Boat Yard Puppies at Ionian Marine

 

Throughout Greece one sees stray dogs and cats everywhere.  The cats tend to hang out in the big rubbish skips that are on the streets for domestic garbage collection or at the local tavernas hoping for table scraps from the diners.  The dogs tend to have their territorial spots.  When we wintered in Lefkas there was Anna at the marina gate and Socks hung around the sailmakers.  These dogs are generally in good shape, get fed and patted by passersby but belong to no one.

We are now on the hard at Ionian Marine and the dog population here is providing a special diversion while doing our boat maintenance chores.

 

Songster's home for the next two months

The Ionian Marine Dog Saga started while we were at anchor in Preveza several weeks ago.  We had taken the dinghy across the channel to the marina to do laundry.  While we were waiting for the machines to finish their cycle, we took a short walk to a nearby fortress ruin.  The area was quite overgrown but the gate was open and a narrow path going to it through the undergrowth.  Bob swatted away all the cobwebs and went in.  In a dark, muddy enclave near the entrance were a couple of puppies quietly in their den.  It was too dark to see much but they were older puppies and probably weaned.  The floor was all mud and Bob could see the mother was nearby in the gloom.  Worried she might be too protective of her young we decided not to bother exploring the ruin.  It was so overgrown that exploration would have been very limited anyway.  

When we came out of the ruin we heard a distressed dog crying.  At first we thought the sound was coming from across the water but then we realised the crying was from some of the vents coming from outside and under the ruins.  We wandered around trying to find the source of the crying and came to a cistern where a poor frightened puppy was half submerged.  Bob was able to lean over and scoop the puppy out of the water.  The poor sweet thing was so traumatised and happy to finally be out of the water.  Fortunately she didn't seem hurt physically, just wet.  There aren't animal shelters here so we comforted her and then put her with the puppies we saw earlier inside the fortress ruins, hoping for the best.

A few days later we were in the area again walking to the airport to pick up our hire car for the Albanian visa run. 

Route to the airport from the anchorage

As we were walking to the airport we came across three young women who had adopted one of the white puppies from the fort.  The puppy seemed quite happy to have the attention and was following well (like a 2 year old!).  It was good to see.  We had a good chat with the women and they were quite eager to take the puppy to the vet to get her shots and were looking forward to raising their new pet.  

Then a few days later we went over to the marina again and checked out the fortress where we had seen all the puppies.  The place was dogless so we hoped that all the puppies found good homes.

A week or so later we were lifted out of the water for Songster to be on the hard for the next two months while we do some routine maintenance and land travel.  

Songster being lifted out

Having her very dirty bottom washed

We found out that the reason the fortress ruin was dogless was that Mum and Dad had taken their blended family back to the boat yard now that they were near weaned.  The family consists of a white puppy, the sister of the one the 3 women adopted, the little black and brown puppy we rescued from the cistern and 5 puppies of their own.  The whole family has taken up residence in the middle of the boat yard beneath some occupied boats.  

Mum, Dad and some of the pups

Seven puppies

The puppies' home

The yachties feed and water them and they seem to be thriving.  As boats come and go the caretaker baton gets passed around.  So far they are getting plenty of food and attention with Mum and Dad still keeping a watchful, if sometimes impatient, eye on them.  They are growing bigger every day and I worry that if they are not adopted soon while they are still cute little puppies, they will not find homes.  

The only male of the 8 puppies

 

The centre puppy is the one we fished out of the cistern

Puppy play

The second white puppy has been adopted and the mother spayed (a collection box is kept in the chandlery to pay for the operation and generally buy food for the dogs) but there are still 6 puppies needing homes.  I go everyday to give them some cuddles, food and try to socialise them.  They are quite nice little dogs and would make good pets, sadly though not for us, nor most other yachties with their itinerant lifestyles.

Nicopolis

While still anchored off Preveza, (we were thinking of putting up a letter box we had been there so long!) we hired a car to do another visa run to Albania.  This was one long day: on the road by 5am, catch the ferry from Igoumenitsa to Corfu at 7 am, race to catch the 9 am ferry to Saranda, have lunch in Albania, return ferry to Corfu, another ferry to Igoumentsia, quick dinner there then drive back to Preveza, dinghy to the boat and back on Songster by 10 pm.  But I now have another 90 days in the Schengen area.

Saranda at the end of June - quite a change from the sleepy town we saw in March

We kept the car for another day to visit the ancient city of Nicopolis, just a few kilometres north of Preveza.  Nicopolis was built by Caesar Augustus in 31 AD in commemoration of his victory over Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium.  This victory marked the transition of Rome from a Republic to an Empire.  For the next 700 years Nicopolis was a thriving city and capital of the province of Epirus Vetus, the area that is now Albania  and north western Greece.

Present day Prevesa is just across the channel from ancient Actium (now called Aktio)

Our first stop was the early Byzantine ruins of a large house, Domus of Ekdikos Georgios, containing large courtyards, nympheum and baths. 

View of baths and city walls from the Domus

Remains of the courtyard

Nympheum

Shells decorated the walls of the nympheum

A 6^th Century Byzantine Basilica is located in the area around the Domus containing some of the best mosaics I have seen to date.

 

 

 

The whole city is surrounded by a large wall that stretches along the present day roads and through olive groves.  Fortified towers are still standing and some steps have been restored so it is possible to climb to the top of the wall.  A small Odeum has been restored and occasionally used today for musical and theatrical events.

 

City walls along the olive groves

One of the restored gates

Tower embedded in the wall

Odeum

Two kilometres down the road is a very good museum which houses some fantastic artefacts.

Fragment of a column with reliefs of Greek gods

Tiny terracotta masks

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day exploring the ruins.  After 4 years in the Eastern Mediterranean we sometimes run the risk of becoming a bit blasé about these ancient ruins.  Nicopolis re-sparked the wonder and fascination that these archaeological sites hold.