My Images of SEE – 23:27, Mon 8th August

Leaving the hotel, we went to a bar with the description ‘Brigit Bardot Sings’ on a sign outside. It also said it had great jazz. At 17:00 in the evening, it was quiet, yet well received. We had a couple of cocktails and lived the continental lifestyle by the side of the road. It was warm, pedestrian and quiet; all we could ask for. So we read out books in silence, eating our complimentary nuts. What we had was of excellent strength, and took us onwards to our next destination.

We decided to go to where we did last night – the ‘Ladidika’ I think. At 19:00 it was still very quiet. We went to a place opposite the square, which looked nice. Liam ordered a salad, whilst I ordered linguine with tomatoes and cheese. Very nice. A bottle of Ristica (?) was ordered, but was rather ‘soily’ in taste. It was ‘sunk’ nonetheless. We had a short of Ouzo to sup whilst we finished our wine. It was lovely. At the end of our meal we left for the front.

We walked onto the entrance for ‘Bar Kitchen’ venue, which was on a disused pier for ships. We didn’t go to the bar, but sat on a wooden square block for a quarter of an hour. The sun was setting, which emitted this orange/yellow glow. It was perfect. The aeroplanes landed, passing us overhead which was fascinating. The sea was choppy which excited me as it altered my vision of it being a calm and serene bay. We left our perch and strolled along the front past Aristotle Square along some other bars. We turned back, put off by their prices and headed to our initial food retreat on the first night. There we had cheap beer and a lot of heated conversation.

Two things stuck out that night. One was that a young boy of 10 years old or younger was selling some products, as per the street seller quality. But a young couple, probably of 18 years of age, declined purchasing off him. However, they supplied him with a big greasy sausage with which to control his hunger. It reminded me of the signs in Manchester to not pay the beggars, but feed them. Second was the police arriving on the square. It was the first active presence that I felt. But instantly I felt the effect – there were no more street sellers. So we enjoyed out drinks until 23:00 then walked back, grabbing an ice cream on the way. Even on a Monday evening, there was still a party of people enjoying the Mediterranean evening!