Monday 19th May 2008

The campsite shares its site with the university boat club and this morning many students arrived, carried their boats to the lake and sculled in singles, pairs and fours across the lake. A majestic sight to watch over breakfast.
We said goodbye to Terry and Stuart, only to bump into them again in the centre of Ioannina when we walked, very slowly, in to the town. We investigated the old town, visited the museum in one of the old mosques and then had our first gyro pittas of the Odyssey in a taverna recommended by Stuart. The taverna was on a main street right opposite the entrance to the old town and the somewhat slow service allowed us to participate in one of Jane's favourite hobbies – people watching. Even I was enthralled by this today. We were directly opposite a taxi rank and there was a constant succession of people waiting, taxis arriving and departing fully loaded. As often happens in Greece, the taxi drivers would check to see if any of the people waiting were going in the same direction as their passengers – more profit for the drivers and quicker for those waiting if they can share. Next to the taxi rank was a small shrine with an icon of a saint wearing traditional Greek mountain village dress and pedestrians and car drivers alike would cross themselves as they passed it – difficult if you are using a mobile phone at the same time!
In the afternoon, we took the ferry over to the lake island of Nisi and walked (slightly faster) around the three monasteries. The island was not that interesting but was obviously a popular place to come to eat. The tavernas had glass tanks full of eels and a few carp, all from the lake. It was sad to see the large numbers of eels packed into the tanks with no room to move and the idea of picking an eel to eat really did not appeal. Unfortunately, after the lovely clear views across the lake yesterday, it was very hazy today and it this spoilt the view down to east end of the lake. However, I am not complaining as the on the two other occasions that we have visited Ioannina. It was becoming very hot and humid and we decided to retire to Henrietta. We opened all of the windows, doors and skylights in the van and sat in the shade but the heat was really oppressive. Sure enough we had an extremely brief shower with very large drops of rain and then the thunder and lightning started over the mountains at the other end of the lake. We were hoping for a really good downpour to clear the air but were disappointed and instead had a very restless, hot night's sleep.
Still, my leg had survived the walking of the day, a good sign for the driving that I would have to do tomorrow.
Photos: A rather surreal view of an apparently headless sculler carrying his boat to the lake; Our gyro pitta taverna reflected in the chrome of an immaculate Kawasaki 900 motorbike; A Great Crested Grebe and chick.