If you’ve never been to Greece or the Greek Islands (of which there are many) then you have missed out big time.
Shirley Valentine couldn’t believe it, and neither could I until I took the family to Crete in the 1980’s.
It has always been my favourite destination since, and if I could choose somewhere to live the rest of my life it would be right there where the sea and sky are clear and blue, the night sky is full of stars and life is well…..easy.
I recently spent a week in a very nice Hotel in the Greek island of Corfu. It was as good a Hotel as you will find anywhere, but now and again you just fancy something that is Simply Greek!
Greek tavernas are generally family run places where you can buy a simple meal with a local flavour that you can wash down with locally produced wine or beer.
Nissaki Beach is a remote pebbled beach on the north east coast of Corfu just south of the popular resort of Kassiopi.
The Yiannis Taverna & Cocktail Bar sits at the bottom of a steep hill next to the beach and it is everything that you would expect from a traditional family run Greek Taverna.
The sea laps across the white pebbles right up to the restaurant steps. In the winter we were told that the sea floods the place
We approached it a couple of days beforehand to reserve a table. The owner asked us where we would like to sit. Clearly, at this time of year they were not exactly run off their feet.
In this remote place it was difficult to imagine this place ever being run off its feet.
The menu consisted of Fish, Pork or Beef.
Naively we thought that the grilled kalamaries would be similar to the strips that we often buy in Sainsbury’s each week, only to find that the real thing is a whole baby squid…..tentacles and all.
The Sea Bass was cooked to perfection however. Head and all.
The wine was a cut above that which was served in our hotel under the all inclusive deal, but I have yet to sample a Greek wine that suits my particular palate.
But never mind all that. A meal for two, plus three, yes three, carafes of wine for around 75 euros in total was reasonable value, despite the fact that most of the kalamari was left on the plate.
What you can’t put any value on is the sheer pleasure of sitting on a quiet remote beach, surrounded by the sight of the slow setting sun and the distant full moon, and the sound of tiny lapping waves shifting the white pebbles backwards and forwards across the narrow beach.
There are so many places like this in the Greek Islands.
May they never, ever change.
