We celebrated Canada Day with our Canadian friends at Mnimata beach in Ithaki. The girls proudly wore their shirts and waved our flag. Traveling the world provides the opportunity to see so much, experience so much, and learn how to appreciate other cultures. But there‘s no place like home! We are so lucky and grateful to live in the greatest country in the world.
We had a lovely time at the beach. I so enjoyed the calm waters in this bay, and felt a little sad that this would be my last swim in the Ionian blue waters (until we return!).
We had another delicious lunch with Susanne and the four girls at Tsiribis Restaurant at the mouth of the harbour in Vathi. The view was beautiful as the water was shining exceptionally blue today. It is so nice to be able to eat out so often, when the food is always fresh and delicious and very reasonably priced. After we ate, the girls played on the shoreline making a “Shelfy Hotel” (hotel made out of shells) for snails, crabs and starfish.
Meanwhile Matt played with the drone. He was able to capture some good closeups of Lazareto, a tiny island in the middle of the bay in Vathi, which has been a source of intrigue and curiosity ever since we sailed past it coming into the harbour last week. Lazareto was used as a quarantine station since at least 1560. Ships that reached Ithaki had to remain there in quarantine for 40 days to protect against infectious diseases before being allowed to approach the coast. In 1817, under the British rule of the Ionians, a two story building was built that occupied the entire surface of the island, which was later used as a prison. The prison was severely damaged in the earthquake of 1953 and was subsequently demolished. The church of the Savior is the only remaining structure on the island, dating back to 1668. Today it is a popular destination for wedding ceremonies.
We finished our day with some shopping, playing cards in the town square, and dinner in Vathi with our friends before we packed our bags for an early morning ferry to Patras on the mainland.
Oh Canada to all our friends and family at home.
With love,
Laura, Matt, April & Fiona 🇨🇦
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