Month: September 2024 (Page 2 of 2)

Safely back in Argostoli, we could wait for the right weather window to leave for Malta. It’s 320 nautical miles as the crow flies, but with the winds forecasted, we would need to head southwest first (riding northwest winds), and then northwest when we reached the southwesterly winds. And we would be dodging potential weather as we went. Probably a 3 to 4 day passage.

Along with reasonable winds, we were also looking to avoid storms. We wound up waiting in Argostoli a whole week trying to find the right window. Daily bursts of lightning storms moved through in that period, making us happy we had stayed put. We spent hours looking at the weather apps, and chatting with others who were looking to make the same passage. We ate gelato and sipped cocktails to cope with waiting……

After a day or so of enjoying our last bit of time in Spartia, swimming in crystal clear waters, having a watermelon mojito, and dining again at our favorite restaurant, we rounded the bend to Argostoli to make final preparations for our longest sail of the season to Malta. As both forecasts and the weather itself changes frequently this time of year, we wound up spending well over a week waiting for our weather window. We didn’t exactly suffer while waiting.

The end of August still brings festivals to Greece, and we happened to be in town one night when a local dance and music troupe came through. I confess I can’t remember which saint they were honoring, but it was wonderful to watch them parade through the streets and stop to perform.

We were still running into friends from Porto Montenegro even at the end of the season. Tim and Heidi on Calaine came through on their way south, and Holger and Karin of s/v RiverCafe were in town for appointments in between their busy season on the boat.

We watched the weather every day and waited. And waited. We connected with another OCC boat, s/v Waya Waya, and tentatively made plans to cross at the same time (us from Argostoli, them from Pylos). There were several days of pretty violent thunderstorms each night which made us glad we were still waiting.

Always looking for something to do, Trip went on a modern day archeological dig, and turned up…….a mountain bike. It had fallen into the water, most likely knocked over by strong winds one night during the storms. Today’s good deed.

Days later and we were done with water, fuel and provisioning, and had kind of exhausted exploring Argostoli. So we rented a car and went off to explore for a day. Our first stop was the Cyclopean walls of ancient Krani

Each block in the wall is so massive, it was thought that only a giant (ie. the Cyclops) would be capable of building such a thing. There’s over 2 kilometers of these walls, and it’s estimated that they date back to the 7th century BC, protecting the city of Krani that was the center of southern Kefalonia. There’s not much left of the town itself, but you can wander the walls and admire the ability to build such a thing.

After Krani, we drove to the other side of the island to Sami. On our way into town, we stopped at the Nautical Museum of Sami. Sotiris Marketos has been building ship models for decades, and has built himself a museum to show the different types of boats that have sailed the waters of Greece from ancient to modern times.

Each model takes him anywhere from 6 to 18 months to build. He takes great pride in each model, and we were lucky to have him as a personal tour guide.

After the museum tour, we drove through Sami and up into the hills, where we stopped at the Agrillia Monastary. The views of the water between Kefalonia and Ithaca were beautiful – you could picture scenes from the Odyssey playing out easily.

Lunch by the water was lovely as usual, and then we walked back into town to visit the Archeological Collection of Sami. The town has been continuously inhabited since the early Bronze Age (2600 BC) and they have artifacts from each period to illustrate it. Of course I loved seeing yet another bathtub, even if it wasn’t as well preserved as the one in Pylos.

The decorative pieces at the museum particularly caught our eye. Despite the earthquakes that had rocked the island, mosaics were still pretty much intact, and in a lot of cases shattered pieces were able to be reconstructed.

Despite everything we had already seen that day, we pressed on to take advantage of the car at our disposal. We drove down to see the Saint Gerasimos Monastery. The grounds are lovely, the church is massive, and we were lucky enough to arrive when the original church was opening again to view the reliquary (holds the remains of the saint himself).

We then traced our way back up the hills to a spot that a shopkeeper had told us not to miss. Valsamata is one of the many villages that was evacuated after the earthquake in the 1950’s.

You can see how well made these buildings were, but you can also see how quickly nature moves to reclaim the space once abandoned.

No one else was there at the time and we had the entire place to ourselves, looking through ruins and imagining what once might have been.

We still had a little bit of time left before returning the car, so we drove back toward Argostoli, but kept to the sea side. We stopped at Gradaki Beach, snagged a couple of chairs, and enjoyed the sunset with a couple of drinks and hot dogs for dinner. A perfect way to end a full day.

Just when you’ve gotten used to the steady winds and incessant heat of the Med, the end of summer is upon you. Rather like summer for us on the east coast of the US who would start bracing for hurricanes, the Med gets weird this time of year.

The heat of the water (unprecedented temperatures this year) combined with the fronts blowing through can create some seriously dangerous storms. We had two days of southerly winds and decided to run north to Argostoli. Those days would also bring very unsettled weather. The run from Methoni back to Katakolon was quite good. Our only excitement was watching a neighboring catamaran blow his spinnaker as they weren’t paying attention to the growing winds (we simply left our main and jib up, reefing when needed). But the morning we were to leave Katakolon, the weather looked messy. I thought the front was going to pass us, so we decided to leave the anchorage and motor. Unfortunately the storm changed track and headed for us. That, combined with the white caps we could see in the distance, and the wobbly lightning rod at the top of our mast had us turn around in a hurry. Once back at anchor, we waited for the front to pass, Trip went up the mast to address the lightning rod as well as a wind transducer problem, and then we were off again.

We were conscious of lots of storms in the area, but the worst of the lightning was past us (little did we know there had been a water spout in our path the day before). We were hard on it, close hauled, and reefed for most of the day, but we made it safely to southern Kefalonia in the wee hours of the morning after a good soaking by a rain squall.

Another day, another Greek fortress, or so it seems. We had reached Methoni, our final new destination in Greece. It’s been a great summer, but we need to head off to Malta soon, and the prevailing winds from the west/northwest make leaving from further north a better option. Plus, we need to get our passports stamped out, and we know Argostoli can do it, we’re not sure about other locations in the Peloponnese.

Methoni looks like one giant fortress with a little village appended to it as you sail in. You anchor in the bay right under the fortress, it’s absolutely gorgeous. This was one of the staging posts for the route of commercial shipping, along with pilgrims heading off to the Holy Land.

There’s not much to town, it truly is a place where locals come to holiday. The restaurants were your basic Greek tavernas, but the weekend crowd was infectious and we found ourselves hanging out at a couple of different bars, enjoying the local scene.

The fortress is simply massive. Occupying nearly 10 hectares, the site was fully developed under Venetian rule, and of course later occupied by the Ottomans.

When you enter the site, you cross over a bridge supported by fourteen arches. You then come into what was once the enclosed village. Unfortunately many buildings inside the settlement were destroyed by the French in the 1800’s, when they built a village outside of the fortress, but couldn’t get anyone to move.

At the southern end stands the Sea Gate, which opens up to a stone bridge (no railings!) that leads to the Bourtzi, an isolated small fortress, where the locals were slaughtered by the Turks in 1500.

There’s a lot to Greek history, and it’s rather hard to keep track of in the Pylos area, because it involves so many eras. Nestor’s Palace is on the outskirts of the city, Nestor’s Cave is on the northern side of the bay along with the Paleo Kastro (old castle), as compared to the Nio Kastro (new castle) on the southern side near the entrance to the town of Pylos. We were on a mission to visit all of them (and to try to keep them straight).

The NioKastro was built in 1573 when the Ottomans occupied the Peloponnese, as a means of controlling the east-west commercial sea route. The castle and the area came under Venetian rule in the 1600’s and was later liberated by the Greeks in the 1800’s.

The fortress is surrounded by a huge wall, slowly crumbling away. Inside the wall at the summit is a smaller hexagonal fortress, allowing for the defense of Navarinou Bay with the help of 60+ cannons. Elsewhere on the property are buildings (ie. former barracks) that have been turned into museums.

The other building within the walls that is still in remarkable condition is the church of the Transfiguration of Christ the Savior. Originally built as an Ottoman mosque (still clearly evident in the building style), but later converted to a Catholic church under Venetian rule.

After a couple of days in town, we motored up to the north end of the bay where there was nothing more than sandy beach, clear water, and a chance to relax. Despite the heat, we were committed to the hike/climb up to Nestor’s Cave and the PalioKastro (old castle).

Nestor’s Cave is a real cave, but is rooted in mythology. It is here that Hermes, as a baby, stole 50 cattle from Apollo and hid them in this cave. We hiked along the back side of the marsh in the shade, then climbed the dunes until we made it to the cave. The cave is absolutely huge, and could easily fit hundreds of cattle, though it’s location makes it far more likely for keeping goats.

From the cave, it’s a short climb (courtesy of steel cables driven into the rocks) up to the old castle. Over 200 meters up from the shore, the castle was built by the Franks in the 13th century, and of course later used by the Venetians and the Turks.

The castle was eventually abandoned, with the building of the new castle at the southern end of the bay, and is in absolute ruin. However, climbing over the ramparts and exploring the ruins is a fabulous way to spend the day, and the views of the sea, as well as Voidokilia Beach are absolutely breathtaking.

Not a bad place to enjoy a beer and a sunset either.

Nestor’s Palace is one of those places featured both in history and in fiction. It’s considered one of the best preserved Mycenaean sites from 1300 BC, as well as featured in Homer’s “The Odyssey”.

The site was discovered in the early 20th century, and slowly uncovered over the decades. Unlike other Greek ruins that one can wander through freely, a roof was built over these ruins along with an elevated walkway. The disadvantage is that you cannot get up close, but the ruins remain in exquisite condition for more people to visit.

A fire destroyed the palace, but managed to preserve enough to tell us about life at that time in Greece. Clay jugs used for wine and olive oil can easily still be seen. A bathtub is perfectly preserved. Also found at the site were tablets called Linear B, one of the first known written scripts for mankind. (Unfortunately, the tablets and other artifacts are at a nearby museum which is closed for renovation currently.)

We spent the morning walking around the site, imagining what life would have been like thousands of years ago, and even picturing Ulysses enjoying Nestor’s hospitality.

No one warned us how much we would love Pylos. A natural hurricane hole (not that we needed one) that could fit hundreds of boats, the harbor is miles wide with lots to explore. We anchored near town the first couple of days, as we needed to clear in, do laundry, get provisions, and see town.

Pylos is somewhere between a village and a town. Mostly local Greeks and French summer here, but it’s not overwhelmed by crowds. Clearing in was easy enough, and both gas and provisions were an easy walk from the dinghy. If I had one complaint it was that there were no self serve laundry shops and it was an expensive place to have your washing done.

The Mares chandlery turned out to be our favorite shop, partly because it was such a well stocked store, partly because the owner (Fotis) greeted us with an orange drink, and partly because Fotis sent us off with a bottle of local olive oil with our purchases!

We loved watching the local kids head out in their optis for Wednesday night ‘racing’ (hard to do with the little wind they had).

We had some of the best pork gyros yet at one of the cafes in the main square, but the real treat was the wine restaurant where we managed to score a reservation. Overlooking the harbor, the food was some of the best we had in Greece so far.

We decided to split our run to Pylos over two days (we’ve got fewer daylight hours these days). The harbor of Kyparissia added on a few miles, but it was a good halfway point that came recommended by other cruising friends. With moderate winds I had a great sail down. I say ‘I’ because a belt snapped as we were motoring out of the harbor, and Trip was down below replacing the belt and tightening bolts while I was at the wheel enjoying the wind.

There’s not a whole lot to Kyparissia, but it was a quiet little harbor where we could anchor inside, see a couple of turtles, and have dinner overlooking the harbor. Then it was bedtime, as we had another full day of sailing ahead of us.