It’s a Small World

All good things must come to an end, and it was with heavy hearts that we travailed over our final packing. Travailed being the key word here. It was actually quite hilarious how much we had accumulated from here and there, and how tremendously hard it was to fit it all in. For anyone out…

It’s the day to eat all the leftovers. Well, as many as we possibly could. Cookies, pastries, deli meats, a wide variety of cheese, and nutella. There was zero wind, so us girls spent an hour or two riding up on the bow, soaking up the sunshine and chatting. Kindi slept a long time, and…

There were some tasks we needed to do this morning, like cleaning the boat and patching the dinghy. Yup, we had put a couple holes in the bottom thanks to a few jagged rocks we encountered the other day. It was a bit of an ordeal to patch, much like patching a tire, except we…

Our next harbor was on Chalki, but when you pronounce it the c is silent. A friendly boat-full of Poles were docked beside us. It’s always fun to chatter with the other folks in port. Most are European, with a very few other Americans. Chalki was different than anything else we had seen. The houses…

It’s evening on Nisyros. We just watched the sun sink in a glorious display into the ocean, and now are quick walking around some ancient city ruins. The old dark walls are silhouetted against the colorful sky and the first star has come out. Goat bells are tinkling among the olive trees and somewhere a…

That is a little sign we’ve seen a few places on Astypalea. I don’t know if it’s happenstance, or if they write it because the island is shaped like a butterfly. Astypalea is absolutely beautiful. It’s centered in between two groups of islands and takes a bit of an effort to actually reach, so it…

The first sight that met our eyes was a quaint little fishing harbor. Stray cats ambled about, goat bells tinkled in the distance, and an old fisherman was checking his nets. A small Taverna slowly filled with locals, and as I sat on my battered deck chair on the shore, I could hear animated Greek…

It’s a full time job, keeping Avril out of the Supermarkets while we’re in Harbor. She loves to shop, that one. We spent an hour or two tidying the boat, restocking provisions and bringing in the last of the laundry. It’s time to leave beautiful Samos and head South again. After our very unsuccessful stab…

As if to make up for yesterday’s anchor fiasco, our morning Med mooring in Pythagoreio Harbor on Samos was faultless. Or so I was told. I was actually asleep and barely heard the anchor chain doing it’s thing above my head. I don’t need to say that most of us really needed some land time.…

Everyone felt hugely rested after a good sleep and we were ready to absorb the sights of Patmos. It’s a pretty little island with tall hills and white houses clustered around the harbor. We started up the path to John The Revelator’s cave which, surprise, surprise, had a church built over it. You could still…

Knowing the wind and seas were rising, we were motivated to get to shore by 9:00 am to start our exploration. A steep hike up through the town led to a Castle and some windmills of all things. I find it magnificently annoying how pictures always distort stuff so you really can’t ever see without…

The shopkeeper had all day. Good thing Zach C and I weren’t in a great hurry either. He thought we were nuts, having flown 20hrs to visit Greece. We must be very rich, he said. I told him not so fierce rich, we had had to budget and I mean honestly, 20hrs are peanuts when…