Kos

The weather did turn nasty and as we were leaving the harbour of Knidos it started raining.  It rained for the entire 17 nm passage to Kos.  We were soaked to the skin despite having on wet weather gear.  At least the wind was behind us and at a good speed most of the way to Kos.  It would have been a great sail except for the rain.

We anchored at the base of the medieval Nerantzia Castle, sharing the anchorage with Three Sheets.  During the night ferries came and went and the anchorage was a bit of a rolly but after the wet sail we still slept soundly.

View from our anchorage - clock tower and castle walls

Three Sheets and Songster

Songster with the castle walls in the background

Kos is the third largest island in the Dodecanese group after Rhodes and Karpathos.  Kos is the birthplace of Hippocrates and renowned for its Asclepeion, or healing temple.  We were looking forward to spending a few days exploring this island.

The next day was bright and sunny.  We arranged to meet up with Three Sheets for a ‘goodbye for now’ lunch as they were moving on to the next island.

Lunch with Reg and Phoebe

After our goodbyes we explored Kos Town, did some shopping to resupply the pantry and then back to Songster to watch the sun set over the castle.

Statue to Hippocrates - note the Maltese cross and caduceus

Love these pebble mosaics

Hippocrates Plane Tree - supposedly a direct decedent of the one that Hippocrates stood under while teaching his students - Well a good story anyway.

Sunset over the castle walls

After two nights in the anchorage we decided to move into the town harbour as the winds were predicted to get a bit stronger.  We got up early while it was still calm and motored around the corner to the harbour were Christos, the harbour master, caught our lines making the dreaded Med mooring easy.

Kos Town Harbour

One day we hired a scooter to explore the island.  Just a few km from Kos Town is the Hippocrates museum and Asclepeion.   

A rather spooky sculpture of Hippocrates near the Asclepeioon

Ruins are dotted all over the island.  Here you can see examples of ancient Greek, modern Greek, Ottoman and Venetian architecture.

The museum was closed so we moved on to the centre of the island to the delightful mountain village of Zia.  It has wonderful outlook and is known for its amazing sunset views.  We were there at 11 am for a cuppa and considered coming back at sunset (which is after 8pm here) but ran out of energy – next time.  

Views from Zia

Zia Taverna

We made our way to Antimachia via Pyli and the main road.  There was a Venetian fortress here that we wanted to see.  It took a bit of doing to find it but it was well worth the hunt.  The fortress was built by the Venetians in the early 15^th Century.  The fort was badly damaged following a massive earthquake at the end of the century.  The Knights of St John came along and refortified the walls giving the curtains walls its unique architecture.  The fortress protected the residents of Kos from frequent raids by the Ottomans and corsair pirates during the 15^th and 16^th Centuries.  Two church buildings have survived in very good condition, the Church of Aghios Nikolaos (dating from the 16th century) and the church of Aghia Paraskevi (18th century).

Venetian Fortress

The curtain walls

Church of Aghia Paraskevi

Church of Aghios Nikolaos

Bell outside the 18th Century Church

Remnants of frescoes

The massive fort was deserted and we had the place to ourselves.  There was evidence that at one time it was a staffed tourist attraction but the cafes, seats and signage have disintegrated with neglect.  We had a blast scrambling over the parapet walls and investigating all the nooks and crannies.  The grounds were covered in enormous thistles which attacked some amazing bees.  We also spied a few lizards.

 

This has got to be the largest bee I have ever seen

This lizard thinks we don't see him

 We continued on to the south of the island to check out another anchorage at Kefalos.  The anchorage was well protected and the setting quite beautiful.  The village was very peaceful this early in the season and we had a delightful lunch at a beach side Taverna. 

Quiet Kefalos

Back to the harbour to do a few errands with the help of the scooter and get ready for an early departure the next day to meet up again with Three Sheets at the next island up the chain, Kalimnos.