Motoring through the Corinth canal |
Our friends Melanie and Derek arrived on 17th May
to spend a week with us on the boat. We were up early the next day ready to
sail through the Corinth canal to the Aegean. We called up the canal office to
ask if we could go through and were told to proceed to the canal as quickly as
possible. But first we had to escape from the tight corner we were moored in.
It wouldn’t be easy with the wind blowing us on to the small boat moorings, but
Cliff had the brilliant idea of backing the genoa to turn the boat into the
narrow channel, and it worked a treat.
Once out we steamed down to meet up with three other boats
that were getting ready to transit. We were told to follow a motor launch and
quickly found ourselves in the canal with the walls towering high above us. In
less than an hour we were out the other side and mooring up to pay a whopping
180 euro fee for the privilege!
With Melanie and Derek at Angistri harbour |
There was so little wind that we had to motor sail from the
canal down to the small island of Angistri, but as we arrived the wind suddenly
got up, making mooring in the harbour a difficult business. It took us
two attempts to get in, providing lots of entertainment for the other boats who
were already on the quay!
The theatre at Epidaurus |
After a couple of relaxing days on Angistri we moved on to the busy port of Epidaurus where we took a taxi to the nearby ancient site of Epidaurus. This was originally a sanctuary for healing but the main attraction is the impressive, 14,000 seat theatre which is set among the rolling green hills and still used for performances today. We enjoyed wandering around the theatre and the museum and would have like to have had more time to explore the huge site with its stadium, temple and sanctuary, but it was very hot and the taxi was waiting so we will have to return another time.
After a couple of relaxing days on Angistri we moved on to the busy port of Epidaurus where we took a taxi to the nearby ancient site of Epidaurus. This was originally a sanctuary for healing but the main attraction is the impressive, 14,000 seat theatre which is set among the rolling green hills and still used for performances today. We enjoyed wandering around the theatre and the museum and would have like to have had more time to explore the huge site with its stadium, temple and sanctuary, but it was very hot and the taxi was waiting so we will have to return another time.
The smaller theatre on the headland |
Back at the port we were told there were the remains of
another theatre on the headland, so we set out on a very pleasant early
evening stroll along the beach and then inland through orange and lemon groves
until we found the theatre (small, but still impressive) and other remains that
are still being excavated. The remains are on a rise just above the sea, and
apparently you can still see the foundations of the old town in the shallows
below.
Sunset at Poros |
Our final stop with Melanie and Derek was Poros, the main
town on the island of the same name. We have fond memories of a week we spent here with Melanie and Derek over 30 years ago! The town is
as lovely now as it was then, spanning two sides of the headland with views
across the narrow strait to the mountains on the mainland. We moored on the
north quay and were quite smug about the location which was away from noisy
bars and had a perfect view of the sunset.
Cliff with the broken boarding plank |
We weren’t far from the ferry dock and had read there could
be some wash, so we made sure the boat was pulled well off the quay. The first
few ferries produced a bit of a bumpy wash, but nothing prepared us for the
tidal wave that came when one of the ferries did a fast turn.
Sandpiper suddenly surged backwards, and the ball fender we had positioned on the
back crashed violently into the quayside.
The next day as we lowered the gangplank to go ashore we had
another ‘tidal wave’. This drove the boat towards the quay and pinned the plank
under a mooring cleat then bounced it up and down so violently that it cracked
and splintered all down one side. The plank was new this season – and was now
useless! Luckily we still had our old (rather dodgy) metal passerelle so this
was put into use until we could find a replacement plank. Once Melanie and
Derek had left to take the ferry back to Athens we moved round to the South Quay
away from the ferries, reasoning that a bit of noise from the bars was a lot
better than a damaged boat.
We were really sad to see Melanie and Derek go. They had
been brilliant company for the week, up for anything and always making us
laugh!
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