For two years now, a wish-dream pin has been poking at my "there-were-we-going" card.
Elafonisos, the small island on the edge of the wild and beautiful Peloponnese, lies peacefully in the gentle waves of the deep blue sea. It only takes 10 minutes to cross by ferry. Like an untouched paradise, a place of peace and freedom, this island welcomes us who are in search of tranquillity and beauty.
Already the crossing makes us cheer: the water so clear, turquoise and blue in the distance. Below us, we ask the captain, 3 metres deep, crystal clear water. The seabed seems close enough to touch.
Arriving on the island, we stock up on the essentials in the small corner shop and roll to the southern end of the island (5 kilometres!), to where we assume the dream beaches are. We cross a small mountainous region and already the whole beauty of the double bay spreads out before us. We can hardly believe it. Now we are going on holiday, we promise ourselves.
A holiday from travelling, yes, we do that every now and then. Usually three or four days off the road are enough to recharge the batteries. The longer we are on the road, the more we pay attention to it.
Arriving at the beach, we find that all five dream spots are taken. But in conversation we learn that three of the five vanlifers will move on tomorrow. So we look forward to taking one of those spots tomorrow.
We have arrived in paradise. Our eyes cannot tear themselves away from the white beach and the blue sea. The crystal clear (and unfortunately very cold!) water glistens in the sun, the sun warms the sand. And the typical salty smell of the sea that the wind blows towards us makes our hearts beat faster.
We hike, climb small and big mountains. Up here the wind whistles at 50 kilometres per hour. It's good that we allowed our bodies a little more gravity last year, so it doesn't blow us away straight away. The many dates with all their calories also have their good side!
The view from up here is fantastic! The wind carries sailors and ships in search of the quiet beauty of this island. A pirate ship lies in the bay, any moment we expect Captain Sparrow (Gerd) or Peter Pan (Heike) and would love to have our binoculars with us.
Our binoculars "Steini" have become a running joke: we bought a really good pair and Steini has been travelling with us from the very beginning. But on hikes or excursions, where Steini could definitely serve his purpose, he slumbers comfortably in a box full of hats, scarves and shawls.
Our pitch, now somewhat elevated, with the best view, turns out to be a paradise in paradise. The scent of lavender, juniper and thyme wafts around us. I pull out our only pair of scissors and go picking. Tonight we have the last Italian gnocchi, with sage butter, of course. All right, in the absence of real butter in olive oil.
The thyme is dried and for the juniper I still have to research whether it is as useful as the common juniper. I will tie the remains of the sage into small "things" for later room smoking. And I hope that they will dry quickly in the Greek sun.
While I write my diary, collect herbs and knit a row or two, Gerd has a completely different occupation: He has lady visitors. Every afternoon, when the sun slowly wanders around us, a black and white lady cat comes into our Felix to be fed and stroked and to take a nap.
It is obvious that she will have cubs soon. The belly is round, the teats have the usual colour. And what does my husband do? He pads Felix's entire foot space with cuddly blankets. So that Madame, if she wants to give birth here, is comfortable.
I ask him briefly how he imagines it? He shrugs his shoulders, his gaze is dreamy. Only that maybe I could hitch a ride, because he would then have a job here.
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
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Really enviably beautiful there. 🥰