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The month started with Chris and Aremiti in Leros, getting on with a few mid-voyage jobs, and Julia in the UK visiting her Mum. On Julia’s return the weather had changed to the sort of benign conditions we could only dream of in windy July. We spent a couple more days in the marina at Lakki – a friendly workaday town which we grew quite fond of. Our endeavours there resulted in two significant improvements to the boat – a sturdy passarella and mesh shade panels for the cockpit. Then off again - first to explore a little more of Leros. The anchorage of Xerocambos – didn’t quite meet the strict criteria for ‘idyllic anchorage’ (too large to be intimate) – but came pretty close – with the jingling of goat bells, cocks crowing, the sight of scooter loads of hay being taken off presumably to feed the goats, fishermen leaving the harbour in their tiny boats in the early evening and the view out south to Kalymnos just 2 miles south. The village was a mix of local homes and low key holiday lets. We liked it so much we stayed 3 days.
Our next island was Kalymnos. We felt fond of this island even before getting there, recalling the little flotilla of four large fishing boats who invited us to join their raft in Santorini a couple of years ago, when the excessive depth of water in the caldera thwarted our attempts to anchor.
After a couple of days we moved southwards down the fearsomely barren and mountainous west coast to the cove of Vlikadia. This settlement, appearing to cater to the Greek holiday market, was not particularly attractive. The holding wasn’t particularly good either – with two of the four other yachts in the cove dragging their anchors in the middle of the night in strong gusts. However, we achieved our purpose with a visit to the quirky ‘Sea World’ museum – a collection of miscellaneous exhibits of all things sea, with the major focus on the sponge diving industry for which Kalymnos is famous. A real labour of love – though sadly the collection is poorly labelled and some exhibits decaying. Finally on to the capital of Kalymnos – Pothia. This large (for these parts) town,
spreads up the towering mountains around a bay - an amphitheatre of Greek houses of
varying eras in pale pastel colours.
As so to Kos which we approached with some trepidation given its touristic reputation. However we wanted to give it a fair chance and spent our first day exploring the main town. With our negatively prejudiced anticipation it was perhaps inevitable that we would be pleasantly surprised - finding effectively two towns – areas of anonymous tourist tat, English bars and nightclubs, contrasting with what is effectively a vast outdoor archaeological museum with numerous sites of ancient ruins dotted around the town. We had the ancient ruins almost to ourselves while the people up partying all night to the heavy thump thump thump of the all night discos slept in – or went out on boat trips. Something for everyone. In between, there are handsome and shady residential streets of 1930s style buildings with Art Deco touches – dating from the period when the island was under Italian ownership and rebuilt following a devastating earthquake in 1933. Signs of the earthquake off Kos last month were evident as soon as we stepped ashore at the marina, with a number of long cracks to the quays. We heard of damage to yachts – mainly by clashing masts as the water surged in and out, rising and falling by a metre for several hours. A few boats on the hard were knocked down. In town damage to the harbour waterfront is worse and there is damage to several of the ancient sites – worst to the Muslim fountain next to the plane tree where Hippocrates is said to have taught his followers, which has collapsed. The venerable tree itself seemed unscathed. Unfortunately we found the island as a whole tended to confirm our expectations and to have lost its identity as a Greek island. Of course we find ourselves disparaging tourists and the effects of tourism while being tourists ourselves. The term tourist covers a wide spectrum from those interested in finding out about different cultures, history, architecture, etc., and those on holiday looking for sunshine, fun and relaxation. The two aren’t always compatible and it is, for us, sad when in catering for holidaymakers/visitors, some locations destroy their essence. We picked up our friend Jean in Kos to continue our trip southwards.
Next to Tilos about 15 miles south – first to a rather blustery anchorage on the west side of the island, before moving round to the small port of Livadhia on the east. We explored this island by bus – first to the capital, Megalo Chorio, with its museum of mini-elephant bones – the elephants having been stranded here by rising sea levels and evolving to a size more appropriate to a small island. We climbed high up to an ancient settlement – though only Chris made it right up to the ubiquitous Knights’ castle. Then Mikro Chorio – an 18th century village up from the port, which was finally abandoned only in the 1960s. All that is now left operating are a couple of churches and, bizarrely, a nightclub. Jean left us in Tilos, taking the ferry back to Kos, and now we are on Symi – with more guests expected in a couple of days. While writing this our magnificent anchorage has filled up during the day with about 20 boats – mainly motor-boats, plus a few gulets and yachts – nearly all from Turkey just 4 miles across from the entrance to the bay. The atmosphere has changed completely from spectacular natural wonder to a jolly playground – lots of splashing in the water and pop music thumping out from one of the gulets – though no jet-skis - yet. Everyone is evidently having a great time – but personally we’ll enjoy it more when most of them leave, tranquillity returns and the focus is back on the awesome surroundings. |