Supernatural writing inspiration for The Beyond Series /Greece

Greece/Falaraki Rhodes/Kos/Porus

Ah, where do I start? Well, I went to Greece and Athens first of all at the age of 20. I’d always wanted to do a spot of backpacking and island hopping as I thought myself as a bit of an adventurer back then. So we hit Athens, at night in searing heat. It stank to high heaven of rubbish left out all day in the humidity and I was so tired I just wanted to hit the hay. We found a hostel and asked what we could get for 2000 Dracma.(Currency before the Euro.)





 Not much it seemed. Two cot like camp beds and a fan in a room! It was vile, but it was late and I was tired and hungry, so my female friend and I went out, got smashed so I didn't have to think of the roaches!
The next morning we got out of there so fast, I didn’t even use amenities in fear of catching something nasty and we caught a hydrofoil to Poros Island. We went to the local tourist centre and asked again what we could get for 2000 Dracma a night (I’d read in travel journals this was a fair price for a decent room), and to our delight we were taken to a very clean and fully furnished apartment, with balcony!

There wasn’t a pool, but the soft white sandy beach was just a stone’s throw away. Porus town was quaint and quiet. Ever watched the film Mama Mia? Well, Poros was a bit like that. All white washed buildings and blue doors, windows, chairs…. Everything white and blue! It was like paradise to us. And so that was the end of my Greek island hopping adventure! Not much I know, but we did hop over to at least one island with a back pack on my back. After six glorious days we returned to Athens for a Forum for a charity group we were both members of.

Leo’s were the youth section of Lions Clubs International, a massive charity and welfare organisation today with over 13 million members worldwide. Back in the 90’s the members of Leo’s around Europe would take turns in hosting the annual European convention and in 1991 it was Greece’s turn. The hotel was positively Five Star compared to the flee pit we stayed in on the first night in Athens.

We were treated to a show of countries, a ceremony were each country in Europe showed off their prowess and achievements. The Italians had a stall full of amazing pasta dishes and chianti, the Turkish Leo’s brought a kind of dumpling sauce dish (which was heaven) and a vodka type spirit, the Germans brought sausage, schnitzel and beer, Spanish brought tapas and wines and the British Leo’s…. Well we came up with Gin and Tonic and Blackpool rock! I felt a bit bad that we don’t really have an official national dish – some say it’s roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, others argue it’s Indian Curries. But surprisingly the bitterness of the G&T and the sweetness of the rock was an amazing success.

We were treated to entertainment in the form of Greek dancing, whilst the English Male Leo’s attempted to chat up the very fashion conscious and rich Italian ladies in Leo’s, without much success. The Italians Leo’s fascinated me, they arrived at the hotel with enough luggage for a month’s trip rather than six days! The most extravagant of the ladies would change outfits at least 3 to 4 times a day and never the same piece of apparel was worn twice. No clever mixing and matching with their wardrobes! 

We had a trip out to historical landmarks of Athens – like an ancient Greek ampetheatre and ruined temple. We had volleyball competition on the beach and water polo in the pool. I joined in with most activities and forums held there, not just because our Lions club back home were sponsoring my friend and myself, but we wanted to fully immerse ourselves in the experience. I’ve never been to a forum like that since and now I’m a grown up Lion, I would like to attend one of these events again someday.

One evening the British contingency decided to host an after dinner party in one of the hotel bedrooms. Our signature party piece was always Toga fancy dress and it was exhilarating to see so many other Leo’s from all over Europe join in the fun. The men took several bedroom doors off the hinges to give the corridor more feeling of space. The bath was filled with cold water to create a make shift drinks cooler and the Brits ran the bar. The Turkish and Italian Leo's got out their little gas burners and cooked some of the pasta and dumpling dishes they had left over from the show of countries and the Finish Leo’s introduced us all to their famous Black Vodka. Wowee! It was strong stuff and amazingly we all made it down to the breakfast room the next morning still wearing our makeshift togas from the hotels bedsheets! Can’t think why on earth the hotel wasn’t happy! I mean we did put the doors back on the right way round! Lol.

The Gala Dinner to end the Forum in style was amazing. First we were all taken to a Greek mansion by the coach load and walked over a hill to see the most beautiful gardens all lit up with candles by night. We ate on the terraces as a live band played and we danced the night away in our ball gowns and penguin suits. Brilliant memories writing this and I think I need to add this scene to a novel someday.

 Falaraki on Rhodes Island was a complete contrast a year later. This was my second girly sunshine holiday. At first we were shipped out to Lindos. The hotel was horrendous, our room was basically a carved out cave, beds were mattresses on carved out stone and ants were crawling everywhere.

I think I had to check we weren’t staying in The Fred Flinstone Hotel. So I packed my two friends up and shipped us all out to Falaraki. As I felt I was the expert in getting on the spot accommodation after my Island hoping expedition the year before. I got us a three bed apartment for just 3000 Dracma a night and a refund from the Tour operator who sent us blindly to Flinstones Hotel. The rest of the holiday was a blur of late nights, pool bar nightclubs, street parties and the first ever bungy jumping crane in a pool by the beach that I had ever seen.

We stayed up late and had beach parties and there wasn’t much sunbathing done, but I went at a time when club land sunny destinations like Falaraki and Ibiza were just starting out. The older generations said it wouldn’t last and acid house parties and all night raves in the sun would be a thing of the past, but twenty two years later the next generation has come along and they still dance to the beats I danced to when I was still a fresh faced youth.  I needed a week to recover, but at least I can say I did it once!

Kos was another 'mergh' type of holiday with the friend from New Year in Portugal. Again she copped off with a man at the beginning of the holiday, but out did herself this time and had a Shirley Valentine moment with Nicholas, the owner of the apartment! However, there were highlights. Kos Town was a lovely oldie worldie port with pretty communual gardens and shops to walk around. The Greek night at the apartments and around the pool were smashing – quite literally. Nicholas’ brother Demitri picked me out to dance the fire dance and we smash lots of plates after. Great stuff.

We also a had wonderful evening up in the mountains and in an outdoor nightclub, where lots of Greek food and wine was consumed before danced off in the open air to Zorba The Greek. Oh and I saw my first enormous green cricket with a horny tail. Granted I screamed, but I was fascinated with it too. No desire to return though. Altogether Greece has given me some great holiday experiences and plenty of situations to write about in my books.

Visit Alison's Website www.alisonkershaw.com

Supernatural Inspiration The Beyond Series / Portugal

Portugal

I have been to Portugal or the Algarve three times now. The first was with a group of 12 friends and we hired a huge six bedroom villa complete with patio, barbecue and pool. It was great fun. We messed around the pool by day, went out at night and partied then messed around some more by the pool later on in the early hours of the morning.

The Villa was in a little village called Boliqueme, just outside the marina and golfing town of Villamora. High up in the hills the sea breeze couldn’t reach us and our pool area had amazing views of the valley below.  On the night of arrival a member of the party gave us all some “fun” Portuguese Ludo notes, the currency before the Euro. He'd done a really good job except and as a joke he put one of our friends grinning face on the note with a cartoon crown on his head. It was meant to be a private joke amongst us, but one friend got a little tipsy in the bar and accidently paid for a her drinks with hers. No-one noticed, not even the barman realised and accepted them as real currency! Needless to say, when she woke up the next morning and realised her mistake, we made a group pact never to return to said bar again.

We went down into the marina and like Puerta Banus, it was full of expensive yachts surrounded by designer’s shops restaurants, bars and of course an Irish pub complete with outside fountain… I guess the architects never considered the Brits abroad when adding certain features to the Marina! If you’re uncertain of what I’m getting at just think, Irish Pub and Fountain! Yup it was full of revellers splashing around every night! I loved the food and became quite addicted to Clam Chowder and other fresh seafood dishes.

We were only there for a week and it was much more a holiday for friends who don’t see each other very often to get together, but we did manage a barbecue party. A member of our group had family also holidaying out there we so we invited them, another friend had friends who lived close by so they came too and the owner/manager of the villa lived next door so we invited them along until there was about twenty of us. A decent number to call a party!

We had a trip out to Albefera, which was much more the old Portuguese architecture one would assume Portuguese towns should look like. Winding pedestrian streets, no traffic and quaint little shops and restaurants. Very Civilised. Until we went to Montechoro, which I can only describe as the Magaluf of the Algarve. Or what we saw of it anyway. It was the only day that the weather was truly hideous and so we decided on an afternoon pub crawl down the main strip.

It was such a giggle, the 12 of us getting merry and silly and as it was our last night, when we returned to the villa a huge vat of wine that had been untouched all week, so that was cracked open.

with much merriment and skinny dipping in the villa pool until the sun came up! Hilarious end to a great holiday.

The Second time I went was dreadful. Just myself and a different female friend. We thought it a good idea to go for a week just after Christmas and spend the New Year there. Besides it being freezing, with no hire car to go anywhere, the apartments were much more family orientated. One family in particular became rather over friendly with my mate on the first night there. She danced all night with their daughter and told them all I fancied their 21 year old son!!! I wondered why his mum and dad were constantly patting me on the back as they talked to me. It then took several days to get the message across to my new found stalker that I wasn’t interested. 

My friend then copped with a guy from Stoke who she then had a holiday romance with and I spent the best part of a week having to hang out with his friend who was several prawns short of a barbecue as well as the stalker she’d introduced me to on the first night, but enough of that disastrous holiday.

My third time was a much more pleasant experience. The friends who lived out near Bolliqueme invited three of us from the original holiday party back to stay with them. They showed us around the Algarve properly and even took us on the slowest train EVER to Faro, Portugal’s capital, where I could take in some much needed culture. *sigh* It was only a week, but we hit some of our old haunts we’d enjoyed so much a few years earlier and caught up with old friends. A lovely time, but I’ve never really been inspired to put Portugal or Spain into one of my novels as a great destination. Maybe I will when I run out of other ideas. Lol!

Alison's Website www.alisonkershaw.com