Sally and Henry's sailing adventures: July 2011

We have been to so many beautiful places, but a few have stood out as the most interesting, the most beautiful – or just the most characterful. The Ionian islands – with Corfu the biggest and most well know – are the closest to Italy and have a strong Venetian influence which comes out prominently in the architecture and the food. We loved all the islands we visited and it is hard to choose a best.

Corfu Town

The very small island of Paxi is perhaps the most beautiful scenically. We anchored in the turquoise bay of Lakkas - at the end of our first day of sailing in perfect weather. I was temporarily fooled into thinking it was always going to be like this!

Anchored in Lakkas

Quaint taverna Paxi

Fisherman on Paxi

Lefkas has the most beautiful beaches and coves. We stumbled on this one when we hired a scooter to explore the island. Forgot to pack cossies as it was spring and still quite cool, but regretted it after we climbed down to the beach. As most of the women were topless, we stripped to our undies and had a glorious swim.

Porto Katsiki beach on Lefkas

We were on Lefkas for about a week and found many beautiful bays. We have decided that we always want to return in spring as the countryside was amazing. Seeing how dry it is now, we can't believe how transformed it becomes with a profusion of wild flowers.

Fisherman rowing out to his boat on Lefkas

We anchored in this bay on Lefkas - went for a walk one evening and saw our dinghy floating out into the sea. Ferry wash had come up and pulled it off the beach. Luckily a fisherman was on hand to help - took Henry out to rescue it

The island of Ithaca we think is the most romantic of all the islands we have visited; partially because it is the legendary home of Odysseus (recent archaeological findings are proving that his palace was indeed on Ithaca), but also because it is breathtakingly beautiful on a small scale with unspoilt villages.

View of Vathi from the mountain peak

Sarah joined us here in the capital Vathi on the bus / ferry from Athens where we were forced to hole up due to heavy winds. No problem though as the small town has so much character - and we had time to hire a car and explore inland.

Boat trying to moor and wind blowing it straight for us

It missed us but crashed into boats next to us

Sarah's first day - and she remains unfazed by the drama

Fouled anchors were constantly happening - they were trying to unhook their's from our neighbour and in the process uprooted a whole lot of others. We had to re-anchor 4 times in a 20 knot cross wind. Traumatic

Vathi at sunset - wind still blowing but so beautiful

Taverna in Vathi - Sally and table cloths perfectly matching

We loved these posters outside the Ithaca ministry of culture - successive years festivals

The picturesque small village of Kioni on Ithaca

View of Vathi - the lady walking welcomes us with multiple "Yasas, yassas, yassas, yassas"

We found one of 4 most well preserved Byzantine churches in the whole of Greece in the old capital in the middle of the island. It was built high in the hills to be safe from pirates! The village is almost deserted now – people left after the 1953 earthquakes and only a few old-timers have returned. One greeted us as we arrived in the tiny square and was delighted to find out we were South Africans – “Eloff st!!” he said proudly. He spent 4 years there along with the café owner, Giourgios, but they both missed Ithaca terribly and came home in the early sixties.

"Eloff st" Max posing for his photo

Giorgious with parrot in his cafe

We had been advised to get the key for the church from Giourgios – when we went in he told us to hurry as there was a celebration inside. We ran in (it started raining and we were dripping wet, dressed in shorts and t-shirts) and burst into the midst of a christening. The very elegant family welcomed us, handed us biscuits, gifts and a badge with the name “Melina” to wear. It was a surreal experience – this most beautiful church with its fading but well preserved, exquisite frescoes, us dripping and grinning and the beautifully dressed family saying how honoured they were that we were from so far away and were celebrating the christening with them! Henry is still wearing his Melina badge.

Melina and mom

The frescoes were remarkably well-preserved considering the earthquakes

Fiscardo on Keffalonia is so stereotypically beautiful that it has been turned into a chi-chi, upmarket destination. Still, we were there in early season and our mooring, on a quay directly opposite the narrow road with buzzing cafes and parading locals was wonderful.

Henry watching the passing Fiscardo parade from the boat

Moored in Fiscardo - we looked front to the sea and back to over a small canal to the cafe's

Fiscardo was full of Roman ruins - mostly not signposted and we just stumbled across them

It was also here at Fiscardo that Michael Sutton had designed a stunning holiday house for clients who happened to be in residence. Michael arranged for us to visit them - and what a place. The position was incredible, looking out onto a sparkling cove with a cave in one end and the house was breathtaking. Henry said, a masterful design..... Penny and Costas were proud to show us around and then we drank excellent Greek wine, ate meze and watched the sun set.

View of Penny and Costa's house from road below

Detail of eaves showing recycled very old roof tiles

View of the cave from the sitting room

From the Ionian we moved on the the Gulf of Corinth, the Aegean sea and the Argo-Saronic Gulf. Clearly there have been more favourite places which we will write about soon.

Hoisting the flag

The 14^th of July and we have been away for just over 2 months – and no blog. We thought we could get it done when Sarah was with us (as we could not figure it out) but her 3 weeks disappeared so quickly. Days and days get eaten up with us preparing to sail, sailing, finding a good mooring, toasting our adrenaline producing but successful mooring, settling in, exploring, finding the best tavernas and cafes – and then starting all over again. Our life as sailing gypsies!

We have been discussing how to start the blog with so much to tell, and feel that we would bore everyone rigid if we did a chronological travelogue starting in Corfu and ending in Poros where we are now. So, we thought we would think of some of the amazing, memorable, scary, interesting things that have happened and share them with you.

We can both start off saying that it has been a remarkable experience, far surpassing anything we ever dreamed of!

Leaving Corfu on our first day sailing

SALLY

I think, for me, the most amazing thing has been the remarkable friendliness and laid back hospitality of the Greeks. Wherever we have been, people have been funny, kind, welcoming and friendly. Sarah, Christopher, Henry and I were walking along an ancient path on the island of Hydra towards a beach we had read about. We stopped and looked down at a cove and Sarah asked if that was where we were going. A couple stopped and asked us where we wanted to go – we told them and they took us all the way, telling us about the fascinating history of the island and pointing out the best place for lunch and the best place to swim.
When our new friend Stathos found out that Henry was an architect, he invited us to come and see their historical house they had recently bought. He met us at the boat that evening and we wandered through the narrow, winding streets of vehicle free Hydra with him until we got to a very old, beautiful merchants house. It felt like we were stepping back 350 years as we entered the cool courtyard overlooking red tiled rooftops. We were shown around the house with it’s beautiful old tiles, remarkable wooden ceiling, rickety staircases and deeply recessed windows framing marvellous views of the harbour and town spreading up the hill. We ate biscuits and then sipped a local sweet aperitif before being escorted off to their friend’s restaurant on the harbour front – where we were treated like royalty and had one of the best meals of the trip. They are clearly part of the super rich Greek community we read about these days, but what warm, hospitable people. They invited us to stay in one of their villas in Mykonos – perhaps we will take them up on it!

Winding streets of Hydra

Stathos leading us into his house

View from the courtyard

Only donkeys are used on Hydra for transport

HENRY

If I were to be asked what the single most remarkable feature of our trip has been, I would also have to say it was the people we have met along the way. This applies to the many, many local people we have met as well as the fellow sailors who have helped us with advice and the benefit of their experience. We have been welcomed into people’s homes in the most unexpected circumstances. Chance meetings have led to warm friendships.

The sailors we expected to meet were of the kinds who are not able to talk about anything other than their sailing prowess and ‘yachting’ in general. There are a few of them out there but they seem to be lurking in marinas, which we have successfully avoided!

When we visited the incredibly beautiful little medieval port of Nafpaktos we were unable to moor inside the harbour. It is very tiny and exactly as it was in the middle ages despite the fact that it is a working harbour, off the tourist path and authentically Greek. Old in Greece takes on a meaning that is sometimes hard to grasp when old in Johannesburg has been 100 years! As we were not able to get inside, we anchored outside the entrance with a couple of other boats. Turned out that I had anchored a little too close to a large Spanish registered boat so I shouted over to the Spanish skipper to find out if wanted me to move. He was cool and we stayed where we were. Well, we met up with them in town the next day and they turned out to be an engaging couple about our age who have been doing this for the last 20 years.

Anyway, they were traveling in the same general direction as us so we met up with them, by chance, at the next two or three ports, Trizonia Island, Galaxidi (and nearby Delphi) and then in Aegina near Athens. We have become firm friends with Jordi (he has no connection with Manchester) and Laura. They introduced us to dried octopus and interesting delicacies at a simple fisherman’s taverna on Aegina and entertained us on their boat with a feast of Spanish and Greek food that was truly impressive – for all 4 of us as Chris and Sarah were with us. To cook on a boat is not all that easy. To cook well is incredible and made us despair as to how we could possibly respond. Wonderful and resourceful people.

Grilled octopus - it is hung to dry and then grilled

Octopus hanging to dry

Resourcefulness is perhaps a trademark of th sailing fraternity in general. Another is a genuine concern for the environment, especially the sea. Practically all the places we have visited are water stressed and sailors all have to deal with living on small amounts of water. We have 400 litres on our boat and that lasts us for about 3 weeks. We have been drinking bottled water and that is a big problem. The plastic bottles are ubiquitous and there is really not much alternative. Water in the tanks is sometimes perfectly drinkable but then sometimes we have to fill the tanks with water that we are advised not drink!

Henry washing his shorts as we sail - rinsing first in sea water to save fresh!

SALLY

Our latest amazing “friendliness” experience was applying for an extension to my visa, something we had been dreading as we had heard so much about the interminable Greek bureaucracy. Most of you will know, my visa saga started many months ago when Henry and I were told by the Greek embassy that the only way I could stay in Greece for 6 months was to get married to a UK citizen. So, we duly complied, and had a wonderful wedding at Ballots (of course the visa was not the real reason for this!) Well, shortly before we left, the embassy told me that he had made a mistake and could not grant the visa as we were not resident in Greece. We could request an extension from the police in Greece and they could grant it at their discretion – no guarantees.

We left on the 6am Poros to Piraeus ferry with much trepidation because if we failed we would have to hot foot it out of Greece to Turkey – a journey of a couple of weeks with the fierce July / August Meltemi winds already blowing. Something I dread! Well, what a surprise. The underlings at the Immigration Police called their Commander to help us – and he was remarkable! “Of course you must have a visa to stay with your husband” he said…. “How long do you need? Come and sit with me in my (luxurious) office while you wait…..” It took 4 hours, but we were entertained by this fascinating man, unfortunately with limited English but with a warm and exuberant nature that way made up for it. We left, not only with the required extension, but with an excellent bottle of local wine tucked under our arm (Shouldn’t this be the other way around, we wondered?!)

OUR PLANS

Our intention when we left home was to put down our experiences in a blog, which we intended to complete on a regular basis. Our good intentions came to nothing as we have been so incredibly busy!! It is really incredible how time has gone by. Now we know how to do it, we will try and be more disciplined – all dependant on finding WIFI cafes along the way!

We so loved having first Sally’s niece Sarah who joined us for 3 weeks, and then nephew Christopher who came for 10 days during that time. They embraced Greece and the sailing with exuberance and excitement and added a wonderful richness to our experiences. We will write about some of those later. Henry’s sister Gemma and niece Kate joined us for 3 days, which was a bit short to explore much, but is was lovely having them. Now we are alone until September and we plan to try and escape the summer hordes by sailing to the southern end of the Pelopenese and then back up to Poros to meet the next friends.

Until next time…