The sun shone down on to the incredible blue sea as we travelled along the main coastal road . We soon came to Dassia with its shops, café bars and long strip of pebbly beach .The road then left the coast and travelled high in to the mountains passing lots of little grottos where offerings were left along the way.

Out of the coach we looked down the mountain to a beautiful horseshoe shaped bay, the sides of the mountain were lush with olive trees, a few villas of various pastel colours were scattered here and there on the way down, and there , at the bottom , nestled next to the incredible clear and blue waters of the Ionian Sea was our home for the next two weeks - the wonderful little fishing village of Kalami!!

We had booked our holiday with Direct Greece but were staying in accomodation owned by the wondful Athinaios family. By an incredible coincidence our apartment was the Prospero apartment, part of the White House where Lawrence and Gerald Durrell had lived. The Prospero was so called because it was from here that Lawrence Durrell written his book 'Prospero's Cell.

We had a double and twin bedroom, an authentic greek living/dining room, a bathroom and a kitchen with a fridge, freezer and oven. Our bedroom over looked the sea to Albania which is only 2 miles away. We were very happy with the apartment and touched to find that Tassos and Daria had left us a selection of foods and drink - wine, water, milk, tea, sugar, coffee, butter, honey, jam and lovely fresh bread.

Kalami is a village unspoilt by tourism, it contains three tavernas, three mini markets, 3 bars, 3 travel offices and 2 tourist shops where you can arrange car hire, boat hire, excursions etc and borrow a wide selection of books.

Kalami is not a destination for people looking for a bustling night life, it is for people who want to relax on the beach, wander through the olive groves, snorkle or swim in the crystal clear water, eat some incredible food, meet the friendly locals, fish, sail or take out a speed boat and visit some wonderful little coves.

The little gift shop on the beach is an incredible place, the lady owner recognised us on our second visit a couple of years later and welcomed us with open arms. Everything we bought that was for a present wasgift wrapped - the lady even gave us little stickers to write the names of the recipiants on them. The shop also sold reasonably priced beach ware and inflatables that you could take back at any time during your holidays for reinflating.

We hired a speedboat for three days; of a morning we would walk down to the jetty alongside the tavrna and Tassos would bring us our boat that we wuld load with water, suncream and towels - one day a picnic. Then we set off for the day to explore quiet, secluded bays and coves, one day we found a little beach that we ahd all to ourselves sunbathe, picnic and swim.
My son and I would jump from the boat we were getting near to the beach to swim in and help moor the boat or we would simply through out the anchor in the sea and swim from there.
We pulled into tavernas - like the one at San Stephanos - the staff only to happy to hlep guide you intomthe jetty of their tavern and help you to moor.
The cost of hiring the boat was 150 euros and well worth the money and I would really recommend the experience, but do remember your suncream and water as it gets VERY hot on the water.

Old Perithia ( Palaia Peritheia) is a deserted village, high up in the mountains off the main road between Kassiopi and Acharavi.Perithia was built in the 14th century when the people fled their coastal homes in fear of the pirates. It grew to have eight churches, each one belonging to a different family in the village, a school, a police station and even a court, over 1,500 people lived in Perithia.
After 1912 people began to leave te village and move back to the coast, by 1955 the village was occupied only during the summer months, by1975 most of the villagers had moved further down the mountain and only a few remained now there are only six people who live in the old village throughout the whole year, they tend the local crops and look after live stock.

We were served by a rough looking man in a leather coat, a little old lady cooking in the kitchen and it was absolutly incredible!!
Most of Perithia's houses now stand empty with broken down shutters and crumbling stone walls, the sky shining through holes in roofs. It is like a ghost town but with nothing to fear - it is just full of mysterious charm.
As we drove back down the mountain we stopped to buy bottles of home made olive oil from a clutch of old women by the side of the road.

We all had tremendous fun - including my non-swimming husband who spent most of the day floating around the lazy river in a huge tyre!! I would really recommend this water park it is the best that I have ever seen.

All in all Kalami is simply wonderful, my two visits there have lef me with incredible memories - much, much more that what I have described here - boat tribs in a glass bottomed boat, a trip to Albania and Paxos, Greek dancing, the night time boat trips to wonderful little taverna - the list goes on and on.
It's no good I'll have to go again!!