Navpaktos-The 1st time

Today we rented a car for a few reasons. To get off the boat, get out of Galaxidi and the most important…air conditioning! So we all piled into our tiny sub-sub-compact car and headed down the road. After a couple of loops through town trying to find the way out we made it to the highway. It was then we began to notice these little ‘houses’ dotting the sides of the road. Some were simple, some very elaborate, all with a place inside for a candle. We started to notice more and more and Heather asked “What are those there for?”. Since no one wanted to think about the reason they were there, as we were being passed on blind corners by crazy drivers, we just decided to call them ‘spiritual mailboxes’ to make us all feel better.

Well, that only lasted until our rental car started to putter and quickly come to a stop. Mike was able to get the hazard lights on and get mostly off the side of the road while we tried not to think about being stuck in a hot car waiting to be rescued. But luckily the car started back up and it was then we noticed the air conditioning wasn’t working. After fooling with it for a bit, it came back on but then the car started to putter and decelerate again. We will happily choose no air conditioning over a stalled car next to one of those spiritual mailboxes anytime. So we all rolled down the windows and thankfully it wasn’t much further to a bustling town we finally realized was our destination, Navpaktos. We were really happy that we didn’t ask a local “Where is Navpaktos?” only to find ourselves in the heart of it! After scouting the beach, we parked the car and unloaded our goods. Only Americans would travel to a beach lined with trendy cafes with a 5 gallon cooler.

Even better, sit on the sand right next to a café table to take a beer break while making our way down the beach. But we ended up finding the perfect spot underneath the shade of a big chestnut tree. And the wind was howling today. The gulf was brewing with white caps and the beach was full of breaking waves. Not exactly the best swimming water for Lucca but he was able to fully entertain himself, as well as us. The adults spent the afternoon lounging and trying to nap while enjoying not sweating due to the brisk breeze.






We then packed ourselves back into the car and found an even nicer part of the town right by the old harbour. This was one of the places Mike and I had thought about coming with the boat but the uncertainty of not finding room in the harbour may us wary because there was no nearby second choice if it was full. Except for anchoring off the beach in calm weather which today was absolutely not. But after a talk with the Port Police (much safer since the boat was miles away) and hearing that several boats were clearing out tomorrow, we had thoughts about coming here for a change of scenery if the winds let up. At this point, we are getting a little bored with Galaxidi and will brave the lack of electricity for a livelier setting.

We had a gorgeous drive home in the beautiful late afternoon light and arrived back to Galaxidi safe and sound. While Mike was getting the boat settled, since the winds had picked up in Galaxidi as well, Heather, Lucca and I headed to a restaurant where we had been eyeing the bowls full of mussels. We were then joined by Mike and Shan, and that’s when the meltdown began. Poor Lucca’s nap schedule was totally interrupted today and he was not satisfied with anything. After a tiny bit of a scene, Shan headed back to the boat with Lucca and then the rest of us followed. By this time it was 10pm and we made an attempt to check the weather for tomorrow (totally inconsistent, either a Beaufort 3 or a Beaufort 8!) but by then Mike was really tired and headed to bed. Heather and I managed to stay up for a bit longer, until 1am, where does the time go?! And even then we had to make ourselves go to bed so we could get up early to see where tomorrow brings us.