The Glens of Antrim

On a fine Autumn's day, the Desert Rat, the Desert Rat's dad and I headed to County Antrim in Northern Ireland. There is actually a bit of history here - I have tried to see the famous Glens of Antrim for several years but everytime I even suggested that we could go there, the grey skies would appear and either heavy rain and storms would appear or a vast sea fog come in and cover the whole country for several days. It did not matter which season it was - winter or summer so I was pretty excited when we awoke to a clear and sunny day...

Anyway, the first stop was on Islandmagee, to see a dolmen. We actually drove past it at first because it is situated right in front of a house and at a glance looked like a rock feature! However, it was pretty impressive, and I always like a good neolithic archeologic feature!

Next stop was lunch in Carnlough

After a hearty feed, we headed off to the Glenariff Forest Park, which encompasses one of the Glens (called Glenariff, obviously!).

It was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and I was suitably impressed with Glenariff, making the wait to see it worth the while.

Sahara Gal

1st September

The 1st of September was the 40th anniversary of the Revolution during which Colonel Gaddafi became the Leader of Libya (also known as the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arabic Jamahiriyya). Every year there are celebrations to mark the event and due to it being the 40th this year, was bigger than ever. A few days before the actual celebrations, the Desert Rat and I went for a drive through the centre of Tripoli, where the main events were going to take place. Green Square was a hive of activity with people getting everything ready. Here is what we saw...

Sahara Gal

Sailing to Alonnisos

On our last day on Skopelos, we hired a yacht to sail us to Alonnisos, a neighbouring island. It was a beautiful day and it was incredibly relaxing as we sailed across Aegean Sea. When we got to the island, the skipper anchored in a little bay where we could go swimming. We stopped for lunch at a town called Patitiri, where we went to a fish taverna recommended by our skipper. We tried some seafood unique to the islands and had some grilled fish which was absolutely delicious.

The bay where we went swimming - divine!

Patitiri

Although this looks like scrambled eggs in a shell, it was really quite fishy!!

Sahara Gal

Beaches...

The island of Skopelos has many little coves and beaches. We didn't get a chance to go to all of them, but we did manage to see a couple. They were both pebbly, rather than sandy, but were still quite comfy to lie on and read a book in the sun...

Sahara Gal

Agnondas

Another recommendation in the Jamie Oliver magazine was a fish tavern in a tiny little port town of Agnondas. We found it on the map and drove there one afternoon. We sat under a wide verandah which jutted out straight onto the pebbly beach. Two of the local cats spent their time waiting for us to feed them and trying to catch little fish that were coming right up to the edge of the water. We had a fine feast of seafood and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Sahara Gal

Lunch in Glossa

Our best dining experience on Skopelos was definately at the Agnanti Taverna in Glossa. The town is high up on a hill, overlooking the sea and the Taverna has a prime position. We went looking for this place after reading about it in Jamie Oliver's magazine - we figured if he recommended it, it was probably worth going to. And it was. We sat at a table on the patio, with the most amazing view. The service was impeccable, the food incredible and the setting perfect. After a long lunch, we wandered through Glossa which was really pretty. It was a great day all round...

Sahara Gal