My Small Slim Greek Wedding

The journey started with a taxi to London City Airport. I learnt a great deal about the civil war in Sierra Leone during the 1990’s. Just what I needed at 4 am. 

A very slick airport experience with no need to take any electronics out when going through security. I found the bar and had a glass of vino – it was 5 o’clock after all. Twenty quid! No BA lounge at London City. 

The Embraer 190 could hold 98, but there were only 14 of us heading to Skiathos. There was a full load on the return trip otherwise they probably would have cancelled it. 

When we arrived in Skiathos there wasn’t a soul queueing at immigration yet we still had to snake through the assigned barriers. We all found it very amusing and must have walked 400 metres to advance 20 metres.

After taxiing to the port I sat in the sunshine having a beer on a comfy chair with an hour and a half to spare before my ferry. Anyway, I still managed to miss it. I was expecting a huge thing with vehicles. It was a small water taxi with zero resemblance to a ferry. 90 minutes later I was on another ferry – a little larger but still no cars. 

The delay did give me an opportunity to look an around Skiathos and purchase a magnet. The ferry crossing was about 90 minutes, and highly satisfactory in late afternoon sunshine. At the other end I was met by a taxi driver who took me to my Airbnb up the hill. Quite a steep hill.

Later, I met with Dimitra and some of the wedding party before returning to my Airbnb with a 20 minute thigh busting uphill walk. That wasn’t mentioned in the blurb. 

The following day the weather was rather shit so I stayed in my apartment and recovered from my travels from the day before. I met some others from the wedding party in the evening for dinner. There were 19 of the 30 people attending the wedding – a bunch of Australians, a gaggle of Greeks and me.

Thursday was the day of the wedding and whilst sunshine had been forecast earlier in the week, it changed dramatically to heavy rain. Luckily for us all the rain stopped by the time the proceedings started and we were all sweating like pigs in the post-rain humidity. An hour later the bride and groom turned up after some photos, then some more photos, and a few more photos. We entered the small chapel and gathered round the priest. It was a standing up ceremony. Three photographers were on hand taking shots from every angle. The priest was an angry bearded midget, not to mention his curious hair and foot long beard. We all listened to the priest perform the whole service in Greek. This meant that the vast majority of us had no idea what was being said. I think I heard him say “Toyota” at one point. Not sure of the relevance. There was a lot of kissing of a gold book and then he led them three times round the table. I later learned that in part of the service he said that the bride (Samantha), should fear her husband. The groom was John, who is Dimitra’s son and luckily he speaks Greek.

After the service there were more photos outside before the guests made their way to Muses restaurant. By the time John and Sam turned up we’d already eaten. They were having more photos.

I went back to my Airbnb to change into something less formal, and returned for the bus trip to the other side of the island for more food. Glossa was on the west coast and we were there for sea views and sunset. 

There were some speeches and some dancing, which I passed on because of my knee. I was disappointing that there was no plate smashing. It was one of the things I was looking forward to most. It was a 13 hour wedding day, but highly enjoyable and a privilege to be there. John and Sam looked very happy together.

The final day was low key and we ended up in Muses restaurant for the third time, minus the Greek speakers who had gone their separate ways.

Saturday was leaving day and the ferry was cancelled from our port due to high wind. We taxied to the other side of the island and caught the faster crossing from Agnontas. The boarding process on Greek ferries can best be described as a “bundle”. The crossing was smooth and 90 minutes later we were in Skiathos. Michael and Gail were staying on, so we said our goodbyes and headed to a beach hotel for two nights. Michael and Gail had been fabulous company for four days. Michael is a top chap and Gail had a ready laugh which was great to be around. 

The Kanapitsa Resort was in a splendid setting but fairly isolated. The following day I hired a car which was delivered to the hotel, and we explored some of Skiathos. Neither Dimitra nor Chloe can drive a manual so it was up to me to find the biting point of our little car. I over-revved every time we were on a hill, but at least I now know that it’s possible to do a wheel spin in a Fiat Panda. We picked up John and Sam who were quite happy sharing some of their honeymoon with us. 

Monday I left the islands via ferry and headed to Volos on the mainland. Six enjoyable days in the Sporades.