So Long from Salamis

The week has flown by and we find ourselves on the historical island of Salamis for their last night on the boat. We choose a quiet private bay where we are the only boat to anchor out for the evening where we spend the night together. I fixed a Thai dish of lemon chicken and stir fry vegetables for dinner that we have on the front of the boat complete with linen tablecloth and napkins. It has been a full week that seems some how less than 7 days.

In the sun breaking light of morning we take the group to the Athens marina so they can catch their flights. Fortunately our trip is not over and we choose to go back to Salamis for another night anchored this time on the southern coast.

This summer I read a historical book about the rise to greatness that Athens obtained before Christ’s birth redated the calendar. This island played a major role in fighting off the Persian king Xerxes from taking control of the Athenian empire. Through trickery and strategic maneuvering, they trapped the Persian navy in the narrow waterways between Salamais and the mainland. It so destroyed the Xerxes’s navy that the Persians were forced to give up their goal of ruling this part of the Mediterranean. One of the things I have enjoyed about spending so much time in the Mediterranean is learning more European history and having it come to life as we visit these important pivotal places where a nations fate hung in the balance.

Kea Without the I or the Furniture

We arrive early in the day and the town quay is practically empty. So we drop our anchor and back up, securing our stern lines to the iron rings embedded into the concrete quay. It is so lovely that we wonder why there are so few of visitors here. As the afternoon progressed, it took little time for other boats to arrive. A bigger boat arrives and wiggles in between only to be outdone by an even bigger arrival until the entire quay was bumper to bumper full. Ok, it was not quite an undiscovered paradise that we thought it was. The tempo of the little town increased and it takes on an entirely different vibe. There are plenty of traditional Greek restaurants, art galleries and shops selling just what you need to remember your time in this charming little village.

Kithnos

Like most of Greece the history of this island goes back millenniums ago when it was famous for producing the lyrical poets Simonides and Bacchlides and the physician Erasistratos. Those names are long in the dustbin of history, but in their day their fame brought world travelers to these shores. Now it is the quiet bays, whitewashed houses with bright blue shutters, old Greek women dressed in black and picking their way down narrow stone streets, and shops selling locally made items crafted with care that bring the travelers.

We choose an anchorage that is well protected from the sea and has a sandy beach connecting a smaller island to the main island. This is a bay where no lights from even a village penetrate. When the sun sets, the inky night skies are punctured with a dazzling show of nighttime pricks of light. The nights and the waters are warm enough to dive off the boat and just float looking up and dreaming of another more ancient time. I some how feel connected to a civilization that extends back so far in history who also looked at that spectacular sky. While the world has changed dramatically from their days of glory, the one thing that remains a constant is the night sky.

The gang hikes to the small village at the far end of the bay for a night of exploring. When everyone returns back to the boat at around 2am they share tales of hitchhiking in the back of a pickup, renting motor scooters, more amazing food and unlocking the magic of this Greek island. There is plenty of time for napping in the sun on the front of the boat while we travel to the next island adventure in the morning.

Siros, Syros, or just Seriously Beautiful

The Greeks have yet to decide how to spell the names of the islands. Almost all of the Islands have two or three spellings. Some have completely different names that are used simultaneously. Santorini for example is also known as Thera. But however you spell it, we head to Siros, the capital of the Cyclades. We avoid the main port and instead choose two secluded bays to hang out in. On the way, one of them asked if we could stop and so some cliff diving. It wasn't 10 minutes later that we came across these great cliffs.

Our guests rented motor scooters and crawled all over the island making sure they didn’t miss anything. When they came back to the boat in the wee hours of the morning, they raved about the amazing food at a restaurant on the top of the hill, the crimson skies of Greece at sunset and small villages tucked away in the tops of the hills of this rugged island.

A New Crew, and New Fun

We pick up a group of 6 friends on Mykonos who plan to sail with us to Athens. These are friends of my kids who have dreamed of a Greek island sailing adventure. Their special talent is making the most fun they possibly can as often as they can. I feel like we are chartering 4 kindred spirits who are their own version of “Sex in the City” women that have a bond with each other that is deep and commited with a couple of husbands tagging along. Fortunately the winds have calmed down and the aggressive Etesian winds have dissipated. We have a week of smooth sailing and calm waters. Before we leave Mykonos, the gang does some exploring and visits the sacred nearby island of Delos. The next day we head for Syros. There is nothing like unfurling the majestic white sails as they grab the wind. You feel the power in nature take over as we shut off the engines. Blue skies and even bluer seas set the scene for a perfect course to the next island. And if that setting was not enough perfection we are rewarded with a brief visit from a playful dolphin that seems intent on making sure the gangs first visit to Greece is as magical as they envisioned it to be.

Aquatic Rodeo in Mykonos

The new Mykonos harbor was built by EU money and left for the Greeks to finish. So of course it has never been finished. There is water and electricity on the quay, but none of it is turned on. Mooring lines have been laid in some places, but despite the fact that they were laid only last year, they are still in a state of disrepair. With all of the dysfunction of this port, the main problem is that there is little to no protection from the strong Meltomi winds. When we came into the marina the winds were 25 knots. That strong of winds does not make landing a boat safely to the quay an easy job. To do it without incident requires a lot of experience and sometimes just plain luck.

We call it harbor theater. Or sometimes harbor drama. One couple referred to it as Aquatic Rodeo. It is both entertaining and horrifying in a car wreck kind of way. Because Mykonos is only a couple day sail from Athens it gets a lot of sailors who sail maybe every couple of years renting boats for the week to have a holiday in the Greek islands. Mix that with forceful winds and you have a combination that can only be spelled d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r. One by one we saw boats running into the quay at full speed knocking chunks of fiberglass off their hulls, anchor chains crossing in an unbelievable tangled mess and boats being blown sideways into the bows of other boats. I would estimate that 80% of the boats in the marina were either the battering rams or the receiving end of the out of control boats. It was so bad, we felt uncomfortable to leave the boat to go do anything. We were more than happy to leave the marina after a couple of days of stress and wind.

Oh My Gosh, Armorgos

As we pass the narrow coastline of Armogos, the winds plunge down the steep cliff walls to reach gusts of over 35 knots. But it is the waves that continue to be the most punishing. We reef the sails down and make our way around the island. There is a small protected bay on the west side of the island that will be a safe place for the night. Along the bays edge, restaurants hang their octopus out to dry like newly laundered clothing and streetlights create a necklace that twinkles around the harbor as night falls. There are three other boats also anchored out. We bob up and down together in sync with the rolling waves that dwindle in strength. By the time they reach us the waves are no more than a gentle rocking. We should sleep well tonight. It is so peaceful in this lazy bay that we decide to stay a couple of days. We rent a car the next day to visit places not reached by boat.

The “you gotta see” thing on Amorgos is the Greek Orthodox monastery that clings to the face of a sheer cliff. Its whitewashed walls look more like a waterfall than something that was met for living in. There are shallow caves that extend no more than 5 meters into the cliff and the monastery façade in front of these caves tower 8 stories high. The wonder is how they managed to get the building materials up the steep sides and how were they planning to support this monastery once it was inhabited..

You have to wonder why they chose this cliff almost 1000 feet above the sea in a sheer cliff. Well the legend goes like this. In the 9th century numerous icons were destroyed in Jerusalem. The icon known as “the Dark-eyed Mary was broken in half and thrown into the sea by an old woman that thought it was safer than being burned by the heretics. One half of the sacred icon drifted to the shores of Amorgos where a chapel was build at the end of the 11th century. Later, the chapel was replaced by this monastery.
But what of the other half of the icon? 
It drifted to the island of Patmos where another monastery was built. The two islands are therefore connected by the icon of Panagia Hozoviotissa. The two halves of the icon were reunited and… miraculously sealed together.

We climbed up the steep stairs to this impressive fortress of a monastery and crouched through the tiny 4-foot door that would have been home to Alice in Wonderland. More steep steps in a narrow passage only reinforced its fictional feel of any real place. At the top of the stairs there is a small chapel with solid silver dragons used to support candles to light the chapel. Byzantine icons line the walls. Silver chandeliers with iconic dragons hold candles that illuminate the chapel. And if you look closely to the left of the alter, you will find a wooden box with a glass lid containing a bone from Saint George. I take it that is why the chandelier was of dragons.