To Lefkada - Sunday, September 28
It was time to head out to Lefkada! After packing, Chris and I headed out again to find an open bakery/coffee shop, not so easy on a Sunday morning. We found one near Metropoli with wonderful fresh croissants and hauled them back to the dining room along with four lattes.
We met our driver at 11:00 and were at the airport by noon. For some reason, the driver insisted on dropping us off at the rental car parking lots—that’s where the cars are, after all!—despite our insistence that we needed to go to the terminal to actually rent the things. This resulted in our having to drag our luggage BACK to the terminal, where all the rental car offices are. Sometimes you can’t win an argument.
Ryan chose a blue Kia Sportage from Hertz. Chris and I got a Mercedes from Avis/Budget. Ryan’s had Apple CarPlay and ground-clearance. Ours had neither, despite its fancy heritage.
And we were off!
Greek highways are surprisingly easy to drive on, despite the regular toll booths that crop up every few miles. It’s possible that the ease of driving has everything to do with those toll booths, since locals tend to favor local routes that don’t cost anything to drive on. But on the mainland, the interstate highway systems are traffic-free and well maintained, a real pleasure to drive on.
We met up with the other car for lunch at the Isthmia Bridge Cafe, right next to the canal and drawbridge. They made us a wonderful mixed grill!
It only took about three and a half more hours to drive from there to Lefkada. It rained most of the way.
Chris and I stopped at the LIDL in Lefkada town to purchase an initial load of supplies. LIDL kind of sucks; its merchandise is a bit more generic than other Greek stores, without the local wine in plastic bottles and clay-pot yogurt, and it tends to be mobbed with grumpy Germans in search of bargains. Also, you have to have a coin to release a shopping cart. And the cashiers are humorless and strict about not bagging right next to the belt, which makes buying a load of any size stressful. And for some reason, this one didn’t stock eggs. On the other hand, it’s a reliable standby if nothing else is available. And Maps will happily navigate to a LIDL. I’d figured that late on a Sunday, LIDL might be our best bet. I was wrong, and we could’ve certainly gone to Sklavenitis or AB, but we didn’t know ahead of time and needed to get food before venturing down to Villa Lemoni.
It’s also possible that lots of running around the parking lot in the rain further colored my impression.
Anyway, we had food! We could now our way to Villa Lemoni, which would be our home for the next few days. We drove south down the coastal road toward the town of Nydri.
The villa itself is on a hillside north of town, up a long and winding path that alternates rough paved sections with even rougher sections of construction-site mud dotted with deep holes that turn into deep puddles in the rain. We regretted choosing the Mercedes, which bottomed out repeatedly as it labored uphill.
We all arrived at sunset. The villa was as beautiful and spacious as it looks online. Its kitchen is amazing, and it also had a drier to go with the washer. With five bedrooms, Chris and I could each have our own rooms and there was STILL one bedroom left over. The tv worked great, and after dinner we enjoyed the first episode of the new season of Slow Horses.
A good day!