Two days, two special places: we spend the night all alone next to the ancient city wall of Messene and spend Saturday among theatre, stadium and colonnades. Then it’s along narrow roads to the “middle finger” of the Peloponnese and Vatheia, where tourists photograph not just the village but the Mammothon too…

Vatheia with its tower houses

On the drive from the ferry the belt starts making odd noises, and the diagnosis is not what we hoped for: the bracket of the second alternator has broken. While the spare parts travel from Germany, we move our office to Elia Beach, first convince a snake that a tyre tread is no good hiding place, and have a breakfast van dropping by every morning…

A snake we have to talk out of staying before departure

Holiday! Our daughter has arrived and we explore Kefalonia: a cave with sunbeams, a boat trip, a birthday wish that takes us to the Palace of Odysseus on Ithaca, turtles and a mountain that we hike down first and then back up, just to be safe. To finish, there is a ferry on which we cannot even get a place…

A turtle near Argostoli

Goodbye Italy, hello Greece: We drive Mammothon onto a floating multi-storey car park, meet its previous owners there, arrive in the middle of the night and find a pitch where we are practically parked in the sea. Add the first proper Greek meal, an imposing bridge, another ferry and a holiday house with several floors that we first have to get used to…

Lou makes friends with two fellow dogs on the ferry