Breakfast in Kefalonia

It may have been a mistake to pre-arrange breakfast at our apartment complex. When we arrived, we asked the girl who was standing behind the pool bar when should we appear for breakfast . There was no separate dining area, other than the tables under a canopy by the swimming pool.

'Nine o'clock,' she answered emphatically. It was clear from her reply that before nine would be unacceptable.

We arrived at the pool at nine o'clock promptly the next morning. The girl we had spoken to the day before had just opened up the bar and said good morning to us as she collected the empties from the previous night and tied back her hair. She was dressed in a pair of tight grey track suit bottoms with a sleeveless white T shirt. We asked if we could have breakfast.

She smiled and brought some paper table mats which she placed on the table along with knives and forks individually wrapped in paper serviettes. She then brought us each a menu. There were three breakfast options: a continental breakfast which consisted of fruit juice, coffee, croissants and toast, a cooked breakfast of fried eggs, bacon, beans and toast also with fruit juice and coffee, or a Kefalonian omelette containing bacon and feta cheese but without fruit juice or coffee.

We were hungry  and decided that we would probably not have to wait too long if we chose the continental option. We ordered two continental breakfasts with orange juice and filter coffee.

She returned to the bar area and picked up the telephone. There followed a lengthy conversation in Greek during which we heard the word 'continental'. She remained behind the bar for some time, probably making the filter coffee we supposed, but no food or drink materialised.

After about twenty minutes, a car sped up the track and stopped by the bar, and gave one toot of its horn. The girl went out to meet the car and returned soon after carrying two plates on each of which were several slices of toast, a large croissant and two individual servings of butter and marmalade. She placed these in front of us and returned with two glasses of orange juice and two cups of coffee.

'Sorry,' she said, smiling delightfully, as she placed each of these items in front of us.

It was clear from the temperature and consistency of the toast that it had travelled some distance following the toasting process. The coffee could only have been described as luke-warm and had clearly accompanied the toast on its journey.

Well, at least we knew what to expect on the following mornings!

CP Sep 2013