What an experience! After the strong winds that had kept us in the harbour we were getting ready to leave when we heard about the celebrations for the 15th August and we were persuaded to stay a few days longer. It was obviously a big occasion as the harbour was overcrowded and there were boats anchored outside (a first for us since we have been coming here). In addition there were calls from people asking for hire cars and hotel rooms although everything had been booked for months. Anyway Mike had promised to drive us to the festivities to be held at the Kyra monastery on the way to Nikia. After a little bit of a muddle we were eventually collected at 19h15 and driven there in his father/s 1991 Subaru that he had brought back from the States and was still using. We arrived early on site but it enabled us to see the surroundings, visit the church and the monastery (that is kept in pristine condition by donations) and to see the preparations and the band warming up, The food that would be served was all cooked by volunteers from the town of Pali. As there was still fasting the meal consisted of a salad followed by a bean dish (the meat dish would be served the following day at lunch). Everything was cooked in very large pots over an open wooden fire and was delicious. There must have been between 500 and 600 people participating. The music was non stop and everyone danced all the traditional dances that seemed to go on forever. We eventually left at 1h30 but heard the next that some had got home at 5am. On the way back we visited the monastery of St John the Theologian that overlooks Nikia as Mike was very proud of the fact that after 8 years the access road had at last been tarred.
The following day we said our goodbyes and left the harbour to continue our journey and headed for Tilos.