25th May 2014 to 1st June 2014
We finally left Messolonghi on 25th May, after
much fixing and cleaning, and of course visiting local sites of interest
(mainly in the evenings, for dinner and drinks with friends).
The first part of our season will take us along the Gulf of
Patras and Corinth, through the Corinth Canal, up the Evia Channel and onto
meet with friends, Brad and Marion, who are holidaying on Skiathos. We then
plan to meander slowly back down the Evia Channel, visiting places we did not
see on the way up, around the Saronic Gulf before making our way back through
the Corinth Canal. We’ll visit some other places in the Corinth Gulf before
following our tracks back to Messolonghi, before heading back into the Ionian
to receive family and friends in August and September. Well that’s the plan.
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| Rion Bridge |
So far, we have been weather bond on a continuous basis.
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| Trizonia fishing quay |
Our first stop was a little island on the mainland cost
called Trizonia, a miniature Alderney (for those who have been there). Not much
going on, but seems to take a hold of you and you struggle to escape. Fortunately,
we escaped, but will spend more than a night on our return visit. Off then to Galaxidhi.
A well protected spot, which was handy as Force 7s were forecast for the next few
days. We moored on the town quay, which has power and water (€9 a night for us
if you want to know).
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| Galaxidhi bay |
Galaxidhi’s history is that until the late 19th century, it
had a sizeable merchant marine fleet and was a prosperous commercial centre,
and has a marine museum containing exhibits from this period. Opposite the town
quay there is a beautiful pine forest, which was planted by school children in
the early twentieth century, and at the top of the mountain the Monastery of
the Metamorphosis (actually a convent that was inhabited by one nun as of 2010
so Wikipedia tells me).
However, from Galaxidhi you can take a bus to Itea, the next
port along, and then another bus to Delphi – which we did. Numerous photos on our
flickr website
What I have discovered about Delphi in brief: It is both an archaeological site and a
modern town on Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Dating to the classical
period of Ancient Greece (510-323 BC), the site of Delphi is believed to be where
Zeus sought to find the centre of his "Grandmother Earth" (Ge, Gaea,
or Gaia). He sent two eagles flying from the eastern and western extremities,
and the path of the eagles crossed over Delphi where the omphalos, or navel of
Gaia was found.
Earlier myths include
traditions that Pythia, or the Delphic oracle, was the site of an important
oracle in the pre-classical Greek world (as early as 1400 BC), and served as
the major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew Python, "a
dragon" who lived there and protected the navel of the Earth.
Apollo's sacred
precinct in Delphi was a panhellenic sanctuary, where every four years,
starting in 586 BC [5] athletes from all over the Greek world competed in the
Pythian Games, precursors of the Modern Olympics. These Pythian Games rank
second among the four stephanitic games chronologically and based on
importance.
Needless to say, there is so much more to be said about
Delphi, but you all have access to Google and can read at your leisure. However,
it was a fascinating place to visit, and one which we will visit again as there
was so much more to see.
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| Kiato beach |
After three days at Galaxidhi, a weather window appeared,
which we took, and after a calm motor half way across the Gulf of Corinth to
its southern shore, the winds changed and we had a force 6 ‘on the nose’.
Fabulous! Big seas, boat going up and down and crashing into every wave – it resembled
our time in the Caribbean. In addition to this, the wind was cold, so we had to
wrap up on fleeces and jeans.
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| Kiato harbour |
However, we still had a problem when we go to Kiato, where
we were heading – the harbour is east facing, and we had strong easterly winds.
We were not sure it would be a safe harbour. Fortunately, on our arrival, there
is a small fishing harbour on the inside, which is protected from the east, and
we managed to go alongside, along with our friends on their boat Chanty. We
were stuck here for two nights with force 7-8s howling all day and all night. However,
we saw a weather window on the horizon, which we had to take otherwise we would
be stuck there til Tuesday (when the Corinth Canal is closed for repairs).
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| Western entrance to Corinth Canal |
We set out on 31st May, wind and sea behind us
for the hour and a half trip to the entrance to the Corinth Canal.
The Canal is the most expensive stretch of water in the
world, mile for mile, in our case €66 per mile...€200.97 to be precise to
transit the canal – the alternative is spending three weeks going the long way
round. It is however AMAZING.
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| All three bridges |
Both the Romans and Greeks have looked at schemes to start a
canal, but only Nero actually started digging. Unfortunately, the 6,000 Jews
who were digging didn’t even get down to rock before his energies were diverted
back to northern Europe. The present canal was started by a French company, and
finished by the Greeks in 1893. It is 3.2 miles long, 25m wide and cut from
limestone 79m above sea level, and takes about half an hour to transit.
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| Easter entrance to canal |
We were lucky, we didn’t have to wait at all to be given
permission to enter; some yachts have to wait up to three hours. At the eastern
end, you tie up alongside and part with your money.
We are now tied to a very nice dock, owned by a Yannis and
his taverna, in a well protected bay called Korfos, 15 miles from the Canal.
And a very nice meal we had there. The dock is free, has extremely nice new
lazy lines, showers and Wifi, and Yannis welcomes you to his dock.
Now for our next step. We need to get to Skiaothos, but the
weather has changed again and for the next 3-4 days Force 8s are forecast where
we want to go. We will stay at Yannis tonight, try to get to the island of
Aigina tomorrow (about 15 miles away) and ride out the weather there. From there
we can take a ferry across to Athens, so we have things we can do while we wait
for the winds to calm down. Now we’re through the Canal the pressure is off a
bit, but if the winds continue this way we’re not sure when we’ll get to
Skiathos, probably just as our friends are leaving...
Watch this space...
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