Author: Kate McCombie

Greece has over 1400 islands and islets and many of these don’t have an airport so it’s no surprise that ferries are a popular mode of transport. It’s not uncommon to arrive at a small harbour, only to be followed in sometime later by a rather large ferry, deftly manoeuvring only a few metres away from where you’re moored. It’s a bit disconcerting the first time, but the ferry captains seem to know what they doing.

That’s Loki moored at the top left-hand end of the marina.

“Hey Donny, do you think there is any wind under that cloud?”

They do a good thunderstorm in this part of the world. One minute blue skies and sunshine, the next ominous black clouds followed by breeze (lots of it!) and torrential rain. Welcome to the northern Sporades. (Head north from Athens, up inside and around the top of Evia, Greece’s 2nd largest island). We’ve witnessed a couple of events, one where a yacht at anchor near us was lying on it’s side, gunwales in the water (the top side of the boat) and their dingy was doing sideways cartwheels at the end of it’s tether behind the boat – spinning so fast that it snapped off their wooden flagstaff, complete with flag. Happily they managed to retrieve both their anchors before they dragged on top of us.

The view of Skiathos harbour, looks better the day after a thunderstorm.

We had a fabulous catch-up with Billy, Dora & the girls, and Chris, Penny & Bridgette in Nea Marmara, on the Chalkidiki Peninsula, northern Greece mainland. I suspect we wouldn’t have made it so far north and seen so much of the Aegean if there hadn’t been a plan to meet up. We enjoyed relaxing days on the beach, were treated to Soula and Michael’s home cooking and had a lovely day cruise with Capitan Panagiotis, amongst other things. And what a gorgeous bunch of young women our friends have produced!

During the cruise Michael dived down and caught some “fooska” (please excuse the phonetic spelling), a lot like oysters but yellowish orange, served freshly shucked with lemon juice and olive oil. If a picture is worth a thousand words then Fitzy’s face tells the story.

From Nea Marmara we headed around to the other side of the Sinthonia Peninsula to Nisos Dhiaporos before making our way south to the Eastern Sporades. First stop was Limnos, stuck out in the middle of nowhere in the northern Aegean. According to Greek mythology, the women of the island refused to serve Aphrodite who in turn afflicted the women with appallingly bad breath, causing their husbands to ignore them. The infuriated women subsequently went on a killing spree murdering all the men folk. The tale continues that Jason and the Argonauts came across an island full of frustrated women in their travels and stopped off for a couple of years to help the girls out and repopulate the island. Decent chaps! (You can’t go past the Greeks for a good yarn).

We anchored stern-to the town quay at Myrina, Limnos, a lovely small town beneath the hilltop remains of a 13th century Genoese fortress, and hired a car to drive around the island. Limnos has got everything from sandy beaches to wetlands, salt lakes, massive sand dunes and a unique architecture combining Greek, Italianate and colonial influences. Moudros Bay was the base for the ill-fated Gallipoli naval offensive and home to Winston Churchill’s headquarters. The two small military cemeteries of Commonwealth soldiers are meticulously maintained to this day. Seeing the graves of so many young Kiwi and Aussie lads was a somewhat sobering experience. We also found one of the island’s smallest churches nestled under a craggy overhang up in the hills. Great views from the top.

Continuing south we headed for Lesvos, enjoying some spirited sailing along the way. This island is home to some eleven million olive trees and the grand old mansions of the olive barons from a bygone era line parts of the shoreline on the approach into Mytilini. The Refugee Museum which tells the story of the 1922-23 post-war population exchange between Greece and Turkey is worth a visit, as is the Olive Press Museum. Next stop was Oinoussa, a very small island that punches above it weight in maritime terms. This little island is the ancestral home of some of the richest shipping barons in Greece, who became hugely wealthy in the 19th & early 20th centuries. Apparently Greek ship owners control some 70 million tonnes of shipping, about the same as the rest of the EU combined. A local told us that their Naval Academy produces “Captains, only captains. No engineers or stewards, just captains”. The small maritime museum and the shipping families’ mausoleums attest to the islands heritage.

We are currently in Chios with the first of July’s visitors, my sister Barb & Cecily, arriving tomorrow. We are looking forward to once again catching up with family and friends from home.

I’ve changed the format a little for this post. Have interspersed some of the images within the copy. Let me know if you think it works better……….or if you are reading any of it??? No comments received after the last post. Yes, I know it’s cold in Melbourne, so hopefully you’re sitting in front of a fire with a glass of red in your hand. We saw some of the images after the recent storm. Looks like Melbourne winter has set in.

We are well. Hope all is good with you and yours too.

Yassas!

Kate

If you like looking at lots of piles of really, really old stones and rocks, then Turkey is the place for you.  Ephesus is intruiging because the ruins there aren’t adjacent a cafe/bus depot/municipal building, as with so many other historic sites in Europe situated cheek by jowl to currently inhabited buildings. You can clearly see the bones of the old city which gives you a good idea of the original layout. Some of the buildings, such as the Celsus Library facade have been rebuilt, but it’s still a really impressive site. We found the latrines somewhat amusing. With capacity to seat 50 at one time, we’re told the unlucky slaves had the uneviable task of pre-heating the marble seats for their masters. (Can’t begin to imagine what the stench must have been like). Restoration work is still being undertaken, particularly in The Terraces, the well-preserved homes of wealthy Romans, and I daresay it will be for some time. It is extraordinary to think that there is still about 82% of the site yet to be excavated; that’s around 300 years of digging.

We were also pleasantly surprised by our visit to the ancient city of Hierapolis. The near intact spectacular Roman theatre built by emperors Hadrian and Septimius Severus apparently once seated over 12,000. Google Maps took us on a slightly more adventurous route to Hieraplois than planned, but that just added to the whole delight of travelling. Once we’d negotiated ourselves back off the dirt roads and goat tracks we found ourselves in a weeny village where we stopped for Turkish pide for lunch. The people here are just so friendly that it doesn’t matter that you can’t speak their language.

Adjacent to Hierapolis is the wonder of Pamukkale. The claringly bright, white travertine terraces overflow with warm, mineral-rich waters which people swim, wallow and paddle in (shoes off only). On first pass you could be forgiven for thinking you were in the snowfields (if it were not for the bikini-clad people running about). These combined sites now have UNESCO World Heritage status and are well worth the 3 hour drive from Kusadasi.

Since my earlier post we’ve spent most of our time in Greece. From Kusadasi we headed across to the island of Samos, the birthplace of Pythagoras. Pithagorion, the harbour town named in his honour is a pretty little spot. Apparently, apart from being a brilliant mathematician, Pythagoras was a bit of a boozer (or perhaps his mates were?) and he invented a drinking vessel which, when filled to the appointed level can be drunk from in the usual manner, but when it is overfilled the contents pour out the bottom into the lap of the hapless drinker. Fitzy is now the proud owner of just such a cup!

From Samos we decided to explore the northern Dodecanese before we headed  across to the Greek mainland. We visited Arki (max pop approx 40), Leros and the sweet little island of Lipsi. We generally have a loose plan of where we’d like to go, then the weather tells us if and when we’ll get there. In the case of Patmos it was not to be. We’d already had a bit of a squall at Leros and with another forecast from the sou’ east we figured we’d have to skip Patmos and head straight to Mykonos, about 70nm west.

You know you’re approaching Mykonos, the party island, when you can hear the ‘doof-doof’ music even though you’re still two miles offshore, and the AIS is telling you that the ‘Maltese Falcon’ is moored just around the next cove. If you have a lazy 385,000 euro you can charter her for a week. (I’m not kidding! Check out the website: www.symaltesefalcon.com). I can now understand why people rave about Mykonos town with it’s higgledy-piggledy narrow streets and white cubed houses piled on top of one another, all very quaint. Oh, and there’s also some serious retail there too. On the first day we had a look around town. On the second we had planned to hire a car and drive around the island, as we did in Samos and Leros, but the breeze cranked in and some boats in the marina were getting damaged, so not a good day to leave Loki unattended. The next day presented a weather window for going north, so further exploration of Mykonos will have to wait until another day.

From there we headed nor’ east up to Andros, then along the west side of Evia, the second largest Greek island after Crete. The middle of Evia almost kisses the Greek mainland and is separated from it by a gap of only 130 ft at the town of Khalkis (or Halkida – why does everything have two or more spellings in Greek?) You can motor through it, but it’s not straightforward. The channel is known for it’s fairly unique tidal phenomenon, where the water flow changes direction about every 6 hours and whips through at 3-4 knots or more. Rumour has it that in the 4th century BC Aristotle threw himself into the tidal flow, either in an attempt to try and figure it out, or in frustration at not being able to do so!

When there’s wind against tide it throws up a nasty sea that resembles a mini Port Phillip heads on a bad day. There’s an old bridge built at the narrowest part of the channel which is controlled by the Port Authority and slides back into a recess under the road. Water traffic is scheduled to minimise road traffic disruption, which usually means: paying your bridge fees to the authority, being on standby (at anchor near the bridge) by 9pm, then waiting for the radio call to go through sometime between 1-3 am. We got the call at 2 am. Went through uneventfully with 9 other yachts, but once through was astounded to be greeted in the channel by the first south-bound vessel, a 270 ft cargo ship. The AIS showing him ploughing through the narrow gap doing 10 knots. Must have big kahunas.

We are now at the top of Evia, heading for the Northern Sporades, then up to the Khalkidiki Peninsula where we are looking forward to catching up with Billy & Dora and Chris & Penny for a few days. Should be a hoot.

Yassas!

It’s coming up to about a month since we left Melbourne so I thought it was about time to update the blog.We enjoyed a couple of days in Perth catching up with our good friends Malcolm & Sally, Emily & Chris, Ben, Fi and Simon & Gabby before heading off to Istanbul via Dubai.

In Istanbul we based ourselves in Sultanahmet so were well placed to visit all the main attractions. We visited the magnificent Aya Sofya, commissioned by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian around 1500 years ago, converted from a church to a mosque and now a museum. Another interesting Byzantine construction dating from 532AD was the Basilica Cistern, which once stored 80,000 cu litres of water under the city.

Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey had a saying “open door, open mind”, so Westerners and non-believers are welcomed into the Blue Mosque (no entry fee required, unlike some other religions I can think of). It was interesting to see people going about their ablutions and prayers in a dignified way.

We also enjoyed the colour and movement of the grand bazaar and spice market, with the cimit sellers (a popular bagel-like bread carried on top of their head) and chay guys to-ing and fro-ing with trays of tea for the stall holders. The Topkapi Palace, inhabited by various sultans between the 15th and 19th centuries is a must see for anyone visiting Istanbul. You can just imagine the pashas of a bygone era lolling about on their divans in the assorted pavilions being waited upon by concubines and eunuchs. Also took the obligatory cruise along the Bosphorous and the Golden Horn – just can’t seem to stay off  the water for too long. Our visit to Istanbul also allowed us to catch up with our Turkish friends Oguz and Nihal, who we met in Gocek last year, and we enjoyed a lovely dinner in their home.

We then headed south back to Gocek, where Loki had been wintering. She’s now looking a million dollars with new anti-foul, polished topsides and cockpit combing, and new centre-hatch dodger, freshly varnished galley, companionway and nav station, and various other assorted maintenance tasks completed. We were joined in Goeck by Tim N and Alan W. Fitzy and Tim had hours of fun changing the pitch on the prop, so now we motor faster too! The newly installed flat screen monitor and VHF radio in the nav station look fantastic. We are ready for the season.

We headed off down to Wall Bay in Skopea Limani, and tied up to the small jetty at the end of the restaurant there. It’s a beautifully peaceful place that reminds me of the Whitsundays. Next morning we walked around to the next bay which has some old stone ruins that the locals refer to as Cleopatra’s Baths. They look entirely plausible as old Roman baths, but our pilot book suggests that if every beach, bay and inlet named after her had actually been visited by Cleopatra she would have needed a Lear jet to get around. Nonetheless, it’s still as pretty as I recall when we were last here with my brother Peter and sister Barbara 20 years ago, except that the rickety wooden jetty has gone.

From here we started heading west to Ciftlik, before turning the corner to go north. Our main aim is to go north early, before the meltemi (prevailing northerly wind) kicks in. We spent a few days in Yesilova Gulf, which wasn’t nearly enough time, but with bays such as “Sailors Paradise” I’m sure well be visiting there again in the future.

Hopping further along the coast we stopped at Knidos, the site of a 360BC ancient city. Because of its relatively remote location it isn’t overrun with tourists, although apparently the gulets do pile in here in the height of the season. From here we jumped up to the end of the Bodrum Peninsula to the picturesque fishing port of Gumusluk where trendy Stamboulites come for their long weekends. It’s too small for the cruise ships and coaches so all the English and Russian tourists go to Bodrum. If our plan works we’ll be back to explore the Gokova Korfezi when we head back south. We are now in Kusadasi where we’ve farewelled Alan & Tim. Off to visit Ephesus tomorrow, the most intact Roman city in Europe, which should be fun.

The only downer thus far is the horrific mining disaster that happened at Soma. Needless to say it’s still on the front page here. You might not be able to get Youtube in this country, but the press aren’t letting Erdogan off the hook. (Luckily there’s an English/Turkish paper available). It seems free speech is still alive & well in Turkey. It will be very interesting to see what unfolds over the coming weeks.

Hope all is good with you and yours. Please do drop us a line with your news, because we’d love to hear from you.

Kate