Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Island Hopping Again - Vartholomio to Kepholonia


Last night we checked into an inexpensive hotel (35 Euros) in Vartholomio cleaned up and set out to wander around town. We stopped in a food market looking for good cereal (hard to find) and bought some good ouzo instead (easy to find). The young woman at the market recommended a restaurant called Salt and Pepper. Well it turned out to be the most delicious meal we have had in Greece yet! The cook was Moroccan and the proprietor was an older Greek man. We had interesting conversations with them about 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden and WWII while we ate our meal. We ordered an appetizer of feta stuffed paprika peppers cooked in wine and it was delicious. We ordered two of the specials they had prepared that day, a lamb dish and pasticitio. The lamb had been braised in wine, lemon juice, olive oil and herbs, then wrapped in paper and slowly baked. The flavor was incredible! Pasticitio is layers of macaroni, ground meat (a pork and beef blend), cheese and a light fluffy moist crust on top. Dave declared it the best macaroni and cheese he had ever had.

On the way to Kilini, we passed this pasture with the biggest billy goat either of us has ever seen!








After an hour and a half ferry ride we disembarked in the town of Poros on Kefalonia.










Being hungry, we went immediately to the nearest taverna for lunch. We ordered Kefalonia meat pie. An island specialty, we were told, of which each village has it's own version. This version was delicious. It consisted of meat (no idea what sort), potatoes, and some sort of red pepper, a kind of hash in a wonderful pie shell.








After lunch, we rode over a short hill into town and stopped at the first place with rooms for let. The price was right and we unloaded. Here's the view from our balcony.









Then we walked the length of the beach and wandered back through the houses on the hill. Similar to other small Greek towns, livestock are plentiful and this group was grazing between houses. The chickens in Greece are not "free range", they're "free town".








When we had unloaded our bikes, we noticed this neighbor.









Tomorrow we face a considerable hill, 650 meters in 10 km. Tune in for more next time.


5 comments:

anne said...

wow... this trip has it all, history,great food,nice people,and beautiful country.not to mention a little exercise...just love reading about your adventures. and this is the way to retire!

Dave and Belinda said...

Glad you are enjoying our blog Anne! We feel very fortunate to have the time and means to travel like this.

Daniel said...

your descriptions of food are close to torture. it sounds great! good luck on your climb.

Dave and Belinda said...

Thanks Daniel! Are you eating enough?

Daniel said...

yeah, eating plenty, i just tend to make the same stuff all the time