Time for decisions

Late July 2007, I got paid off from work so we spent a short time paying off anything we owed, Mortgage etc. and invested the little money we had left. As it turned out this wasn't such a good idea as Northern Rock went down a few weeks later and we all know what happened after that. However, we had decided that any money invested was sacrosanct for at least five years, now October 2009 it's nearly back to were it was!

We had friends who spend their winters in southern Spain so we booked some accommodation at Conil De la Frontera near Cadiz in February to see if this would be for us. But also went to our beloved Greece in late September to Arilas in north west Corfu. We have been to Corfu a couple of times before and it's a splendid Island provided you avoid the tourist traps and the typical holiday makers who are only there for the sun, beach and booze.

Anyway suffice to say we thoroughly enjoyed Greece and didn't care too much for Spain, but to be fair there are some really fine historic sights there and for a Napoleonic war story enthusiast like me the chance to visit Trafalgar was something not to be missed. The old town of Cadiz is totally amazing as is Gibraltar, however the Spanish people seem to be fed up with "tourists" and the place is absolutely heaving with expat Brits, Dutch and Germans. This can be an advantage if you want to speak as at home but in general there appears to be little foreign ghetto's cropping up all over the place and with the greatest of respect they are tending to create little Britain in the sun, not really our idea of integrating into a new lifestyle.

When we returned from Spain we immediately booked the cheapest holiday we could find on mainland Greece for September 2008 and started looking for something we could rent over the winter to try it completely out of season. We got a package deal to Parga and provisionally booked a villa above Lefkas town in a village called Apolpena for three months from February to the end of April 2009, Villa owners direct is the web site http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/greece/GR120.htm

Parga is a beautiful place on the Northwestern mainland coast almost opposite the island of Paxos. This region of Greece has stunning mountain scenery inland and a coastline to die for. And although we had spent many many weeks in the Greek islands we had hitherto only seen the mainland in passing through to ferries ans transfers from airports and this did not prepare us at all for the sights which were to lie before us.

Our provisional booking for the villa meant that while we were at Parga we could drive to Lefkas (as it's connected to the mainland via a causeway and bridge) and pay a visit to the villa thus enabling us to see 1. if it was what we wanted, and 2. what we would need to bring to Greece for our three months stay expecting that the villa would be only kitted out for people in Summer ie. perhaps not warm enough to live in through winter, so some heating appliances and carpets etc may be needed. We need not have worried to any extent whatsoever as the villas (there are two of them) are absolutely superbly kitted out. The smaller of the two even has central heating for out of season use.

Tony Dudley, the villa owner met us at a taverna on the quay side in Lefkas town and after a coffee and introductions he took us up to the villas in Apolpena. The views from the villa across the valley and over Lefkas City and the marina are out of this world. It took us all of 20 seconds to decide that our booking was confirmed and that we would be spending February to March in Tony's villa with a view for looking for a more permanent place to live somewhere in Epirus (The northwest mainland).

The rest of our holiday in Parga was spent touring the area to see what it had to offer us in terms of authentic "Greekness". We Drove to Igoumentitsa to suss out the ferries as this was were we would land if we drove across from England and also to see how accessible the port was and what sort of costs would be involved. Then we drove straight across to Ioannina, the capitol city of Epirus. This is a truly stunning medieval town with a huge lake high in the mountains and well worth a visit for anyone who likes great scenery and history. We also visited Arta and Preveza which are the other two major towns in the area.

One day we took a drive up through the mountains above the town of Lauros and discovered the place where we now have a house Assos. This is real Greece. and I think this one thing above all others made us realise that the decision had actually been made.

Coming up preparing for the trial run...