Hey guys, I just got back from a week on the Greek island of Kefalonia. I was there with Ronja, my brother and his partner. I was a little bit nervous about the trip, as I was worried about how hot it would be, and then shortly before the trip the news broke that several Greek islands were on fire. But in the end we handled the weather pretty well – our accommodation was comfortable, and the car we rented had good AC too. There was one day where the smoke from distant fires covered the island, but luckily it didn’t cause any trouble besides obscuring the view from our balcony and smelling like barbecue. The only trouble we had was on the way home – our flight was 20 hours late, and we had to sleep on the floor of the airport. I read a lot of manga by Junji Ito in any spare time.

Anyway, we stayed in a roomy house in the village of Pastra for the first half of the trip, and then in the top floor of a countryside villa near the village of Agios Dimitrios. On most days we would go out and swim in the sea and then find somewhere nice for lunch and dinner. In the past I haven’t been a fan of swimming in the sea due to the salt water and sunburn, however most of the beaches in Kefalonia came with small watery caves that you could hide from the sun in, so that was a welcome perk. I didn’t do much actual swimming, as I had a painful shoulder injury – probably from playing Beat Saber before the trip – but sitting around in the water was pleasant.

Besides eating and swimming, we also visited the Agios Georgios castle ruins, Old Vlachata ruins (village destroyed by an earthquake), Drogarati and Melissani caves, Mt Ainos (highest peak on the island, very cool view), Aquarium in Lixouri (saw a cool lobster with a giant eyeball pattern on its back), and turtles and obelisk in Argostoli. I also bought too many fridge magnets – cats are popular and a lot of them looked like NoLegs.

Driving on the island was fantastic – like real life Mario Kart. The roads were incredibly steep, bendy and slippery in places, traffic rules are just suggestions, and you’d frequently find goats and pedestrians on the roads. Most roads were at the edge of a cliff, didn’t have line markings, and even the cities didn’t have many traffic lights. But it still felt safe enough as you were physically prevented from driving too fast by the environment. The other drivers were not particularly aggressive as it was hard to overtake without falling off a cliff.

Managed to complete the trip without any sunburn or car damage, and only getting a tiny bit fatter. Not bad.