The Eastern Peloponnese PART 2

Continuing our journey southward the next day, we motored (no wind!) around the volcanic peninsula of Methana towards the island of Poros.  Passing Poros we decided to anchor nearby, just south of the island near a small beach as it was supposed to be protected (according to the pilot guide).  We had a bite to eat on board and a swim but didn’t think it would offer the protection from the north wind that we were supposed to get overnight and so continued south to a lovely little nook just around the southeastern corner of the Peloponnese – the islet is called Nisis Soupia and we were amazed to find several yachts already there.  We were able to anchor in fairly shallow water and by sunset we were left alone with one other yacht.  We watched as an incredible number of large (very expensive) motor yachts raced past, either on their way to Poros or back to Athens (not that far if you can travel at 15-20 knots which most of them could).  We were thrilled with both a spectacular full moon rise that night and a beautiful sunrise the next morning.

Moonrise

Sunrise

We had planned to carry on down towards Hydra, and Ermioni the next day, but looking at the weather made us choose to go back towards Poros and a large bay just northwest of the island to seek shelter.  Our original plan was to make our way to Marina Zea in Piraeus, Athens for 5 days while I flew to Switzerland to be with my Mum for her 80^th birthday. Tad would stay on Bisou at the marina while I was away and when I returned we would continue our travels through the Cyclades.  One thing I have learned since starting to cruise – nothing ever goes to plan and one needs to be flexible above all!  In looking at the weather forecast it was going to hard going to get up to Athens as the winds were predicted to be north to northwesterly and fairly strong.  Once we found the delightful little cove in which we ended up staying,  at Ormos Vidhi, Tad decided that he would rather stay there than being in a marina in hot and stinky Piraeus, and that I would take the ferry from Poros to Piraeus, the bus from Piraeus to Athens airport and then fly to Switzerland.  Of course this necessitated changing my flights, as I had to allow more time to get to the airport.  Amazingly everything was able to be changed, ferry tickets were booked online and collected at the ticket office in Poros and I was all set to leave.

Poros town

In the meantime we had met a lovely Australia couple from Melbourne, Debbie and Lachlan on “Mistral”, as well as a delightful British couple Andy and Steph on “Norna Biron”.  Both live-aboards (the latter for 8 years now, while the former have just started), they were gracious enough to invite us on each of their boats over consecutive nights and we reciprocated before I left Tad on his own.  I must admit to being rather concerned about his being alone on Bisou at anchor should bad weather come through, but the anchor was well set, we were in shallow water, the cove was well protected and Poros was only a couple of kilometers away by dinghy or boat should the need arise.

The Flying Cat 6 from Poros to Piraeus

Inside the Flying Cat 6

The day of my departure for Switzerland I was up early and ready for the dinghy ride to Poros (it took about 15 minutes and naturally I had all kinds of fears of engines seizing up, dinghy punctures, etc.). It went smoothly and we were at the ferry wharf more than an hour before the arrival of the ferry.  We had a tea at the one café that was open at that hour and before I knew it, it was time to board the Flying Cat 6 to Piraeus.  The ferry, a huge catamaran was clean and comfortable with a 75 minute ‘flight’ (the seats were like airplane seats) to Piraeus where I found the X96 bus to the airport.  This was a bit of a ‘milk run’ although we didn’t stop much as it was 9:30am on a Sunday so not much traffic.  Even so, the trip took an hour and 20 minutes but I was at the airport in plenty of time for my flight.  The flight was just over two hours and a half and then I had to rush to get my bag, get some Swiss francs and purchase a train ticket to my final destination of Sierre.  Another hour and a half and I had to race to get a taxi to take me to the cable car up to the village where my parents spend half their year (normally there is a bus but I had just missed the last bus unfortunately).  I had let my parents know when I was arriving and two of my brothers as well as my Dad were at the cable car to meet me.  Dad took my luggage in the car and I walked up to the chalet with my two brothers.

In case I have not mentioned it before, I have five brothers living around the world.  Last year I had contacted them all with a view to gathering in Switzerland for our mother’s 80^th birthday.  Initially my Mum and Dad had planned to join us on Bisou for her big day, but one of my brothers announced that he was planning to climb Mont Blanc in June this year and would be finishing up just before Mum’s birthday (only a two hour train ride away). So plans changed, and four of the six children were able to make it to Switzerland for the big day. Two of my brothers were a huge surprise for Mum (she knew I was coming and that Jonathan, the climbing brother was coming) and they were the first to arrive in their tiny village of Vercorin in the Valais region of Switzerland.  We all had a wonderful time with long hikes, bathing in icy mountain streams, lots of yummy food and of course a big celebration on our mother’s big day.

The lovely Swiss village where my parents spend half their year

The trip only lasted three days before I was making the return journey (cable car, bus, train, plane, taxi, ferry, dinghy) to Poros where Tad was on the wharf to meet me.  I was so glad that he had stayed safe and he was pleased that he had been able to remain in our lovely little cove.

Down the Eastern Peloponnese

The weather decided to be pleasant for the foreseeable future with light breezes forecast, so we headed south along the eastern side of the Peloponnese to the little village of Korfos.  We found a good spot to anchor in the bay and of course jumped in for a swim.  Every village has an idiot and this one was no exception – this time the idiot was a young man who owned a gold-painted small car (no idea what make or model and don’t care) and who played his car stereo so loudly that it echoed around the bay. Now to put things in perspective, we were anchored about 50m offshore from the road around the bay and his stereo was so loud it literally hurt our ears.  Goodness only knows what it was doing to his ears inside the car!  This village idiot spent the afternoon and part of the evening driving back and forth around the bay (through the village, when he would turn down the volume for the 30 seconds it took to drive past the tavernas and shops) with the volume turned up full blast.  Really?  He was either the mayor’s son or the locals were so used to it that they didn’t care any more to stop him.  For a sleepy little village we were surprised that they allowed that sort of behaviour.  We enjoyed a walk later on in the evening as well as a gyros and a beer for dinner.

The lovely little town of Korfos

Moving south again the next day, we entered the harbour of Palaia Epidavros and looked around for somewhere to anchor.  Again, the age of our pilot guide and the Raymarine charts showed a nice beach with sloping bottom – perfect for anchoring.  The only problem was that the local authorities had decided to put a series of swimming buoys out across the bay at some distance from the beach so that the shallowest area for anchoring was at least 15 metres.  We prefer to anchor in shallower water so we cruised around a little to try and find another spot and in the end gave in and went stern-to on the town quay.  Normally we don’t do this but as we wanted to visit the ancient site of Epidavros that day we felt it was safer to leave the boat tied to a wharf than at anchor (even though no strong winds were forecast). We squeezed in between a local fishing boat and a charter yacht and were safely tied up by 10am.  We then went in search of a taxi to take us to Epidavros and found a delightful lady who agreed to take us there (about 20 minutes) wait for an hour or so and bring us back for a very reasonable (we thought) price.  It was already later in the day than we normally head to these ancient sites for two reasons: the heat and the crowds.  It was a Sunday and so we thought there would be a great deal more visitors but we were pleasantly surprised – there were other tour buses but most simply visit the amphitheatre and then leave. We wanted to see the whole site.

The amphitheatre at Epidavros

The amphitheatre is the focal point of Epidavros as it is one of the best-preserved in the world and is still used today for performances. Seating 14,000 people, the acoustics are remarkable as demonstrated for us all by one of the tour leaders who stood in the centre of the stage (while the rest of the visitors were scattered around the seats – we were at the top) and clapped, tore a piece of paper and snapped his fingers.  All of which were clearly audible up to the top row of seats! It’s hard to believe that 14,000 people could have gathered in this fairly remote area in ancient times, but the adjoining archaeological site was an important destination for many people in ancient times as it was supposedly the birthplace of the healer Aesclepius.  The area consisted of a large dormitory to house the people who came to be healed, several fountains, temples and the sanctuary where the healing occurred, among other numerous buildings.  The healing method was simple – the person looking to be healed of their illness or condition would first cleanse themselves at a special fountain and baths and then proceed to the sanctuary where they would read the testimonials of previously healed people (auto-suggestion); they would then be led to an area where they would fall asleep and dream their cure through the intervention of Aesclepius.  Of course there would also be therapists to dispense dietary information, herbs, massage and other treatments to aid whatever ailed people.  In the small museum on site there are stone tablets with recorded information of gratitude from successfully treated patients, including one man who was cured of deafness and another of indigestion.  Our 90 minutes passed all too quickly (and it was also very hot), so we made our way back to the entrance with a freshly squeezed orange juice from one of the beverage vendors to meet our taxi driver.

Statue of Asclepius the healer

A votive of thanks for curing deafness

Translation of someone's treatment for indigestion

As an aside – we have noticed that, so far, at Greek sites of antiquity (namely, Delphi and Epidavros) the profusion of slushy machines.  For those of you unfamiliar with ‘slushies’ they are a drink made from crushed ice similar to a frozen margarita but usually non-alcoholic, with flavours such as lemon-lime or orange.  Here in Greece, they charge a ridiculous price (captive audience with the heat) of EUR 4 for a medium-sized cup of slushy in the most amazing flavor variety I have ever seen.  Coke, kiwi fruit, watermelon, lemon, lime , orange, peach, mango, to name a few. They also have alcoholic slushies although why you would want one of those in the heat of the day is beyond me!

On the taxi ride to and from the port of Epidavros to the ancient site we noticed large orange groves with a profusion of fruit on the trees.  I had always thought that oranges and lemons were a winter fruit but clearly in this part of the world they ripen in summer.  We bought a few oranges and put them in the fridge for a refreshing snack on hot days.

Once back at the boat we had a light lunch and then walked over to the nearby beach where we spent the afternoon swimming and reading our Kindles.  That evening we enjoyed a delicious meal of mussels saganaki (mussels in crushed tomatoes with feta cheese) and deep fried kalamari (squid) with a Greek salad and an icy beer.  Heaven!

Into the Saronic Sea

We woke early for our 20nm trip to the Corinth Canal – we wanted to get there as early as possible to avoid congestion as well as to avoid the afternoon winds which can pick up and blow you either through the Canal or against you.  As it was, we had a fairly smooth motor that morning and arrived at the entrance to the canal by about 11:30am, together with a large motor yacht and a Romanian Coast Guard vessel.  Because the Romanian Coast Guard vessel was required to  complete some paperwork, we had to wait for the pilot boat to come through from the other side, and the paperwork to be completed before we could go through so it was 1pm before we began our journey.  By this time, of course, the wind had picked up so that we had a good 15 knots on our nose going through the canal.  As you arrive at either entrance, you are required to notify (by VHF radio) the Canal authorities of your desire to transit the Canal.  They will queue you up (according to their method) and you follow the boat in front as quickly as you can.  Payment is made at the eastern end of the Canal either before you transit (if coming from the east) or after you transit (if coming from the west) and it’s not cheap!  Apparently the Corinth Canal is the most expensive (dollar per metre) transit point in the world.  Not surprisingly, it is closed one day a week (Tuesdays) from 6am to 6pm for repairs, and as we motored along we could see why.  The cliffs are crumbling, the walls at the base are eroding and it’s pretty narrow.  It must be a real nail-biter for boats any wider than ours (and there were several cargo ships considerably larger than our boat).  We were last in the queue for our crossing and the radio authority kept telling us to hurry up as there were boats waiting to come through on the other side.  We didn’t take it personally as he did the same thing for the last boat coming the other way as we were waiting.  It was an awesome experience and Tad guided Bisou safely to the other side where we had a bit of a scramble to get a place alongside the wharf to pay our transit fee.  By this time it was afternoon and we needed to find a place to anchor for the night – we had anticipated a northwesterly (prevailing wind) but the wind was blowing from the southeast and so we headed south to look for somewhere safe and calm.

The rail and road bridges of the Corinth Canal

The sheer cliff sides of the canal

Bison negotiating the last bit of the canal

As I have stated previously, we rely heavily on both our electronic charts (Raymarine) as well as the pilot guides (like travel guides but for cruisers) for information regarding anchorages.  Unfortunately the pilot guides are rarely up to date (ours is 3 years old) and so much can change in a short time.  The bay we chose to anchor in was much too deep for us (the chart showed sand and shallower close to shore) but luckily there were large moorings which did not seem to be used.  There were some fishing boats and another ferry/barge type of vessel moored nearby; the bay was very protected and we figured that we would be pretty safe on the large mooring with little or no wind, as long as some boat didn’t come along and want it back!

Our mooring among the fishing boats

A lovely sunset to end the day

There was a nice pebble beach ashore with some local young men camping, as well as a bunch of parked cars. Later in the day we discovered that the cars belonged to fish farm workers that came ashore on one of the barge-type boats that are used to carry the feed out to the fish.  They proceeded to moor on another couple of moorings (not ours) so we were secure for the night.  We celebrated by having a sunset cruise around the bay in our dinghy with a glass each of our favourite ‘apero’ Amarula (from Africa).  It was a lovely calm evening and night and we slept well after a long day.

The Gulf of Corinth

The large body of water that separates northern or mainland Greece from the southern part (Peloponnese) is comprised of two gulfs – Gulf of Patras which is westerly and empties into the Ionian Sea, and the Gulf of Corinth which terminates at the Corinth Canal at the eastern end.  There is a narrow strait which separates the two Gulfs, and this is the location of the Rion-Andiron bridge.  Interestingly, due to the land formations around these two gulfs, the weather can be remarkably different from east to west and even within each gulf itself, as we were to find out the next day.

Galaxidhi from our anchorage

The stadium at Delphi

The view from Delphi looking down onto Itea and the harbour

The view from Delphi overlooking the mountains and the valleys

The amphitheatre at Delphi

Dining by the sea at Itea

We woke early after a good night’s sleep and seeing a favourable forecast, continued our way eastwards towards Itea, our intended stop for the next two nights.  We had looked at going into Galaxidhi, a much smaller town, but wanted to rent a car to drive to Delphi (a remarkable historic site) and this is only possible in Itea.  As we set out, the wind picked up from the west and so we were able to hoist the mainsail almost straight away, which is unusual for that time of the morning.  Using only the main, we sped along with the wind continuing to build – we had not heard the radio weather forecast that morning (for some reason we had no reception in the Gulf of Corinth for any of the Olympia Radio weather transmissions) but had looked on our usual weather apps and it seemed like we were due for some Beaufort 4-5 with possible 6 later.  By the time we rounded the cape to enter the large bay where both Galaxidhi and Itea are situated, the wind was blowing 30 knots consistently with stronger gusts and the seas were picking up as well.  As the wind was blowing from the west-northwest, and Itea is situated on the west side of the bay we soon realised that there was no way we would be able to safely get into the harbour and tie up.  Galaxidhi is on the western side of the bay and so we chose to go into a bay nearby and anchor in about 3 metres of water.  The wind continued to pound all day and most of the night with gusts reaching 50 knots!  Luckily our trusty Rocna anchor held fast, and although Bisou danced around in the wind, we stayed put.  It was much to windy to go ashore and since we didn’t have any reason to go (other than to have a look around) we stayed on Bisou and passed the time reading and cleaning up.  We are still not sure why we experienced such high winds where we were (we later found out that other boats in the area also experienced strong winds but less than 40 knots and mostly about 30-35knots), but it could possibly have been a katabatic phenomenon, although there was no mention of this possibility in the pilot guide.

The next morning was like a brand new day – it dawned clear, calm and the temperature was rising fast.  I hadn’t mentioned it earlier, but while the weather had been lovely up until now (mostly sunny but with more clouds and potential rain/thunderstorms than we had experienced this time last year), it had not been terribly warm.  Daytime temperatures of about 25-28C and nighttime temperatures down to 16-18C were the norm and I was still sleeping with a blanket AND doona!  I know, I’m the world’s biggest wuss when it comes to being cold!  Suddenly this was to change – not the wuss part, the temperature part – and it happened so suddenly, that everyone in Greece was taken by surprise (both cruisers and locals).

We motored across to Itea (about an hour) and tied up in their ‘marina’ (another beautiful concrete construction but with no facilities, and consequently no cost!) with the help of Anya, and lovely Dutch lady on “Giggles” a yacht behind us.  At 8am the temperature was already up to 30C and we were in for a hot day – I took a quick walk into town to find out about a car rental and discovered that we could hire a taxi to drive us up to Delphi, wait, and bring us back for Euro 70.  This seemed like rather a good deal so I headed back to the boat and came across a Canadian-flagged yacht with two guys on board, that had just tied up.  We chatted for a bit and found out that they were interested in heading to Delphi as well and so agreed to share the taxi fare.  We prepared ourselves quickly as we wanted to get up and see the site before it got too hot.

Our taxi driver was Spiros (of course) and, like many Greek drivers, wanted to show us how fast he could go.  The road to Delphi from Itea is a good one – wide, well-paved and with a few sharp turns but not many. The way out of Itea is lined with olive groves (3 million trees according to Spiros) and then you head up the mountain and look back over the trees and the sea –quite stunning.  Delphi is not far (there is a bus but it seems irregular so we opted for the taxi), about 22km and we arrived at the site within about 15 minutes.  Ticket booths are located both at the museum and the archaeological site (the ticket price of EUR 12 per person covers both the site and the museum), and it’s best to get there early for both crowds and temperature.  We reached the site by 10am and there were already a couple of bus loads of tourists, but the site is well spread out so that we never felt crowded. 

Delphi is located in the cleft of a mountain and has a spectacular view over a valley.  You cannot quite see the sea from here but the beautiful pine forests and the craggy cliffs above give the place a mystical feel and this is no doubt why the ancients decreed this to be the ‘navel’ of the world.  Of course Delphi is most renowned for the oracle, a woman who chewed laurel leaves, fell into a trance and muttered gibberish for the priests to interpret, thus answering ‘important’ questions posed by everyone from rulers to noble families (the common person would not have had the money to pay for a ‘reading’).  The site itself is on a fairly steep hill and although the paths are nicely paved with marble (leftover pieces of the buildings?), I imagine they would be very slippery if wet; in addition, the climb to the top and from there to visit the stadium (well worth it, by the way) gets the heart pumping.  It’s not for the disabled or anyone who cannot walk unaided.  There’s not much shade either, until you get up towards the stadium so bring a hat and LOTS of water to drink – fortunately the authorities who set up the site for visitors thought to put toilet facilities both at the archaeological site as well as near the museum.

The amphitheatre is quite spectacular as is the Temple of Apollo (where the oracle did her ‘thing’) and we used my Kindle version of the Lonely Planet Guide to Greece for a guide – not comprehensive but at least covered the basics.  Of course visiting these places with a tour group and a ‘proper’ guide is another way to get more information but we enjoy the liberty of independence.

The museum is very well laid out and well-labelled; of course many of the finds from the site are now in the museum in Athens but there is still a good collection at Delphi.  The area was also home to an ancient gymnasium as well as local deity worship and therefore a pilgrimage destination in ancient times so must have been quite a thriving town.  The stadium held the Pythian Games every 4 years and is quite stunning, laid out in the only flat part of the whole area.

Our taxi driver kindly stopped at a lovely lookout on the way back to Itea in order for us to snap some great views down to the harbour.  He also gave us a great tip for dinner – a restaurant at which he used to work before becoming a taxi driver – with tables set on the beach! 

Tad took the opportunity for a nice siesta in the afternoon (it reached 33C) while I found a nearby beach and went for a swim and a lie on the hot stones.