We’re all goin’ on a summer holiday…

So sang Sir Cliff Richard in the halcyon days of the sixties when a summer holiday was your only holiday and was usually a week in the sun (hopefully) at Bognor, although for most people it didn’t involve a double decker bus! If it rained, you made the best of it and sat on the beach in your anorak, and if you were one of the lucky few with shed loads of cash, you took yourself off to France or what sounded like an exotic Mediterranean island such as Capri, or you went for a fortnight instead of just a week. Holidays any further afield, or for longer, were at that time strictly for the jet set and for movie stars only.

Despite the fact that the destinations have changed – become more far flung, exotic and needless to say more expensive – and the range of activities we undertake has expanded to include annual skiing holidays, various other sports and ‘activity holidays’ such as cookery schools and painting retreats, and also that we probably all have more holidays and leisure time now than we did fifty years ago, we still look forward to and anticipate our main summer holidays as much as ever.

We are very lucky in that we bought our house in Greece about six or seven years ago when the exchange rate was good and we could afford it – we certainly couldn’t now. As such, we can buy cheap flights as soon as they are released and have been known to get return flights to Iraklio in early summer for less than £80. We try to get out there three or four times a year, and today we are jetting off on our annual summer fortnight together (other holidays are sometimes taken on our own due to work commitments). My daughter, who lives with us, is looking forward to having the run of the house in return for feeding my cats and watering my plants.

I can’t wait. We fly from Gatwick in the afternoon and we should be there about 11pm, local time. That means we can nip out for a nightcap at the local kafenion before tucking in for the night and so be fresh and ready to sleep on the beach the next day.

The first week of any fortnight is always down time. Usually, we are so tired that all we want to do is eat, sleep, sunbathe and relax. By the second week, we are ready to do a bit more and this time we are thinking of exploring the south of the island a little more and visiting the fourth Minoan Palace on Crete at Phaestos. We have been to all the others  at Knossos, Malia and Zakros. By the way, don’t bother going to Zakros – it’s a horrendous drive over virtual goat tracks to see something which is, in essence, just a pile of stones now, and there’s neither a café nor toilets. Anyway, getting to Phaestos will involve a fairly long drive and probably an overnight stay. On the way, we have also been recommended to visit a resort called Matala, which is meant to be spectacularly beautiful and very peaceful as it is off the usual tourist trail due to its remote location.

There are people that say to be “Don’t you get bored going back to the same place each time?” and to a certain extent I can see where they are coming from, but I must say the novelty of having my own house on a beautiful island in the Med hasn’t worn off and I don’t think it will for a while. While I am working, and while my leisure time is so precious (as is my time with The Hubby), it suits me fine to go back to a place with guaranteed weather, where I have my own stuff, I know where everything is, I understand how things work and I can relax as soon as I get on the plane. Yes, I would like to explore other places and go further afield as well as elsewhere in the UK, but for now I am perfectly happy thank you, and all that can wait until I am retired. We can fly to other countries from Athens as well as from London, and when we do come back to the UK to see family we can travel around too. So there’s no rush.

I am now going to shut down for a fortnight, but I will be making copious notes to inform various blogs when I get back. I have written several which will publish while I am away, so enjoy, and I will (metaphorically) see you all soon!