supplies from a butcher, a small supermarket and a grocer. On returning to Henrietta, I put the pork in a marinade of lemon juice, oil, garlic and herbs – Souvlaki Hirini (Pork Kebabs) for dinner.
Photos: Tolo beach with a very over to one of the many islands in the bay; The fondly-remembered Hotel Minoa.