Kat & Mat's big bike trip
Day 88 Chios
We managed to get a bit of sleep on the boat, but it's never going to be ideal when you're woken at 3.30am and turfed out to a tiny seaside town at 4am.
There were a handful of cafes open; several other passengers were hanging around waiting for the 8am ferry to Cesme in Turkey, including our friend Mattia. We'll be taking the same ferry on Friday morning. We wandered around, ate the mini croissants the bakery on the mainland had gifted us, and found a bench where Mat took a little nap.
As dawn broke around 6am, we contemplated our options given that our apartment wouldn't be available until 3pm. In the end we went to a small shop, bought tea and coffee plus a couple of yoghurts so we could have our standard muesli (second) breakfast.
Still with plenty of time to kill we decided to ride down the coast and see some of the sights along the way: old windmills and a restored Ottoman bathhouse. There was a really strong headwind on the way out but a lovely tailwind on our return.
We could see Turkey across the water; it's under 20km to Cesme. We could also see all the wind turbines along the hills in Turkey, so wind may well be a feature of our next two days of cycling.
A stop in the old Chios castle allowed Mat to have his third breakfast and Kat to sample the local produce: a lump of mastic stuck to a teaspoon in a glass of iced water - you eat it from the spoon and follow with water. (Chios is famous for mastic.)
Our host Barbara was very accommodating and let us leave our bags at the apartment while she finished cleaning it, then let us in early at 1pm so we could finally have a shower and collapse.
Love, Kat & Mat x
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