Day 6 SOL & South to Takns Taverna in Limeni
Tuesday Sep 4
Another sunrise hoof up to the SOL. Just great seeing the sunlight breaking over the olive grove then later over village of Ag. Nik far below. But my road up to the SOL from the main highway was blocked today by a herd of 30-40 sheep walking across it. They grouped up just behind the little church at the corner until the boy shepherd caught job up with them. He only had a short stick and threw rocks off to the sides of them to herd them onto the highway and into the olive grove a couple hundred yards further down. He needed a dog.
Gentle Betty yoga then picking the pace up more. Breakfast and the views, an early full Yin practice, then off on a trip to Limeni, far to the south for a mid afternoon lunch at Takns Tavern. A place so famous for its seafood that people drive to it from all over Greece.
We headed off initially with George and Olga. But before we’d even left sight of Ag. Nik., he lost power steering. A mechanic Adonis tracked down showed up in about 20 min. Came back with a spare battery after initial perfect analysis. Bad alternator. Interesting that the C70 was designed to drop systems one at a time as the computer sensed degradation in electrical power. Yesterday we’d lost the radio, then the AC, finally today the power steering. George and Olga stayed back to deal with it.
I rode down then with Paul from Germany in Betty’s tiny car. One of most exhilarating, terrifying rides of my life. Somehow, sometime got lost in the translation from Adonis to Paul. Adonis said give it gas before it starts to stall out on inclines. Paul interpretation was it needed great power and high revs all the time to maximize the engine performance. To me, there was zero room for error on the 180 curves as we climbed or descended, with not even a guardrail on most of them.
The tables at Takns were on the sea wall. As the wind and surf picked up, every now and then, a big wave would crash in with flying foam down the table. It only got better and better. Just a lot of fun as a group and incredible tastes.
Marinated anchovies, grilled sardines, grilled octopus, Takns Greek salad, fried calamari, giant shrimp and spaghetti, grilled whole fish in lemon spices, lemons for everything and beers and water were just hard to beat!
Back north for beach time at a beach just below Sir Patrick Leigh Femor’s house just south of Kardamyli. It was also made famous in After Midnight, the third movie of the trilogy with Ethan Hawke. Soft sandy bottom after the ricks on the beach.
A late leisurely 9pm final dinner at SOL, then a final walk home down the steep mountain road under a million stars with Emma, Paul, the Swedish girl’s Pernilla and Ann Sophia.