Taverna

Here in Tilos, the baking summer heat and crowds have gone. Eristos beach is fringed by white sea daffodils. Sea squills have shot up in the last week too, their tall stems glinting in the afternoon light on the hillside, their bright white flowers making the deep blues and greens on the road to Plaka even more vivid. The taverna at Ayios Antonis harbour no longer has enough business to stay open in the evenings - we were lucky to have a last dinner there of goat and imam. Everything feels calmer, except for the sea today - the wind is blowing from the north and the waves are crashing in.

Life's been too busy this week - not least dealing with the complexities of receiving books from England now, my copies currently languishing in couriers' depots pending paperwork and payments. So this is a very quick post to say, for those who don't know already, that my new book is out this month and gradually making its way to various points around the globe - what a thought! I'll write a proper blog soon for in the meantime here's a tiny extract from September in the book. 

'For years, I'd thought about sleeping on the beach from time to time, and now I was doing it often. Whatever happened from now on, I'd done what I hoped for, spent a whole summer by the sea. I woke at dawn and watched the blood-orange, peachy clouds as the sun rose...

In all the months I'd lived at the taverna, I still hadn't walked the half-hour to Nati, the next beach over the headland to the north. Even before the sun filled the valley I threw on a bikini top, jean shorts and trainers, grabbed Lisa and we headed off, following the track twisting down into a wild valley, where we started some partridges and a lot of goats, to a beach of sand and flat pebbles gently shelving into sea as clear as glass.'

My book on the Visit Greece website today! Taverna by the Sea (visitgreece.gr)

And on the Wanderlust Best Travel Books of 2022 (So Far) list!

The best travel books of 2022 (so far) | Wanderlust