2017 Greek Swim Team - Blog 6
Today is our last morning in the town of Lefkada. Time for a walk, swim, breakfast and last minute shopping before packing. Travel Agent Deb has organised a mini bus to pick us up at 12 noon from the hotel and ferry us to the Ilios Club Hotel in Geni where we will be based for the 7 days of our swimming adventure.
It will be interesting to see which of the various tapering strategies adopted in the group has best prepared them for the swims to come. There appears to be three different approaches. There is the Gastronomical taper which involves eating copious quantities of Greek food with little or no swimming. Then there is the Oneological taper which involves drinking copious amounts of local wine with little or no swimming. Or the Oniomanic taper which involves copious amounts of shopping (even though you have no room in your case) with little or no swimming. Of course there are those, seeking to achieve the best possible preparation and not risk leaving anything to chance, who have adopted all three tapers!
This afternoon will be our first official day on the BigBlueSwim. The mini bus dropped us at the Ilios Club Hotel in Geni at 1:30pm. The friendly proprietors Georgia and Georgina greeted us and quickly allocated and guided us to our rooms. This place is amazing. The hotel is set high on a hill overlooking a picturesque bay with towering hills on the opposite side and the town of Nidri nestled on the foreshore.
We are staying in colourful villas that both are roomy and homely. Consequently, we were settled in, in no time.
After unpacking and making ourselves at home, we all met for a late lunch at the hotel pool bar/restaurant. The food was the generously portioned wholesome Greek food that we have grown accustomed too. Some too accustomed, such that they are doing their best to try and mitigate any further gains in buoyancy. The rest of the afternoon is free time to either relax around the hotel pool and get in some last minute tapering or enjoy a casual 30 min walk to Desimi beach, as swimming is not recommended in the bay/harbour in front of the hotel.
At 5:00 pm, we all returned to the pool bar for drinks prior to the complimentary drinks and an introductory briefing at 7:30pm given by Noah from BigBlueSwim. Two hours of oneological tapering meant Noah arrived and to find a rather jovial if not unruly gaggle of swimmers. Apparently we were not the oldest group Noah has led but definitely the craziest! This was obvious from the WTF look on his face when he was continually interrupted by stupid questions during the briefing.
Normally, this is a chance for swimmers from different parts of the world to introduce themselves and get to know each other, but as we were all from the same club this was not necessary. Instead, we were each given a name card with an appropriate Greek name, which we all had to learn.
Dinner and more frivolity followed, until slowly one by one everyone drifted back to their villas. Tomorrow should be a lot of fun, hopefully our Mannas improve!
αντιο σας
Greek Swim Team