So we are sitting alongside a wharf in a town called Itea on the northern shore of the Gulf of Corinth. We have just had a storm pass over in which we got innundated with rain and hailstones - think the gods are trying to tell us our time is just about up for this sailing lark.
Have had a great week visiting some monumental sites in Greece.
Whilst still in Cefalonia we hired a car and had a look around the island. Its a really pretty, mountainous place with dramatic views of sheer cliffs plunging into a blue blue ocean around every turn and small villages dotted around the hills. The roads kind of cling to the hillsides and the little hire cars grip tenuously to the roads on the tight turns. Its all very exciting. We started our tour at a cave which turned out to be a hole in the ground - a spectacular hole in the ground. There is a shaft maybe a 100m in diameter through the ground to a small lake, the surface of which is about 30m below ground level. The lake is another 30m deep in places and is fed by underground rivers originating on the other side of the island about 30km away. Its pretty spectacular. The water in the lake is a brilliant sapphire blue, crystal clear and deathly still. A boatman takes you for a short float over the water so you can see the extent of the cave.
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| The cave |
After the cave we drove to a spectacular beach on the west side of the island at a place called Myrtos. The beach is tucked in at the base of cliffs. From a distance the contrast between the steep cliffs, white beach and blue water looks amazing. We drove down and spent some time swimming in the powerful waves rolling in and relaxing. The beach however turned out to be small pebbles and not soft sand. In all our travels we have yet to find beaches which rival the beaches in Australia. Most of the time when we go in search of a beach we have been told is a must see, it’s a bit of a disappointment mainly because we compare it to Australia.
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| Myrtos Beach |
We finished our tour of the island with a visit to a small port village called Fiskardo which is very quaint but a bit touristy. It is the only town on the island which was not affected during the earthquake which razed the rest of the towns.
Managed to get the anchor windlass fixed and then headed off towards the mainland on Thursday. We had a 52nm leg first to get us into the Gulf of Patras and alongside in a marina in the town of Patras for the first night. The town is a major ferry terminal for intra island and international ferries but nothing to write home about. It was a place however where we could finally get hold of our elusive DEKPA - the final bit of paperwork we require to cruise Greece but have been unable to get anywhere else. We had to visit the port police, then a tax office in town which looked like something out of the 70’s and then back to the port police.
We pushed on eastwards for the next couple of days sailing where possible but spending a lot of time motoring as the wind was easterly. We had an overnight stop anchored in a bay at the island of Trizonia and then on Saturday we pulled into Itea. We planned to stop here for a couple of days to see two major sites. Itea is a small quiet town with shades of Port Hedland about it due to the reddish hills from the hermatite and the stands of Eucapyptus trees along some of the roads. It is set at the edge of a coastal plain which quickly disappears into the mountains behind. The dock here is pretty basic and is really just a protected concrete wharf.
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| The spectacular bridge spanning the gulf of Patras/Corinth |
On the first afternoon we went ashore to find a hire car. The town seemed deserted but eventually we found a rental place run by Nick who was very helpful and rented us a small car. On the way back to the boat we had a potentially disastrous incident. We are moored side on to the wharf and while stepping across to the boat Calley lost her footing and fell into the water inbetween the wharf and the boat. Luckily there was little motion and we could reach her easily and so Sam and Scott pulled her out pretty sharpish. It just goes to show though that all you need is one moment of lapse and it can all change. Calley was a little shaken up and a lot wet but apart from that survived unscathed.
The next day we headed off to Olympia - site of the Olympic games of old. This was the first of two sites that we wanted to visit. Once again the scale of the ruins is staggering. The site encompasses the ruins of a number of buildings such as the gymnasium, lesser temples, administration buildings etc all clustered around the remains of the central temple of Zeus. Its all set in a peaceful valley between two rivers with mountains all around. The site has trees growing throughout which add to the beauty and serenity of the place. The track or stadiun is still clearly visible over three thousand years since it was first used. There is also a museum attached to the site which has some amazing artefacts displayed. One of them was a bronze helmet given to the Temple of Zeus by the Greeks giving thanks for the victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in around 500BC - how awesome is that!
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| In the athletes tunnel |
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| The olympic track - Sam won |
The second site we visited the following day was Delphi - the site of the ancient oracle. This is located in the mountains about 30kms behind Itea. It is terraced onto the hillside and comprised of a number of temples and shrines. The idea was that in ancient times when you wanted things to go your way you would come and ask the Oracle and pay for the servcie. Then when things went well you came and built a temple or donated a statue or item of treasure to pay your respects and say thanks. Over time the site comprised more and more temples stuffed full of works of art from the Greeks, Romans and Eastern kingdoms and it became a major centre of the civilised world. There was also a amphitheatre and a stadium where the second most important athletic games were held. Eventually over time, a lot was plundered and eventually the site fell into ruin.
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| Temple of Athena |
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| The awesome setting for Delphi |
The site and the ruins are just unbelievable. The setting on the side of a mountain overlooking the coastal plain all the way to the gulf is spectacular. Again there is a museum attached to the site with some amazing restorations of statues and particularly the votive reliefs from the pediments of the buildings which have been restored and which show scenes from various greek history or mythology. It is very hard to describe the sites of Delphi and Olympia - there is an overwhelming sense of awe and amazement at the antiquity of the places and it just has to be experienced first hand.
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| The Temple of Apollo |
So now we are just about antiquitied out for a while. Once the current batch of bad weather abates we will push on for the Corinth Canal and the Saronic Gulf.
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