Taking in some Culture

For our visitor's second week, we went in search of some ancient Ancient Greek history, and decided to head for the Amphitheatre at Epidavros.  En route we stopped off at Ermioni, a little peninsular on the mainland.

Popular with charter boats, but still plenty of room for us.

An early morning walk round the peninsular

Somebody's dinner, drying in the sun

Breakfast - at the best bakery we have ever come across!

We went back to Poros as a convenient stop over, and on the way there Bear Grylls caught a tuna, which he cooked for supper

Jamie cooking his catch on the Cobb BBQ, and we take advantage of the inevitable sunset opportunity

Poros town

Sunset in Poros

From Epidavros we took a taxi to the Amphitheatre.  The Delphi Amphitheatre seats 5,000 and this one has a capacity of 14,000.  It is huge.

Epidavros - the acoustics were phenomenal.

We met up with fellow Eastbourne sailors Peter and Frances on their yacht Piccolo.  You can follow their travels on their blog, piccolosailing.blogspot.com - when we arrived, they were off sightseeing.  A charter yacht tried to go into the space between our yachts it got Peter's anchor warp round it's propellor.  Ian dived in to the rescue.

Early morning Epidavros 

Not content with the anchor warp round his prop, the Charter boat laid his own anchor on top of Peters - resulting in a Yacht Tango when Peter tried to leave.  Eventually it was all sorted out, and we both set off for the Sunken City in the next bay.

Searching for the ruins

We had been expecting something rather older!  Not really sure what it was all about ...

Clare and Jamie's visit was drawing to a close, so we went back to Aigina Island which has excellent ferry links to Pireus.  That evening we were anchored outside the harbour and a little rib appeared out of the gloom - it was Pierre, our sailing neighbour from Licata.  The next day we joined Pierre and  all hired mopeds for a round island trip and a visit to the ancient temple of Aphaea

The Temple of Aphaea

The Temple and Ancient Rubble

Ian and Pierre check out the history of the site.  As usual, the entry fee was very low at €4, but there is no information available at the site.

Sadly that was the end of Clare and Jamie's visit - they were Taking the Dolphin Flyer back to reality.

The water delivery ship - a daily service to the Island.  When it arrives the ship is level, as the water is pumped out the red hull becomes visible.

Jamie watches as the Dolphin appears.  

And off they go.  It was lovely having them to stay, we'll miss you - but luckily we have more visitors coming soon ... 

After Clare and Jamie left we went back to Pierre's boat for a final Ouzo with him before he heads off to the Corinth Canal.  Dusk was falling as we arrived on his boat, but the evening was still and calm.  Out of nowhere the wind blew up and very quickly a swell developed - in the interests of safety we bade him farewell and tried to head back to Nautilus.  The first challenge was getting into the dinghy - so far so good, but then Ian saw Pierre's tender rapidly disappearing into the darkness.  We gave chase, caught it and managed to drag it back to Pierre.  By now it was blowing a good 25kts and sea state was rough - it was not at all easy getting from the PortaBote back onto Nautilus. The wind reached a F7, we had a very uncomfortable night - things calmed down at about 0400 and we finally managed to get to sleep.  We have now found a place on the Town Quay!

Where we have been

So - a chance to get the laundry done, do some shopping and use the Internet - and drink espresso freddo.  Greece is great.

Next stop - Porto Rafti on the mainland, and our next visitors Mike, Taryn and Gwen in just over a week.

  

Visitors in Hydra and Spetses

Clare and Jamie arrived in Poros by Flying Dolphin, having spent a night in Pireus, (they did not report favourably on the Pireus experience) and started the holiday with some kite flying.  

The kite was huge, and the yacht not the easiest kite flying platform.

Poros is a big Charter Boat base, but luckily the anchorage is massive and the fleets had all left so it was very peaceful.

View from Poros, looking across the narrow channel  towards the Peloponise.

The clock tower

 

Posing in the sunshine

Our next destination was Hydra Island, 15nm from Poros.  It's a beautiful natural harbour, and again out timing was good:  plenty of space when we arrived, but boats squeeze in every available space.

By the next evening we were rafted in by a second row of yachts in front of us.

It's easy to see why people come here.

The town Quay - there is no charge for tying up here, but the water did cost €4 for 200 litres!

Plenty of those lovely little fishing boats in the inner harbour.

No cars - donkeys are used instead.

Optimistic cats greeting the fishermen, Hydra Harbour.

A gunship arrived.  We were initially puzzled by the Naval presence, but we learnt that the 'Patron' was visiting the island

Later a helicopter arrived and landed on the ship - 

The Coast guard also got involved.

Blue for the Coast Guard, and white for the Navy

National Costume

Top Gun

And finally ... The Great Man Himself.  There then followed lots of marching to stirring music from the military band, church bells, lunch, and the entourage departed with much ceremony.

And a BBQ on the quay for us, prepared by The staff - they need the matching t-shirts and shorts! 

Hydra was a hard act to follow, so we decided to head for Porto Heli.  We had been on a family dinghy sailing holiday there about 15 years ago and wondered if the place had improved in the intervening years.  The anchorage afforded fantastic shelter, but the only highlight was the sunset.

Porto Heli - best viewed at dusk.

Undeterred, hotels are still under construction around the bay

An alternative water feature, perhaps?

One night in Porto Heli was enough.  We set off for Spetses Island - a mere 6nm away, but a totally different world.

We arrived during a 3 day Classic Yacht Regatta.

The harbour was heaving with Classic Yachts, but we found ourselves the perfect mooring spot tucked in behind some larger craft.

Tied onto the shore, in 2.5 metres of water - just as well we have a lifting keel.

Sunset - shared with a couple of rusting ships and several super yachts.  Spetses.

We walked into the town of Spetses, definitely caters for the higher class visitor:  No donkeys, it's horses here.

Spetses Town - hosting the Regatta

The Maltese Falcon, and some of the smaller racers.

Chaos, on the way to the starting line.

One last look at our Spetses anchorage - a really lovely place.

Next stop...Ermioni.