Goodbye Greece, Hello Turkey

Datca

On 26^th September we moored on the town quay at Datca, which sits on the Turkish mainland opposite the Greek island of Simi. We like Datca, it’s a typical Turkish holiday resort with a good beach and pretty waterfront cafes and restaurants on either side of a peninsular. We were here 10 years ago to visit our friends Gill and Nursal, who live in the small village of Hirzirsah, a few kilometres out of the town. We were looking forward to seeing them again this year, but when we arrived we discovered they were back in England visiting family. Heh ho, maybe we’ll catch them on the way back next year.

The full Turkish treatment at the barber's

Cliff was in urgent need of a haircut, so a visit to the barber was a must before we left. Cliff suggested I came with him, and although I felt a bit out of place sitting in such an overtly male establishment, it was certainly entertaining. The barber was very welcoming and even popped to the café next door to order me a glass of chai (Turkish tea) to drink while I waited. At first it all seemed relatively normal, as Cliff’s hair, beard and moustache were expertly trimmed and he was given a wash, blow dry and head and neck massage. But then I noticed the barber heating some wax... he spread this over Cliff’s cheeks and nose then dipped cotton buds in the wax and popped one in each ear! Once it had cooled, the wax was ripped off, but there were still a few hairs to deal with. Next the barber lit a taper and wafted the flame over Cliff’s face and ears until the remaining hair was literally singed away. (Watching this made me wince, but Cliff says none of it was particularly painful). Then the barber produced a small, circular, pointed electric razor and gently pushed it into each of Cliff’s nostrils to remove the excess nostril hair. Finally, Cliff was given a liberal dowsing of cologne, and walked out looking and smelling like a real Turkish gentleman!

Stray cats and dogs are a fact of life in both Greece and Turkey, and in Datca we were befriended by a stray tabby kitten who tried to climb on to the boat. Much as we love cats, we aren’t keen on the fleas they bring with them, so we shooed the kitten away. Then, at five the next morning I was woken by a loud meowing. “I think the cat’s on the boat” I said to Cliff. “Impossible” he replied, “we’re six foot off the quay with the plank up, anyway, there’s no way it can get in.” The meowing continued so I got up… and discovered the kitten happily curled up in our saloon on the chart table cushion! She must have boarded another boat and jumped across, then squeezed down below through a narrow opening in our hatch. Needless to say, she was swiftly (but gently) evicted.

The beautiful Gulf of Hisaronu

After leaving Datca we spent a few days cruising the beautiful, sheltered Gulf of Hisaronu. At the southern end of the Gulf the hills are bare and red with wonderful rock formations, and at the north end they are rich and green, covered in pine trees. For our first night we sailed north and anchored under pine covered slopes in the secluded bay of Kuyulu Buku, where the only sounds were the hooting of the owls. Over the next two days  we slowly worked our way south again.

The picture-postcard town of Simi

The Greek island of Simi sits opposite the southern end of the Gulf and we couldn’t resist a quick peek at the main town, although officially we couldn’t land without ‘checking in’ to Greece again. We were pleased we made the detour, it’s a picturesque spot and we are looking forward to spending a night or two there on our way back north next year.

Stunning views from the citadel of Loryma

Eventually we sailed south out of the Gulf and round the corner into the stunning bay of Bozuk Buku, under the remains of the ancient citadel of Loryma. We tied up to the rickety restaurant jetty, then climbed up the hill to the citadel and walked along its walls, which gave us wonderful views towards Rhodes on one side and down into the bay on the other.

The next morning it was decision time. Should we turn left and head down towards Marmaris, or go straight out towards Gocek and Fethiye? The weather decided for us: thunderstorms and strong winds were forecast for Marmaris, so we set our course for the nine hour sail down to Gocek, where we were promised light winds and sunshine.

Amorgos and Kalymnos

Contented cat in Chora on Amorgos

 

After five days on Naxos the weather improved, so on 21^st September we set off south east across the Cyclades, to the island of Amorgos.  Soon after we left the harbour a pod of six dolphins joined us, entertaining us as they dived under the boat and did graceful leaps out of the water. Then it was a peaceful, six hour motor sail with hardly a boat in sight until we arrived at Katapoula, on Amorgos.

We knew we would only have one night on the island as more gale force winds were predicted, and we wanted to do the 70 mile crossing to Kalymnos the next day before they arrived. Once we were safely moored we looked to see whether we could get a bus to the monastery of Hozoviotissa, one of the key attractions on the island. Unfortunately, we had just missed it. Never mind, we had heard the old town of Chora at the top of the hill was worth visiting, so we jumped on a bus there instead.  

Chora on Amorgos

It is a lovely old village, all whitewashed houses in narrow, Bougainvillea-covered alleyways. We walked through it to the top of the hill, and when we got there I spotted a sign by a gate saying ‘Hozoviotissa Monastery, 40 mins’.  Great, I thought, we can see the monastery after all! As we walked through the gate, we found the path took you almost vertically down the side of a mountain to the coast below, where it joined a road that (we assumed) led to the monastery. At that point we had a small disagreement. It was 5pm and the bus back to the port left at 6.30, so Cliff wasn’t keen on doing the walk as he thought we wouldn’t make it there and back in time.  I thought we could (just) make it.

Stunning view from the top of the path to the monastery

 

Eventually we agreed to disagree. Cliff stayed at the top of the path while I did a speedy hike downhill and jogged along the road. Suddenly, as I turned the corner, the monastery was above me, a magnificent, towering white building literally built into the cliff face. The sun had already dropped below the mountain, so the monastery was in the shade, which wasn’t great for photos, but the view was still breathtaking. I sat for a few minutes taking it all in, then turned back to face the gruelling uphill climb.  I kept up a good pace and eventually reached the top at 5.50, so in the end we had time for a drink before the bus came!

The monastery of Hozoviotissa

 

When we got back to the boat we found that the inter-island ferry had moored alongside us, right over our anchor. Clearly we would be going nowhere until the ferry left! A quick check of the timetable told us that it would be leaving at 6am the next day, just before our planned departure at 6.30am.

We were up early the next morning and hauled anchor as soon as the ferry left. But as we did so we found the neighbouring Norwegian boat had laid their anchor over ours, so Cliff spend a frustrating 15 minutes untangling the chains until we were finally free.  We had light winds for our journey but the currents were with us, and we sailed into Pothia harbour on Kalymnos just 10 hours later.

Pothia on Kalymnos

 

Kalymnos is in the Dodecanese islands, close to the island of Kos, and only 10 miles from the Turkish mainland. The island used to be famous for its sponge fishing, but in 1986 a mysterious disease killed most of the sponges in the area, so now the islanders rely on fishing and tourism for their living. We stayed there for a couple of days and found it a friendly, peaceful place. However Turkey beckoned, and on the 26^th September we said goodbye to Greece and sailed across to the town of Datca on the Turkish mainland.

Naxos

Naxos town

On 15^th September we left Paros and set off towards the neighbouring island of Naxos. Once we were outside the bay we tried to raise the sail but the halyard jammed with the mainsail half up.  After some jiggling we eventually managed to pull the sail down again, but we were concerned, as it was the second time this had happened and there was no obvious cause for the jamming. 

A couple of hours later we were tied up in Naxos harbour and had called in a rigger to help us. The news wasn’t good, inside the top of the mast there is a plastic ‘divider’ which stops the different halyards becoming tangled. The plastic has split with age and the main halyard has tangled with the topping lift.  The long term solution is to replace the plastic divider, but to do this we will need to have the mast stepped (taken down) so it will have to wait until Sandpiper is hauled out of the water for the winter. Meanwhile, the rigger untangled our lines and told us to try and keep the lines tight to avoid the problem recurring.

The Portara

Our mooring gave us a great view of Naxos old town, which is a jumble of Cycladean and Venetian buildings, as Venetians ruled the island between the 13^th and 16^th centuries.  Beyond it we could see the little island of Palatia and the marble Portara (all that remains of a 6^th century BC temple to Apollo) which features in every postcard of Naxos.  After the rigger left we walked out on the causeway to the island then back into the town, where we managed to get completely lost in the maze of narrow streets.

Playing the tsabouna

The next evening we walked up to the Venetian castle for an open air concert of local music and dancing. It was run by a folk music society and each act was introduced with a talk about the origins of the instruments and the different dances.  It was interesting to see how similar musical instruments have developed across Europe – our favourite performance was from a man playing the tsabouna, a form of bagpipe made from goatskin, with pipes made from horns.  We also had the chance to sample a range of local ‘home brewed’ wines and spirits, which Cliff particularly enjoyed!

Timewarp - window of a village store

Naxos is a big island with lots to see, so we decided to hire a car.  We really enjoyed our two days exploring the island, it's a fascinating mix of remote inland villages which don’t appeared to have changed much in the last century and modern resorts nearer to Naxos town which have white sand beaches to die for.



Venetian fortified mansion beside Greek church at the mountain village of Apiranthos



One of our highlights was seeing the ‘Kouroi’, huge, ancient, unfinished marble sculptures lying on the hillsides where they were originally carved.  Naxos is famous for its marble, which is still mined there today. In the 7th and 6th Centuries BC the island exported sculptures to other parts of Greece, famous examples include the sphinx at Delphi and the lions of Delos.  Sometimes a sculpture would be almost complete when a flaw was found on it so it would be rejected and remain near where it was being worked on and these are the ‘Kouroi’ that can still be seen today.



The Kouros at Flerio...

 

...and its feet!

The Kouros at Apollon, which is over 10 metres long

Back to the Cyclades

Ermioni restaurant looking across to Dhokos

It was now almost mid-September, and time for us to be thinking about crossing the Aegean towards Turkey, where we would be leaving the boat for the winter. Our route would take us through an area known for high winds and confused seas, so we needed to find a window of calm weather for the crossing. We decided our departure point from the mainland would be Ermioni, an easy day’s sail from Porto Heli.

Sandpiper on the south quay at Ermioni

We arrived at Ermioni on Sept 12th and moored off the south quay, it was a bit bouncy with the choppy waves, but it was a pretty spot with views across the bay to the islands of Dhokos and Hydra. The town is built on two sides of a peninsular and the end of the peninsular is the site of the ancient city of Hermione, now covered in pines and protected as a public park. We had a lovely, late afternoon walk through the park, enjoying the shade of the pines, the views out to sea and the random discovery of parts of the original citadel walls, tombs and the ancient harbour. After a fish supper at the taverna a few yards from our boat, we turned in for an early night as the weather looked good the next day to start our crossing  to the Cycladean island of Serifos.

Cliff was fascinated by this face in the rocks...can you see it?

 

Taking a break on our walk round the peninsular

We motored out of Ermioni before sunrise the next morning through still, windless waters. By 9am we had enough wind to sail and were making good progress, but by midday the wind had dropped again and the engine went on. At 5pm, after an 11 hour crossing we finally dropped anchor in Koutoula bay on Serifos, a peaceful spot surrounded by bare, ochre hills topped by an ancient hill fort and the more recent remains of iron works which had been the island’s main industry until the early 20^th century.

Parikia on the island of Paros

The next morning we set sail again, this time for the island of Paros. We had fond memories of Paros as we visited it 37 years ago on an island hopping honeymoon.  There were gale force winds forecast for most of the following week, and we planned to moor in the well protected harbour at Parikia, the capital , then stay for a week to rediscover the island while the winds blew through .



The small harbour at Parikia

When we eventually arrived at Parikia we managed to grab the last space in the small harbour, but after we had tied up we noticed a sign announcing that our space (and most of the others along the quay) belonged to a charter company and could not be used between Thursday and Sunday. A second sign announced that visiting boats were only allowed to stay for a maximum of three days. It was now 5pm on a Sunday and there was no sign of the charter boats so we decided to chance it and stay put.  But it was clear we would either have the brave the storms in the anchorage, or find an alternative harbour before the bad weather arrived.

Sunset at Parikia

That evening we wandered along the harbour and through the narrow back streets of Parikia.  Very little has changed in 37 years,  the bay is still very pretty and the town is busy as ever, but progress means you can now stock up with provisions at a  big supermarket and buy a decent Americano coffee!

By the next morning we made the difficult decision to leave Paros and head instead for the neighbouring island of Naxos.  We had heard great things about the island, and with a well protected harbour it looked like a good place to weather the storms.