72 - Greece (with a side of Turkiye) - Part 2

It took us a couple of days (we stopped each night at protected anchorages) but we finally arrived in the renowned Cyclades Islands.  This group of islands are famous for their beautiful blue water, white washed "sugar-cube" houses and churches with blue domes. Let me tell you, the water did not disappoint and the white and blue everywhere was perfect.  Our first landing was on the island of Mykonos.  We were able to anchor out right in front of the area known as “Little Venice.”  The area gets it nickname from the fact that the buildings are all precociously situated right on the waterfront with only a small sidewalk out front.  Our anchorage was also at the foot of the famous 16^th century windmills which show up in almost every picture you see of Mykonos.  While the island is most famous for its world-class partying, we loved wandering the streets and the waterfront but decided to leave before the crowds from the cruise ships arrived. 

Our next stop was the island and town of Naxos most famous for its Temple of Apollo.  Also called Portara (or great door), it's actually a doorway and is the single remaining part of the unfinished Temple of Apollo from 530 BC.  Although the temple was visible for several miles, we were excited to find an anchorage right at its base. We spent a couple of days wandering all around the ruins and the adorable surrounding town.  The waterfront area is more focused on the beaches and is lined with restaurants and shops.  Overlooking the town is the 13^th century venetian castle which in fact is the old town of Naxos.  This area was absolutely adorable.  The views of the harbor were stunning and we found a great restaurant for a romantic sunset dinner.  We loved everything about this island.   If we'd had more time, we would have loved to hike Mount Zeus (the highest point in the Cyclades).  But that gives us yet another reason why we have to go back!

Our next stop was the island of Lefkes and the town of Paros. While smaller than the last two cities we visited, this quiet little town maintained the charm of the Cyclades islands and was the perfect spot for us to refill our fuel tanks (luckily the fuel station was a short walk from the dinghy dock), meander around the town and shop for fresh food at the local market.

Our last and probably favorite stop in the Cyclades was the island of Milos. Sailing into the bay, we were immediately drawn to the colorful “garage” doors on the boat houses in the fishing village of Klima.  These colorful doors were each painted a different and bright color so that returning fishermen would be able to easily find their way home.  Primarily used as vacation homes, the little village has not lost any of its charm.

Continuing on into the bay, we anchored outside of the town of Adamantas. One notable fact about the towns of Milos is that the seemingly haphazard maze of narrow windy streets was intentionally arranged in such a manner to confuse and fend off pirates.  Feeling like modern day pirates, we dinghied ashore and took off on foot so as to explore more of the island.  The terrain outside of the city was desert like but we had the gravel roads almost all to ourselves with the exception of an adorable heard of goats.  

Next, we found the island's ancient roman theatre which dates back to 3rd century BC and the spot where the real “Venus de Milo” statue of Aphrodite was discovered 200 years ago by a local peasant farmer.   We continued onto the capital city of Plaka.  As the town was built on the highest hill of the island, it affords great views of the bay and magnificent sunsets.  This adorable town with narrow winding streets which are too narrow for cars makes for perfect meandering.  Above the town lies the remains of a Venetian built castle referred to as Kastro.  While mostly in ruins, the views were spectacular and the hike up there took us past the Panagia Thalassitra church.  This iconic Cycladic church is not only one of the most photographed churches in the islands but was also dedicated to the Virgin who protects all sailors and mariners. Milos was absolutely one of our favorite islands and we would definitely like to go back one day.

Leaving Milos and the beautiful Cyclades behind, we had an all-day sail of about 70 miles to head back towards Athens where we’d arranged to meet our friend Doug who was flying in to go sailing with us for a few days.  Arriving on the island of Spetsis, we met back up with Dan and Alison and spent a couple of days exploring and enjoying being back with our friends.  Thanks to Equus' on-board air compressor, we even borrowed their scuba tanks and were able to really clean the bottom of our boat.

While we were exploring the Greek islands, our dear friend Doug had been exploring nearby Turkey.  Since he was "in the neighborhood," he extended his trip a few more days to come sail with us.  So, we reserved a marina berth just outside of Athens to make everything easier. We arrived a few days early and spent a couple of days exploring the sights of Athens and shopping in the amazing city market.

So as soon as Doug arrived, we took off.  We had a great sail and stopped the for night at a quiet anchorage just a few miles away.  The next morning, we took off again and met back up with Dan and Alison on the quaint little island of Poros.  We found a great anchorage and spent a couple of days just enjoying the company, exploring the island and loading up the dinghy for a happy hour excursion to catch the full moon rise (too many clouds but it was fun nonetheless).

Next, we sailed over to the town of Methana on the mainland. The town is famous for its hot springs' spas. Unfortunately for us, the spa complex that was actually opened in 1870 was officially closed in 2017. So, we had to make due with swimming in the bay area near an outlet for the hot sulfur water.  While the hot spring water mixed with the comparatively cool water of the Aegean Sea and made it seem to be slightly warmer, the sulfur smell was strong enough to keep us from swimming too long.  Still, it was fun!  The entire Peninsula was actually formed from a volcano that emerged from the sea, so we'd also hoped to hike the closest volcano the next morning.  However, we weren’t allowed to stay the night on the town dock.  So, we took off again and sailed back to Poros for the night.  

For the next couple of days, we sailed from bay to bay enjoying the water and partying with friends.  Alas, our time was quickly running out, so we left Dan and Alison and spent our last sailing night with Doug anchored out in what will probably go down as one of my absolute favorite anchorages.  Peristeria Bay on the island of Salamina was breathtaking.  The depth of the entire bay was less about 8 feet so we had a great time snorkeling and relaxing while watching the sunset.  Our final sail with Doug back to the marina was particularly interesting as we had to sail our way through a “mine field” of about 30 freighters.  They were all anchored so it was easy but still interesting to dodge them. 

The next morning, we closed up the boat and took off with Doug for the airport and our flights to Istanbul.  Originally, we’d hoped to sail to Turkey but decided that we were running out of time.  We’d already decided to sail back to the Caribbean this winter rather than leave the boat in Europe for another year.  So, we hopped a plane along with Dan and Alison – who too are in the same boat (yes, pun intended) as they're also planning to sail west and south this winter.

Istanbul was everything we expected and more.  The city is amazing with so much to see and the people were incredibly friendly and welcoming.  We got a great Airbnb in the heart of the Fatih area which we could not have chosen better.  We were able to walk or easily grab public transport to everything we had on our list of sights and found some amazing restaurants and spice shops just a few blocks from our door.  Another highlight of the trip was that we got to travel to Asia and glimpse the black sea by boat (it was a ferry rather than our boat but we still counted it).   We all completely loved Istanbul and if we get a chance to bring the boat back, we’d love to spend some more time in Turkey.  I could write an entire blog on the 4 days we spent there.  But honestly, if you've been there, you know about it and if you've not, you just have to go.  It's fascinating! 

Back in Greece, we spent a couple more days in the Athens marina, before checking out and heading to Kalamata for our last stop in Greece.  Stopping each night on our way around, it took us a couple of days to get there.  Kalamata has a huge and mostly empty harbor.  The town used to have more commercial activity and we did see one small cruise ship but we were happy to have the place mostly to ourselves. The town has an amazing daily farmer’s market and we stocked up on fabulous fresh produce and, of course, Kalamata olives. Our time had finally run out and we had to leave the country.  To say the Greek people are amazing is a complete understatement.  As we were checking out of the country and also the EU (we were heading to Tunisia, Africa), we needed to get our passports stamped in addition to checking the boat out of Greek waters.  Well, the harbor office only checks boats out, they could not help us with the passports.  However, after about 30 minutes of phone calls, the gentleman who was helping us, called the local police station and arranged for someone there to help us. He even drew us a map as we had to walk about 2 miles to get there.  Just one final example of how amazing these people are not to mention how beautiful their country is.

Thankfully (albeit a little sadly), we got everything done and were on our way.  At the last minute, we decided to change our course and make a stop in Malta.  We are so glad we did as it was a wonderful place to visit also.  But I’ll fill you in on that next time.

Here are the rest of the pictures from Greece:     Greece - Part 2

Here are all of my pictures from Istanbul:            Istanbul, Turkey

Until next post!        

71 - It's all Greek to us (and we love it)! - Part 1

So, we arrived in Corfu, checked into Greece, reunited with Dan and Alison aboard Equus (we'd left them in southern Italy and they'd most recently been in Albania) and prepared for our first guest since Sabine and Laurent met us in France.  Charlie Walker, a friend of ours from Cocoa Beach and whose house we took over a couple of years ago in Annecy, France, flew into Corfu to sail with us a few days.  Life was pretty perfect as we loved Corfu, being with our boat buddies and having Charlie aboard.  

Next we decided to go see Tripotos Arch and the Blue Caves of Paxos both of which are famous tourist sights.  When we arrived, there were numerous tour boats around and no place nearby to anchor so we stopped for photo ops and continued on to the next island of Antipaxos.  Alison and I swam ashore and found a fabulous cave that she decided would be the perfect spot for happy hour.  Packing up the inflatable cooler and beverages for everyone, we all swam back and did enjoy the perfect spot for a happy hour.

We spent a couple of days exploring the charming town of Corfu before setting sail to Paxos.  We found a great albeit somewhat crowded anchorage just outside the little town of Lakka. Soon after we'd gotten our anchor set and were preparing to settle in for the night, a storm front arrived bringing with it strong winds and rain.  It didn't take long for the quiet little harbor we were in to quickly turn to chaos.  While thankfully no one was hurt, it appeared that a couple of boats collided.  Luckily, we were far enough away to avoid the worst of it but Alison made a great video that she posted on her Facebook page.

The next day we had a great sail down to Lefkada where we’d planned to spend the night at anchor and head towards the town and Skorpios Island to see the former home of Aristotle Onassis.  The island is still privately owned so we knew we’d only be able to sail by but it still sounded fun.  Well, the wind had other ideas.  So, we decided to skip that island and several hours of motoring in favor of  a great sail in the other direction to the island of Ithaca.  The island plays up its fame as the home to Homer’s mythical hero so we docked in the harbor in the city of Frikes and headed straight to the Odyssey café.  While the boys stayed behind to sample more Greek beers, Alison and I took a short hike to view the former observation tower for the port city.  While mostly run down, it did provide great views of the harbor and our boats.

The next morning, we took off and continued sailing south.  Charlie had originally planned to sail with us for 3 or 4 days but we were all having so much fun that we made him extend his trip for 6 days.  However, time was running out so we set sail for Kefalonia Island and the town of Sami.  Charlie booked his flight out of Kefalonia and Sami set us up for a great spot to continue our trip east and south towards mainland Greece.

Since, we'd arrived a day early (we just wanted to make sure we got there in time), we decided to walk and visit the Melissani Caves.  The caves and underground lakes are spectacular.  The roof of the caves collapsed centuries ago so part of the lake is exposed and part remains underground.  Both parts are fascinating with the gorgeous turquoise water and several dolphin shaped stalactites (you have to use your imagination) which are rumored to be the companions for the sea Nymph Melissanthi after whom the caves are named.  Either way, it was a great excursion and totally worth visiting.

Alas, sadly, our first week in Greece was over and it was time for Charlie to fly back to France and then back to Florida.  He hoped in a cab to the airport and we took off sailing east towards the Corinthian Canal to continue our exploration of Greece. 

We met back up with Dan and Alison (they decided not to sail to Kefalonia) and sailed to Porto Skorfa which was our first official stop on mainland Greece.  We’d read reviews on the anchorage suggesting that the “beach bar” was a must visit.  After a couple of beers, we all decided to swim ashore for an early dinner.  While we always seem to have fun with Dan and Alison, this excursion will undoubtedly go down as one of our absolute favorites.  The restaurant was far more than a beach bar with its amazing food, wine selection and fabulous staff.  Despite the fact that we were literally dripping wet, they treated us like returning honored guests.  I cannot say enough about the place or the entire experience but if you’re ever in the area, you have to stop (even if you can’t swim ashore)!

The next morning, we continued heading east towards the canal and excitedly sailed under the Rion Antirion Bridge (our first time in a long time sailing under a bridge) and stopped for the night in the town of Nafpaktos.  This adorable mainland town was actually built in the shape of an amphitheater and even today has a fairytale vibe complete with a Venetian castle overlooking the town. Dan stayed behind to complete some boat repairs but the rest of us hiked up to the top to explore the castle.  While we needed the exercise, it was disheartening to make 2-mile walk up to the castle only to find that it was closed on Tuesdays!!!  Still the views were stunning so we were glad we went.

Our last stop before heading into the canal was the town of Kiato.  While not the most charming town we'd seen, it was a great stop and a town harbor with free dockage for the night.  We rafted up with Equus (boats side by side).  By now I'm sure everyone reading this knows how amazing Alison (Wonder Woman as she's known in some parts) is so it's no surprise that again, she got our her monster sewing machine to do another small sail repair for us.  As we were rafted up, we just drug the sail across to her boat.  She really is the best!

At last, the moment we'd been planning for a couple of weeks arrived.  We headed out and secured our position in line to transit the Corinth Canal.  We were all excited to be able to go through the canal which was had been closed for the last few years due to a rock slide.  Besides just being able to say you traversed one of the oldest (and most expensive per nautical mile) canals in the world, the canal saved us about 200 miles on our journey towards central and eastern parts of Greece.  While there are no locks to traverse, there are 2 submersible bridges that we found fascinating and of course the 3 large bridges that cross overhead which look enormous. We managed to schedule our passage such that we were right behind Equus so we took copious amounts of pictures of each other’s boat.  Both Alison and I even got some of the guy who bungee jumped after the boat behind us went through!! 

After the canal, Dan and Alison decided to head towards Athens for some additional boat repairs (see it’s not just our boat).  We had a few days before our next boat guest was due to arrive so we took off to see the famous Cyclades Islands.

But I’ll fill you on that next time!

Until next post!