Monday

Reading the pilot guide would leave you with the wrong impression of Messolonghi. The town has obviously had money spent on it since Rod Heikell was here and this, along with the rapidly developing marina may just be the saving of the town. The Greeks are proud of its history, officially making it a “sacred” town because of the role it played in the War of Independence. It was here that Lord Byron died.

But it is the people themselves who make the town. Welcoming without being pushy, a simple meal in a taverna becomes an all night affair as extras are laid before us. And it is not just to make the restaurant look busy, attracting other customers, as we first thought. Even though they were putting out more tables for the ever increasing demand they still seemed reluctant to let us pay the bill and leave.

There’s also a sizable live-aboard community still in the marina. We’ve met up again with Michele and Dave on Alhambra from our winter in Almerimar. Having spent the last winter here they were a positive mine of information about the place and invited us to the barbeque yesterday afternoon where we met a lot of other Brits. In actual fact the marina is like a league of nations. Just from where I’m sitting I can see French, Dutch, Italian and German flags as well as the Red Ensign and, of course, the blue and white of the Greek. We’ve booked for next winter. So, seemingly, has everybody else.