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Every afternoon we take a seat by the harbour and watch the yachts mooring for the night. It’s a good spectator sport, as the potential for things to go wrong is ever present. Manoeuvring a big boat in a small, crowded harbour is difficult, and having moored our own boat on dozens of occasions, we know exactly how the skippers are feeling as their expertise (or lack of it) is put on show for all to see. There’s also the unspoken ‘my boat’s bigger than yours’ competition. A skipper might proudly moor his pride and joy, only to be immediately upstaged by the arrival of a much grander yacht.

Sometimes however, things get a bit silly, and yesterday was a good example. A yacht has arrived that is actually too big to enter the harbour. This means that the crew have to anchor out in the bay, which pretty much defeats the object of having a yacht at all. Instead of elegantly stepping off your beautiful boat onto the quayside, you have to endure a trip into the harbour in a rubber dinghy, which is rather less dignified. Anyhow, here they are, doubtless with more money than sense.

Last night we dined at a restaurant which boasts the nicest sunset view in the area. It didn’t disappoint.

The food was pretty good too.

Eventually the sun hit the horizon, and everyone got their photos.

This morning we had a walk around the headland. Big ferries pass close to the village. This one has sailed from Bari in southern Italy. It will call in at Corfu Town and then continue to Sami on the island of Kefalonia.

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Another nice meal last night, with more seafood.

This morning we hiked up to the castle which dominates the village. It is around 1500 years old.

Very good views from the top, and the castle is much bigger than it looks from the village.

The heatwave in the Mediterranean continues, and it’s too hot to do anything in the afternoon. We noticed last night that Albania was in darkness – apparently they’ve been having power shortages owing to the huge demand for air conditioning. We have a reservation for dinner at a restaurant overlooking the sea tonight, so hopefully we’ll see a nice sunset.

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Kassiopi is a popular destination for waterborne excursions. Generally these are on modern boats carrying maybe 100 passengers. Some of the boats are much smaller and more traditional however, and they make an attractive sight around the harbour.

And another, smaller still.

The best place to buy fresh fruit is from these vans. They park in strategic locations around the village, and appear to do a roaring trade.

Last night we dined at a barbecue restaurant. The meat was delicious; we had spare ribs and pork belly which all melted in the mouth. Whilst we never have sufficient appetite to order a desert, a nice touch is that you’ll often be brought a tasty little something when you ask for the bill.

Almost a full moon over the harbour last night.

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Superyachts jostling for position in the harbour yesterday evening. The boats are big and the harbour is small and mostly shallow, so the skippers of these floating palaces need to reserve a space.

Kassiopi was once defended by a castle. The ruins still stand above the village.

Val had her German class this morning, fortunately the Greek wifi was just about good enough for her to connect with her lesson. I trekked around the village buying water, wine beer, bread and other essentials. By late afternoon it had cooled off a little, so we had a walk around the headland.

On our way home we called in at the Harbour bar. This one seems to have the best selection of beer of all the bars that we’ve visited so far, including one of my favourite Bavarian brands.

It’s almost time to choose a venue for dinner. There’s a barbecue restaurant just around the corner which might do very nicely. England are playing football later, so it should be a noisy evening.

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Afternoon beers by the water. It’s too hot to do anything more strenuous.

Boat trips are popular. There are a variety of destinations, or you can just have a cruise around the coast with a few swimming stops.

It’s time to choose a restaurant for dinner. There’s a lot of competition for your custom, so prices are pretty good.

A huge plate of seafood. Try as we might, we couldn’t finish it.

After dinner we had a stroll around the harbour. In the distance you can see lights from the Albanian town of Sarande.

This morning we went for a walk before it got too hot. A line of boats leaving the harbour.

Most of our summer clothes are back in Wengen, so we didn’t bring much with us. This means that we’re going to have to tackle the washing machine before too long. Any help most welcome!

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Yesterday morning we were up at 3am to catch our flight to Corfu. Everything went well until we got to passport control, where the Greek official had apparently never seen a Swiss residence permit before, and I guess I can’t blame him for that. He decided to ignore mine and stamped my passport. These stamps are a pain. They allow you 90 days in the EU, and you have to make absolutely sure that you get an exit stamp on the way home to prove you haven’t overstayed. As Swiss residents we are supposed to be exempt from all this nonsense, but the rules aren’t universally known, and it isn’t wise to argue the toss with border guards, as these guys can seriously ruin your day if you annoy them. However, when Val presented him with her permit he decided to ask his boss what he should do. Val was then allowed to enter Greece without a stamp, and to the guy’s credit he called me back and cancelled my unwanted stamp. Woohoo! I had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and before long we were on our way.

We have rented a flat by the harbour in the village of Kassiopi, on the north east coast of the island. View from our balcony when we arrived.

We did a bit of shopping and found a nice place for dinner in the village square, before returning to our flat for drinks. Kassiopi is quite enchanting after dark.

This morning we had a walk around the harbour. There is room for a few yachts here, but it isn’t a major harbour like the ones we are used to further south.

The coastline is a series of small beaches. This one also had a nice cafe where we paused for coffee.

There are lots of bars and restaurants around the harbour, so we should be in for a nice couple of weeks here. It’s hot!

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We had a nice few days here in Wengen. Dinner followed by drinks in the Tanne bar with Lesley and Lawrence.

We popped up to Männlichen for lunch.

And we had a couple of nights out in Interlaken with the Halls from Grindelwald and the Cowens from Wengen (I forgot to get pictures, sorry!). Tomorrow we’re back off to the U.K. for a few days, and next week we’ll be heading to Corfu where hopefully the weather will be a bit better than it has been here in Switzerland.