June 15th – Ithaca to Keffalonia
After breakfast Bill and I hiked up the village of Vathi just above the church you can see from the port. The town is a mix of new (post 1953 earthquake) construction with red slate roofs and a few old houses in ruins here and there. We popped into Agios Nikolaos church to see the famous icon of Christ painted by a young El Greco. We also went to a little folklore museum in Vathi.
Later that morning, baby Nicolas got burned with hot water in the galley. His little arms started to blister right away and he was hollering while mama dosed him with water from the transom hose. Dad came running from the cafe when he heard the screaming. He grabbed a car from a friend and they rushed to the local doctor. Poor sweet baby. He came back a few hours later all wrapped in bandages and a little worse for wear. We decided to go ahead and sail to Keffalonia where they would have a better medical facility to take his bandages off the next day. He slept a lot the rest of the day and was really pretty quiet considering his horrible morning.
We still kept on, stopping for a spectacular swim on a beach off Ithaca. Another perfect beach. Rocky shore, very clear waters and some caves on shore. Kat collecting more rocks. This time we took the dingy to the beach to bring bag the goods. Not much wind today so we did mostly motor sailing. Arrived in Sami, Keffalonia by 4:30. This is another low profile village rebuilt after the earthquakes in pastel colors all with red tile roofs. Nothing remarkable in this harbour. We rented a car and the kiwis got 2 scooters and off we went to explore the island. I’d made my list of highlights of each island and we checked off a couple!
First stop was Melisanni Cave which contsins a lake inside. 7 euros each to ride around in a boat with a goofy “gondolier wannabee”. This underground cave was only discovered when an earthquake collapsed the ceiling.
We drove to a famous “best” beach on the island called Myrtos. At 6:00pm it was still warm enough to enjoy swimming in the cool waters. It was a windy road down to the beach with some spectacular vistas. This beach faces West so it would have been a great sunset spot. We tried chasing sunsets this entire trip and only saw a few in Skopelos and in Crete.
After swimming it was off to the village of Assos, a not to miss village according to the guidebooks. This village sits on a mountainside with a mix of cute updated buildings amongst ruined mansions that have been abandoned. We had a nice dinner by the water with lots of fun and laughs. It’s hard not to hang out with Mike and not laugh.
The sun set just as we finished dinner so the ride home gave us some nice views of the post sunset skies. Julie and I each took turns riding on the back of Mike’s scooter. What fun – flying down the mountain at dusk and no helmet.
June 16 – Fiskardo, Keffalonia
We took a morning hike up the hills near Sami Port. Glad it was shady most of the way. We did pass some “rubble” – ancient Roman ruins along the way including a sarcophagus built into the mountain wall. Keffalonia has a number of archeological sites scattered across the island. I love that in Greece you can hike and easily see ruins from pre-Christian eras, byzantine monastaries from early Christian centuries, remnants from the Ottoman empire alongside fountains with fresh spring water that you can drink and modern day life.
We sailed to the northern most port on Keffalonia, a little town called Fiskardo. Stopped for a fun swim with all of our beach toys including a pink flamingo nicknamed Nigel and a pineapple float called Penelope. The current was strong and we worked hard to get back from the beach to the boat.
Fiskardo is built on a limestone base so it fared well in the earthquake that levelled the rest of the island’s villages. It’s a popular upscale resort for sailors and many European visitors. And along with picturesque it is expensive. Bill and I had our happy hour at a place called Panorama whose name matched the view. Shrimp saganaki and a salad. The shrimp dish was similar to New Orleans style bbq shrimp. Also had a chance to catch up with Brian on the phone.
Then we met back on the boat for happy hour – some rum, a little whiskey and sampling of Mike’s American country music selection. A late dinner out at 10:30 – at midnight they were obviously ready to close and go home and the waiter still would not bring our check until we waved him down.
June 17th – Porta Spilia on Meganissi Island
A beautiful morning in Fiskardo.
From the boat there was a nice morning hike to the lighthouse by way of an early Christian Basilica – views, history, shady pathy and a beach at the end. A perfect hike for me!
We motored to a protected bay to hang out for the day – a nap, finish The Odyssey, lunch and swim in that order for me. It’s our last full day on the boat and its a little sad. It’s been a good week. Our last night was at Porta Spilia on Meganissi Island. Spartahori is a picturesque village at the top of the cliff above Port Spilia. The village is easily seen from a distance with its traditional whitewashed houses and red roofs. They used to build villages on the tops of hills for defensive purposes. It’s only been in the last 40 years that development on the waterfront has proliferated. This particular waterfront has just seen several tavernas open up because of the increase in sailing and boating. In the past everybody used to walk up to the town to eat but now there are options on the waterfront.
It was worth the effort to go up and look around the village with some incredible views from the top. A couple of the tavernas have built their own quays or floating pontoons beside the harbour. Two brothers own the taverna and built the quay we stayed on which you can see in the picture I took from above. We got in early enough and Thanos pulled some strings to get us a primo spot at the end of the quay. It was quite the show that afternoon watching the boats coming in and the hot son running around in his dingy pushing the yachts into their mooring spot. The water is very deep, too deep to drop an anchor for a traditional med mooring. Each boat picks up lazy lines from the dock to tie up.
Thanos reserved a table right by the water for our group to have a dinner together. No menu, just walk into kitchen and point to what you want. All fish, meats, prepared meals, salads, dips – it was all laid out for guests to see. It was a nice end to our week long sail.