Roma – Where are the Italians?

After a short but restful sleep in our cabin on the ferry we arrived at the port of Piraeus.  We made our way by metro to the airport for our plane to Roma.  We arrived in Rome late afternoon.  As we made our way to the hotel from the train station we wondered where all the Italians were?  The streets were filled with African migrants and Chinese small business owners.  We couldn’t hear any Italian being spoken, nor did we see anyone who looked like Italians (whatever that might mean in this day of multiculturalism).  

We dropped off our bags and hit the streets to check out some of the sights in the last few hours of daylight.  The streets were teeming with hoards of tourist, mainly tour groups of young American girls, apparently doing the grand tour between high school and college - ‘Oh, my God’ American accents everywhere.  

Our first stop was the Colosseum.  It looked rather modern to me after the ancient ruins of Turkey.  The construction was of bricks rather than the tessellated huge granite blocks used by the Greeks several centuries earlier.  

The Colosseum

Next we made our way to Trevi Fountain.  It was absolutely packed with tourist and impossible to get close, still a very beautiful fountain.

The crowds at the Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain

The next day we visited Vatican City.  We only went to the Basilica and St Peter’s Square.  I would have liked to have seen the Michelangelo in Sistine Chapel but I was getting a bit cranky at the incredibly wealthy church charging so much to get into its buildings. 

St Peter's Basilica

A Swiss Guard

Inside the Basilicaa

Beautiful ceilings

Beam me up, Scotty

My crankiness at the Church’s hypocrisy was vindicated at our next stop, Castel Sant'Angelo.  The Castel was originally built in the 1^st Century AD as the mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian.  In the 14^th Century the popes converted the site into a fortress for their protection with an underground tunnel linking it to the Vatican.  It is a great medieval fortress with wonderful views of the city but the area of the popes’ private chambers was covered with fairly lewd ceiling frescos painted in the grotesque style.  This hypocrisy after I had to buy a scarf to cover my shoulders to enter the basilica because I was wearing a sleeveless top in the 36 degree heat.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Ceiling frescos in the Popes chambers

More ceiling frescos

We continued to walk all over the city in the high heat.  We checked out (off) the Spanish Steps – closed for repair, the Roman forum and found the pleasant shaded park of Villa Borghese.

Spanish steps

Roman Forum

On our second full day in Rome we started out at Circus Maximus, a bit disappointing as it was essentially a bit of scrub land.  We then made our way to Capidoglio Square and its museum.  This trapezoid square was designed by Michelangelo and is bordered by three beautiful classical buildings which house a fantastic museum.  There were some beautiful sculptures and old artifacts.

Circus Maximus

Entry to Capidoglio Square

Our last stop for the day was the Victor Emmanuel monument at the Piazza Venenzia.  This structure dominates the Roman skyline and turned out to be quite modern.  It was conceived in 1885 and inaugurated in 1911 to commemorate the unification of Italy which occurred in 1861.  I did not realise this was such a recent event.  Before this Italy was a group of separate kingdoms.

Victor Emmanuel Monument

Thus ended our brief tour of Rome.  Perhaps it was the hoards of tourist but Rome did not grab me.  After 2½ days we were still looking for Italy.

Leaving Leros (for a bit)

It was time to say goodbye to Songster for 6 weeks while we do some land travel in Europe.  She was snug at the marina in Lakki just down the pontoon from Tiaki.  We cleaned all the surfaces, treated the heads, closed the seacocks, disconnected the batteries, gave the old girl a good pat to take care while we were gone and said goodbye.

We had a 10.00 pm ferry ticket from Leros to Piraeus so walked into Lakki to have a leisurely dinner while we waited for the ferry.  We had finished dinner about 9.30 and sauntered down to the ferry dock to await its arrival.  About 10 minutes later a taxi driver pulled up to ask if we knew that the ferry wasn’t coming into Lakki.  We checked with the Coast Guard who confirmed that we would have to go to Aga Marina, the smaller port on the other side of the island about a 15 minute drive away.  There was no bus or help provided by the ferry company or the authorities for this change of plan.  We were on our own, so we hopped into the taxi and the driver told us the change in departure ports was because of migrant troubles at the camp in Lakki.  Apparently there was a bit of an uprising and they had set fire to one of the buildings.  The residents were frustrated that their processing was taking so long.  Most had been there since before March.  (   The authorities didn’t want to risk migrants stowing away on the ferry in Lakki, near the camp.

We arrived at Aga Marina with a heavy Coast Guard presence, directing traffic into the small port.  The ferry finally arrived (we followed its progress on Navonics, just to make sure) and out spewed reinforcements; military personnel and a caged police bus.  Unfortunately the police bus had a low clearance and the ramp off the ferry was quite steep.  The rear bumper got stuck and ripped out while getting off, much to the curses and mutterings of the driver.

Ferry arriving with the Coast Guard checking the crowd

The police bus and one of the legitimate passengers who was questioned

Plain clothes police were scanning the crowd to see if any refugees were trying to sneak onto the ferry.  Plenty of racial profiling going on – anyone not looking ‘European’ were questioned.  We saw two young men dragged away, one quite roughly.  Eventually we were allowed onto the ferry.  The times we live in....

Saying goodbye for now to Leros

See here for information on the disturbance and its aftermath: http://dailyhellas.com/2016/07/12/concern-on-leros-over-migrants/ and http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/volunteers-leave-greek-island-attacks-refugees-160710132258629.html

Winding Down (as the wind winds up): First Half of the Season

One last anchorage with Three Sheets then time to take Songster to Leros Marina to put her to bed for two months while we escape the heat and do some land travel.  We spent a few nights at Archaggelos, a pretty anchorage with a great Taverna that is just a few hundred metres north from the main island of Leros.

Archaggelos

We would have liked to stay a few more days as our contract with the marina did not start for a week but a meltemi blow was predicted for that entire week and we thought it best to get where we were going before it set in.  So we said goodbye (for now) to Reg and Phoebe – you will be, and already are, missed.

The Commonwealth Gang

So Greek, so pretty

These fishing boats are so cute! But of course I can't say this to burly Greek fishermen

This meltemi business is rapidly getting old.  The latest blow has been going for 8 days as I write this and predicted to go for another week.  I have heard of people going crazy from the mistral in France and I can well believe it.  We have had a howling wind of 20 plus knots constantly with gusts nearing 30 knots.  Lakki harbour in Leros tends to be a bit rolly at the best of times but this has been so relentless that both Bob and I have been experiencing a bit of mal de mere at anchor and have to regain our land legs every time we go ashore.

 

Why do I get the feeling that we are in the worse part of the Med at the moment?

Deceptively quiet - on shore we had to hold down our dinner plates so they wouldn't be blown away

While rocking and rolling we started getting Songster ready to be left for two months – Lots of cleaning, polishing and checking systems.  While scrubbing cupboards I had time to reflect on our season so far.  We have gotten more comfortable with Songster and I think Bob is more content with her.  There is still a lot to learn but we are taking our time to evolve into better sailors while enjoying the travel and people.  We haven’t put in a huge number of miles but have strengthened our skills and made some fast friends.  We have been to 14 Greek Islands and two Turkish anchorages - a bit of a break then we are looking forward to getting back into it.

 

So after ten weeks of rocky barren islands we are looking forward to some greenery – next stops: Italy, Switzerland, France, UK, Ireland and beyond.

More Lipsi and Patmos in Company

For the next week Three Sheets, Shiraz and Songster sailed/anchored in company.  That night in Lipsi harbour we were all set for our much anticipated game of Mexican Trains Dominoes but the Coast Guard had other plans.  The Coast Guard came out in a borrowed fishing boat to tell a few boats that they needed to anchor deeper into the bay as a large ship was coming in during the night.  After we all shuffled around we were still hoping to start the game (Songster was hosting) when a 4X4 flashed its lights at Shiraz’s dinghy as it was coming along side our boat.  We tried to talk to the Coast Guard on VHF but got no response so Reg and Ramin rowed over to the wharf see what the issue was. They were told that Three Sheets and Shiraz were still too far out and had to move.  Sadly the much anticipated night of fun and games had to be postponed while they went back to their boats.  Three Sheets moved across the bay to another anchorage while Shiraz moved into the harbour to Med moor.

So it would seem that the Coast Guard in Lipsi have no boats of their own to come out to anchorages to talk to sailors nor do they carry VHF hand held radios to talk to boats.  One wonders how they cope being so under resourced. 

 

Another quirk of Lipsi was the number of churches.  Looking around the water front we could count 13 iconic blue and white churches.  How could a small community of a couple of hundred people support 13 churches?  Then we found out that if you build a little chapel on your land, you get tax exemption.  What a rort!  No wonder Greece is in financial strife.

Town of Lipsi dotted with churches

The quirks of Lipsi did not diminish our appreciation of this charming island.  The next day we all got together for a fabulous lunch at Manolis (filet flounder with Ouzo sauce) then a late night playing Mexican Trains, imbibing in lots of Ouzo and a special treat from Three Sheets of Bermuda Gold.  Despite the way past midnight finish, we were up the next morning to sail to Patmos.  The winds were a bit too light at first but the later half of the passage was a good sail.

 

 We returned to Grikos to pick up a mooring ball.  It was much more crowed than when we visited a month ago.  The season is now well and truly in full swing.  The next week was filled with meals in Tavernas, anchorage hopping, swimming, snorkeling, relaxing, Mexican Trains, Ouzo and a bit of sightseeing.

Grikos

A beach short of pebbles? (Sign forbids collection of pebbles)

Patmos is considered a holy place for the Greek Orthodox religion.  This is the place where St John the Apostle of Patmos had his visions in a cave and wrote the Book of Revelation.  There is a large active monastery Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and the Cave of the Apocalypse, both World Heritage Sites.  The museum was quite good and included manuscripts from the 7^th to 14^th Centuries and, rather ghoulishly, the relic said to be the skull of St Thomas.

The monastery and Chora overlooking the harbour

 

Scala from the hilltop

Mosaic outside the (closed) Cave of the Apocalypse

Ramin, Chris, Phoebe, Bob and Reg

Over the next few days we moved to Meloi Bay, a lovely spot with good snorkeling then to Kampos for our last hurrah before Shiraz headed north and Three Sheets and Songster headed east.

The other anchorages which we motored to

Songster, Shiraz and Three Sheets in Meloi Bay - great picture Chris

Another Taverna meal

It was a great time buddy sailing with Shiraz an we look forward to seeing them again in the winter in Marmaris.  Maybe then my luck will change and I won’t come last in every game of Mexican Trains!