After a very nice hotel breakfast we needed to go for a walk to work it off. First we checked out the church on the hill just opposite the hotel. We couldn’t get in but the views were good.

We then continued along the road seeing one of the many old windmills that are apparently all over Kea.

Once around the corner we found the lovely beach of Gialiskario with loungers, umbrellas and a beach bar. The water is lovely and clear in the sheltered bay. A group of divers turned up to do a beginners course here.

We continued walking around the next bend to the town of Vourkari that had a large marina and a few fishing boats. It is a small town with a couple of restaurants and an ice cream shop but that’s about it. But there are many holiday houses so I’m sure it gets busy later.

The water was very clear – so much so we could see lots of sea urchins in there- many hiding under stones from the sun.

Further up the street we found 2 familiar faces- Paulette and Mike – looking for an art gallery- unfortunately closed. After a quick chat we continued on.

Opposite the town is the peninsula to the lighthouse. Half way along is a small dip called the Lambros Katsonis Pass that has a story behind it about the famous Greek naval commander.

Born in 1752 in Livadia, Lambros Katsonis took part at a very young age in the Orlofika rebellion and the Crimean War, having already been enlisted as an officer in the Greek corps of the Russian army since 1774. Thirteen years later, with the start of the Russo-Turkish war, he successfully launched attacks on the Turks in the Ionian Sea and later in the Aegean Sea. In the spring of 1790, outraged by his actions, the Turks sent their fleet to Tzia with an order to destroy his fortress. After a fight, Lambros Katsonis found shelter in the bay of Agios Nikolaos. The Turks remained at the entrance of the port, waiting for dawn to catch him. However, with the help of the islanders, Katsonis manages to find himself in the open sea from this narrow strip of land, using tree trunks smeared with pork fat.

The dawn of the next day, found the Turks enraged, realizing the feat of this legendary naval warrior. At the same time, the Turkish admiral ordered his men to disembark on the island and destroy it completely. Many Tziotes died tragically, while houses, churches and monasteries were torched by the Turks.

2 geese launched themselves off the opposite shore and came to check us out for food. We escaped unscathed.

We returned to our hotel and had a quiet afternoon with a swim in the sea which was warm but wavy with the big wind. We retired back to the pool. Jeff and Tsachi arrived soon afterwards off the 4.5 hour rough ferry trip from their last island of Siros.

We all met up later and went looking for a bar. We went back up to the restaurant we had been at last night as it has great views and good wine. After our pre dinner drink we went down to Rolando’s restaurant where we had excellent large white beans in tomato sauce with dill and I followed it with goat in lemon sauce – delicious!

Afterwards Glenn and I went for a short walk to work off dinner and tried some frozen Greek yoghurt on the way home – nice but the same as you get in Australia from the self serve machines. I’ll try something different next time.