Once again, subject to the whims of the
wind, we headed out the next morning in the direction of the mainland, due
east. Hoping for some winds to carry us
there (they had already started to freshen fairly early on), we raised the main
and unfurled the genoa, and headed east across the south of Zykanthos. We managed to reach just beyond the
southeastern tip of the island before the wind petered out and we were forced
to motor the rest of the way to Katakolon on the mainland. It was a pleasant trip with flat seas and at
one point we saw something quite curious in the water – we are still unsure of
exactly what it was, but we believe it was two or three dolphins asleep on the
surface of the water. As we approached, they disappeared under water but not
before we saw one small dorsal fin amongst the large shiny bodies. We anchored in the bay just to the east of the
large port of Katakolon in sand once again and fairly shallow water.
The town of Katakolon is a rather curious
place – the main street is lined with shops selling souvenirs, copies of Greek
antiquities and jewellery. The port side
is lined with tavernas, but as the town quay is under construction (and looks
as though it has been for some time), there is corrugated metal fencing the
seating area of the tavernas so that you can only just see over the top into
the harbour. For some strange reason a
cruise ship berth was built here (and also apparently cargo berths but as it is
so shallow we wonder how on earth cargo ships enter this harbour) and several
times a week during the summer, a cruise ship turns up. The people generally come ashore as the
ancient site of Olympia is a mere 38km away, and the cruise ships organize
buses and tour guides to whisk them off for a half-day excursion. The shops cater almost exclusively to the
cruise ship passengers which we witnessed first-hand when going ashore that first
afternoon. We wandered along the main
street with shop-owners pestering us to ‘just come in and have a look’; within
minutes of the ship’s horn signaling the passengers to board, the shops were
shuttered, and even the restaurants and snack shops closed. A few tavernas along the waterfront were all
that remained open but there were few customers to fill them.
Being so close to Olympia, we had to have a
look – there are a number of modes of transportation which one can use from
Katakolon, including a local bus (via Pyrgos), a local train (also via Pyrgos)
and renting a car or scooter. Apparently
the train only goes when a cruise ship comes in (!), the bus was going to take
about 90 minutes and Tad is not licenced to ride a scooter/motorcycle, so
renting a car was pretty much our only option. We debated about whether to bring Bisou into
the harbour which, while fairly large, was a little disorganised. We had chatted with a British yacht owner in
the afternoon who said that the ‘marina’/harbour had recently been bought by
Turkish owners and was being managed by a local Greek man who spoke no
English. Cruisers were to hail him on
VHF 12 and he would come in on his moped and assist with mooring – no mention
of cost was given. Having a look at the
weather forecast and encouraged by friends who had done the same, we decided to
leave Bisou at anchor while we visited Olympia.
We planned to be back on board before the usual afternoon winds picked
up (about 3pm) and we were comfortable with how well we were anchored. We had also been advised to make an early
start as Olympia sits in a valley between several hills and although it is
pleasantly wooded, it gets quite hot by late morning. So, we set off at about 8:30am and arrived
about 40 minutes later. We had been
given excellent directions by our rental car agent and there are plenty of
signs along the road as well.
The ancient site is rather large and
although there are placards situated around the remains and we had our Lonely
Planet guide, I feel we would have gained a great deal by either joining a tour
group or hiring a guide for the visit (the recommended price of a guide here
for 3 hrs is EUR 120!!! Quite a change from Albania!). We did enjoy our 2 hour wander around the
site, however, and marveled at the ability of ancient Greeks to create a
magnificent tribute to their gods and their athletes. The on-site museum was also a treat,
containing artefacts as well as models of the buildings so that one could get a
good idea of what the place would have looked like at its apex. Amazingly, Olympia was a sacred site long
before the first Olympic Games were held here in 776BC, and the games continued
for almost 700 years before being banned by a newly-Christian Roman Emperor who
also trashed the buildings and removed all valuable statues and treasures. It seems that this religious ‘trashing’ has
been going on since ancient times and is nothing new!
The ancient site of Olympia
The archway through which the original Olympic athletes entered the stadium
The stadium of Olympia
One of the beautifully crafted votive offerings
Exquisite statue of Hermes of Praxiles and the infant Dionysos
We stopped at a supermarket in Pyrgos on
our way back to the boat, purchasing a few items including some fresh fruit and
veggies; we also paid a visit to the local bakery. In an interesting coincidence, I accidentally
gave the lady behind the counter a 10 Lek piece instead of a 10 Euro cent piece
(they look almost identical in size and colour); she asked me if I had been to
Albania as she and her husband were Albanian.
We enthused about our visit and told them all the places we had seen and
she excitedly told us they were from Elbasan.
As we left, I said ‘thank you’ in Albanian and they were quite chuffed.
After dropping the car off at the rental
agency we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and made the decision to
stay another day in Katakolon just because we could. It ended up being a clean up day - we made water with the water-maker and
hosed off Bisou, the first time we had done so since leaving Orikum Marina in
Albania several weeks before. One of the
beauties of having a watermaker on board as well as solar power means that we
can make a tankful of water, use it to wash down the boat or do laundry or have
showers and then make more the next day!
Of course this does assume sunny days, but we have had no lack of those.
Our next stop was 30 nm south, in a small
town called Kiparissia – here we found a large harbour which was pretty well
deserted. There were extensive quays on
which we could tie up and no one ever came to ask for money. There was a lovely little beach a short walk
from where we tied up the boat, and aside from the local people who came to
fish every night (right beside us!) we were not bothered at all. The afternoon we arrived, we walked up to the
Old Town and the castle on the hill – it was a fair way but we were rewarded
with beautiful views up and down the coast as well as over the harbour. It happened that the town had organized an
international folk festival that evening, and as we walked back into the town
square there was a parade of locally-costumed people from rural Greece,
Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and Turkey. We
found a restaurant that served pizza (we hadn’t had one for some time) and sat
and watched the dancers and listened to the musicians - it also was a full moon so quite a magical
evening.
Full moon rise
View over the old town of Kiparissia from the castle
Looking down over the harbour from Kiparissia castle
One of the old stone houses restored and brightly painted
Cute door decorations!
The next morning we were woken by a strong
easterly wind which continued to rise over the next few hours. Due to the direction that we were tied to the
quay, Bisou was being blown onto the wharf and we had some very strong gusts to
over 40 knots. It was completely
unpredicted and not very pleasant, but our fenders held (I was worried that
they would pop with the pressure of the boat squeezing them against the
concrete) and eventually the direction shifted back to the northwest later in
the afternoon. The whole side of Bisou
was once again a mess of salt crystals when we had just given her a bath a
couple of days previously! Once the wind
died down, we decided to anchor in the harbour for our final night as we wanted
to be able to leave fairly early in the morning and were concerned that we
would be trapped by unpredicted easterlies again! Our only difficulty the following morning as
we prepared to leave was that our anchor chain seemed to be caught on something
on the bottom – fortunately we were able to manoeuver ourselves out of the
situation after a short while. We had
visions of having to get a diver to unhook us from whatever had caught us! Ever onward, we headed southwards again to
our next stop, Pylos.
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