Fournoi

I really liked the little island of Fournoi.  It had a very cheerful feel to it.  The streets were neat and tidy and the community of 1500 seemed close knit.  We tucked into a bay just south of the main village.  It was just Three Sheets and Songster there.  After we got settled, I hopped in the water to check the anchor and do a bit of snorkeling.  The water is still a bit cool for me and I must wear a wet suit.  The snorkeling was great though and I saw the best display of fish yet in this fished out Mediterranean.  I loved watching the flounder scuttle after a cat fish like bottom feeder getting the scraps stirred up in the symbiotic relationship. 

Three Sheets in our private bay

The night was a bit rolly so in the morning the four of us climbed into the dinghy to check out the other little bays and main village for a better spot.  Bob has been cursing our dinghy ever since we first put it in the water as being too big and heavy but at times like this it has come in very handy and we had a lot of fun zipping around in it.

When we reached the main village there were quite a few official looking people milling around.  Then a boat came on the dock to much fanfare.  There were representatives from all 4 services, photographers and little girls carrying flowers to greet the politician who arrived from Athens.  No one in the village seemed to know who he was exactly or why he was here and just rolled their eyes at the mention of him.

Service representatives to greet the politician.  Check out the heels on the Navy uniform.  Can this be regulation?

While the politician was in the restaurant next to where we were having a cold drink a big procession came down the street.  At first we thought it was some political protest and got quite excited at the prospect, but it turned out to be a funeral procession.  An orange flare was lit on the water and the mourners, all in black, walked slowly from the church to the graveyard to say goodbye to the 54 year old fısherman.

Funeral procession

Flare in honour of the fisherman

We explored the town a bit and checked out some potential spots for dinner then went back to the boats to move them into a more sheltered bay a bit closer to the village. 

Neat and tidy streets of Fournoi

The harbour in the main village was strictly a working fishing harbour and there was no room for pleasure yachts.  I went snorkeling again and this bay was filled with fish as well.  The little taverna in the bay told us of a nice pathway along the cliff face that would take us into the village.  It was a wonderfully maintained walkway with fantastic views.   

View from the path into the village

We found a restaurant in the village square that had various cuts of pork, lamb and chicken roasting over an open spit.  The smell was fantastic and tasted even better.  After a delicious meal topped off with Ouzo we walked back along the cliff face and were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Sunset over Fournoi

Afterwards there was a hot re-match of Mexican Train Dominos and more Ouzo – A perfect end to the day.

 

Grikos Patmos and Samos

By mid-morning the day after my birthday we left Leros for a lovely sail to a great anchorage on the southeast of Patmos.  For once we were able to sail the whole way and it was a fantastic 19 nm passage.  There were free mooring balls in Grikos and it was heaven to be able to tie up to these – so easy and secure.  We went ashore, had another great Greek dinner and slept soundly bobbing on the sturdy mooring.

Approach to Grikos

Wonderful mooring balls

Not a bad view for dinner

We had reconnected with Three Sheets and planned to meet them in Samos.  The winds were predicted to be perfect for that heading so we said goodbye to Patmos with a promise to return and give it the thorough exploration it deserves.  The wind gods were not behaving and the predicted 10 knots were barely four.  We pottered along sailing as much as we could but had to resort to the iron spinnaker for about half of the trip.

Still the passage was not without its delights.  Just off Patmos we saw a square rigger looming out of the early morning mist.  We detoured to get a closer look and had a wonderful photo opportunity.  The ship was the Sea Clipper, a modern day Barquentine made of steel and able to carry 170 passengers in luxury.

Thr Sea Clipper

Three Sheets were making their way to Samos from Lipsoi and we caught up with them on VHF radio and Messenger.  Given we were ‘racing’ to Samos in 3 knots of wind, we decided that rather than the last one being a rotten egg, the winner could provide the Ouzo!  

After an 8 hour sail we anchored in the delightful harbour of Pythagoreio, the birthplace of Pythagoras.  We took the dinghy ashore to have a brief preliminary reconnoitre of the town and then on the way back stopped by Three Sheets to collect our winnings.

The next day we explored the town with Reg and Phoebe.  It was a very pleasant place.  The town is set up for tourists but not crassly.  The shops were quite nice, not the usual tacky tourist tat.  The streets were clean and well maintained and I thought the atmosphere was quite cheerful.  

The quaint streets of Pythagoreio

The waterfront and ubiquitous fishing boats

After dropping off our laundry we walked to the castle ruins.  There was a cemetery and church nearby.  We noticed that all the graves in the small cemetery had been interned within about 8 years or so.  We then saw some rooms near the graves piled from floor to ceiling with boxes labelled with names and dates.  We realised this was the ossuary where the bones of the deceased are stored after they are removed from the grave 9 years after death.  Bob had a peek in one of the boxes and sure enough ‘Alas, poor Yorrick’ and all that – a bit creepy really.

The Church with the cemetery behind the wall of the ruins

Castle ruins, the Mediterranean, a yacht and Turkey in the distance

We continued our exploration of the town and found a restaurant a bit away from the main tourist streets and as always here in Greece had a epicurean delight.

Octopus drying

Phoebe hamming it up while Reg chills with his ouzo

Our lunch - lamb chops, grilled sardines and Kleftido

Replete, we decided to find the Eupalinos Tunnel.  In the 6^th Century BC the tyrant Polycrates had commissioned the engineer Eupalinos to dig a tunnel through Mount Kastro to be used as an aquaduct to provide the city with water.  Two sets of slaves from Lesbos dug the tunnel from opposite ends of the mountain and 15 years later they met in the middle, erring in calculations by only a few feet.  It was an amazing engineering feat.  Sadly the tunnel was closed for renovations.  A great disappointment made more so by the very hot and sweaty walk we had to get there.  Summer has come suddenly and with a vengeance to this part of the world.

View of the Castle and Church on our walk to the closed tunnel

The following day we caught a local bus to the main town of Samos.  This capital town did not really appeal.  The waterfront seemed a wasted opportunity.  It was a very uninviting hot concrete walkway along a busy road.  The harbour itself was quite pretty but the EU money for improvements was not well invested.  We tried to find the Old Town but were totally unsuccessful despite asking directions and following signs.  It didn’t matter for in our search we stumbled upon a fantastic little restaurant on the hill overlooking the town and had a great lunch.

Samos harbour with a ferry - the lifeblood of these islands

A chapel near the restaurant

Back to Pythagoreio on another local bus, this one taking a different route so we managed to see a good slice of the island.  A quiet night followed in preparation for our next day sail.

 

 

Leros

We spent a week on the pretty island of Leros anchored in the very pleasant harbour of Lakki.  

The harbour of Lakki.  The marina on the left is where we will keep Songster for July-August

We had a few repairs to do and some business arrangements to make, as well as the usual sightseeing.  The first repair was to the main sail.  The sail had ripped at one of the reefing cringles in the big blow going to Levithia.  The cringles were not well reinforced so we had the rip repaired and the other cringles re-inforced.  It was a straight-forward repair for the sailmaker and he charged us a very reasonable amount. 

The repaired and re-enforced reefing cringles

Our other repair was to reattach the outhaul cable which had come undone inside the boom.  This required drilling out rivets to get access to the boom interior, replacing the bolt that had broken, reattaching everything then re-riveting the end of the boom to the shaft.  Bob could have done this repair but we didn't have all the equipment we needed on hand and would have had to go hunting for the bits and pieces in the hardware stores.  So we decided to have the workshop at the marina in Lakki do the work.  They did a good job but it cost about double what we thought it would.  Such is life.

Taking the boom by dinghy to the workshop

Major chores done, it was time to see some of the sights of the island.  We hired a motor scooter and set off to explore.  Like many of the islands in the Dodecanese group, Leros has a history of occupation by the Ancient Greeks, the Knights of St John, the Ottomans, Venetians, Italians and a strategic battlefield in World War II.  The Italian influence is especially strong on Leros.  In the early 20^th Century, Mussolini injected large sums into the islands for public works, including a naval base.  Many of the building bear the distinctive Italian Rationalist architecture that Mussolini favoured.  I have to say that I prefer the traditional blue and white Greek Island buildings.

One of the old, and now derelict Italian buildings

Our first stop on the scooter was the Castle of the Virgin Mary (Panagia Kastrou) overlooking the villages of Pandeli, Platanos and Agia Marina which make up the capital of the island.  The castle was built in the 11^th Century by the Byzantines then taken over by the Knights of St John in the 14^th Century.

The capital of the island

Castle of the Virgin Mary on the hill

The walls of the castle

Painting of the icon in the castle chapel

View from the castle

Local traffic obstacles

Windmills

We passed by a Commonwealth War Cemetery where over 100 British and Canadian servicemen are buried.  Most had died when the HMS Intrepid was sunk by German bombs in September 1943.

Commonwealth War Cemetery

A few days after our scooter tour of the island we thought we would explore the War Museum.  Google maps had the location on the other side of the Lakki harbour.  We thought this would be a pleasant 3.5 km walk to the museum and headed off.  Past the marina we entered the grounds of the old psychiatric hospital, apparently with a rather sordid past.  Then we came to a migrant camp Last year the island was inundated with migrants coming in on dinghies from Turkey.  We noticed a few Syrians in town and here was there temporary home.  It looks as if they have freedom of movement during the day as they were walking in and out of the gates.  The police guards seemed very relaxed.  

Migrant Camp

Finally we walked all the way to the Navy base and still saw no sign of the War Museum.  We asked the guard who told us the museum was on the opposite side of the harbour near where we had started are walk!  Thank you Google maps. 

The next day we tried again.  This time initially going to the site indicated by Trip Advisor, which was also wrong.  We asked some locals and the museum was another kilometre further down the road.  When we got there it was closed.  This was definitely not to be.  

We consoled ourselves with a cold beer at a harbour side cafe and made plans for our next destination.