Returning

One last swim in the crystal clear waters of the eastern Mediterranean. Now we are back at Room 38. There's wine and beer to finish and juicy peaches to eat. If we could have hand-picked any room in this little hotel it would have been Room 38. It is on the third floor at the very end of the building, the furthest room from the road.

We have slept well here. The bedroom is spacious with a big king-sized bed and the cleaners are very diligent. They are two young men from Nepal who have come to Europe seeking their fortunes. Shirley and I feel quite sorry for them because they work thirteen hours a day, seven days a week. We will leave them healthy tips. In the past, rooms were always serviced by Greek women who usually had familial connections to the business. All this movement around the planet - sometimes it seems that the world has gone mad.

We are going out for one last meal ahead of our flight home. A bus will pick us up at 5.30pm though the flight back to East Midlands airport near Nottingham won't leave till 8.30pm.

It has been a lovely, peaceful break in the sun. We didn't get sunburnt and lived simply for a week. We didn't get trampled by stampeding mules and donkeys. We observed two moonrises. There were echoes of old Greece but for me the highlight was my climb up to Ancient Thira and my walk around those silent stones that spoke powerfully of earlier times inhabited by people much like us.