From Tinos home to Lakki

We left Tinos at 7 on Sunday May 19^th and motored down to Delos, where you can anchor off during opening hours, 8 to 8. We tried anchoring south of the landing place, but it was weedy and rocky and there was not much room, so we anchored instead just north of the landing stage.

and rowed round, arriving at 9. By then no more than a dozen people had landed so we had the site almost to ourselves.

We had been here in 1964, but did not remember much of it. We had a photo of Lin sitting in the remains of a house

and tried, but failed, to find the same house, so had to take a picture in a different one. 

The site is enormous,

but the greatest thing about it this year is the installation of 29 Anthony Gormley scultures (https://neon.org.gr/en/exhibition/sight-antony-gormley-delos-island/), five  of which were made especially for the site, so we went on a Gormley hunt, and found sixteen of them. 

(There are much better pictures at https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/may/04/gormley-on-delos-in-pictures but these are ours)

The first we saw was in the bay as we were looking for a place to anchor.

6 Times Left (2009)

The second was at the head of the jetty. Lin thought at first that it was a person and wondered why he did not come over to help us in with our dinghy!

Another Time V (2007)

One was on the edge of the Agora 

Vice II (2015)

One was in the museum

Shift II (2000)

and one outside (a new site-specific commission), sitting on an exact replica of the ancient column and capital fragment.

Rule (2018)

Many of the others that we saw were placed in the ruins of houses. 

Cast III (2009)

Settlement III (2013)

Prop (2018)

Dionysus House

Reflect (new site-specific commission) in Dionysus House

Resort IV (2013)

Side II (2017)

Catch (2015)

Knot (2010) in the theatre

Cleopatra's House

Stem (2015)

One was overlooking a pond, 

Water (2018) Site-specific commission

accompanied by a strange croaking noise. At first we thought that Gormley had added a soundtrack, but then we saw that it was four frogs, croaking in the pond.

The famous lions on the site are reproductions,

The lions in 1964 - the originals?

The lions today

the originals being in the museum.

The museum has a lot of statues, none of which was particularly impressive, but some marvelous wall paintings.

By 10.30 the tripper boats were starting to arrive and by 11 we were having to fight our way through tour groups, 

so we decided it was time to leave, passing our last Gormley on a rock at the north end of the island.

Another Time XIV (2011)

We motored across to Mykonos, where we anchored alongside Mike and Helen in Island Drifter at the head of Korfos Bay. 

After lunch we rowed ashore and met up with Simon’s ex-colleague, Peter Ratcliffe, who spends every spring and autumn on Mykonos. With Peter we took a bus into town from Ornos Beach

and he showed us around the streets and harbour of Mykonos. We had only vague memories of our previous visit in 1964 (Lin also came in 1965), but the town (and the whole island) has been massively developed since then. 

Mykonos Harbour

The windmills

Little Venice

We didn't see Petros, the famous pelican, with whom Simon had made friends in 1964 (the original Petros was killed by a car in 1985).

We had coffee and cakes at a bakery and then walked back to Korfos, where we had a quick swim from the boat (18 degrees).

Mike and Helen had returned and called us up to invite us for drinks with their friends, Max and Sue. After drinks we made a light supper, as it was getting late, of salad and sardines on toast (because the safety cut out on the grill does not work, grilling involves holding the knob in the whole time).

Peter's photo of the boats piled up off Megali Amos beach at sunset (where we had thought of anchoring) 

We woke early on Monday morning, May 20^th. We had been looking for a weather window for favourable winds to cross to the Dodecanese, but all the forecasts have been inconsistent and unreliable, which makes planning ahead difficult. All the weather forecasts for Monday showed the wind between south and west and up to Force 3, so we decided that it would make sense to cross directly back from Mykonos to Arki, setting off at 6.20. The wind was indeed a Force 3 southwesterly, so we got the sails up and motor-sailed at good speed. However, the wind soon went round to the east, on the nose, so we had to get the sails down and motor.  After lunch the wind went round to a Force 4 ESE so we could unroll the genoa and speed up a bit. Visibility was bad and got worse, so we could not see Patmos until we were ten miles off.

We were very pleased to reach the top of Patmos at 4.30

and get onto the quay in Arki at 6 after 75 miles.

After a day of thick cloud, as soon as we got to Arki the sun came out! After dinner at Nikolas, we went early to bed and slept a long sleep.

We left Arki at 8.20 and motor-sailed down to Lakki, getting into the marina at 12, in time to get the bikes out and go and have a beer at Poppy’s to celebrate the completion of our Northern Odyssey. 773 miles (and a lot of diesel) in 3 weeks and a bit.

From Khalkis to Tinos

We left Khalkis at 8.30 on Wednesday morning, 16 May, and wound our way through the channel, passing under the road bridge with room to spare. 

Just around from the bridge we passed a shipyard where the Blue Star Ferry Diogenes, that we have taken from Leros to Athens, was in dry dock.

There was sun and some wind at last, but it was Force 2-3 on the nose, so we motored again. We had intended to go to Almyropotamos Bay on Evia, but we decided to press on and arrived at Nisos Khernision (Xero) at 15.45, having covered 45 miles.

We had expected to find the bay empty, but there were two yachts already there (and two more came in later), but we found a comfortable place to anchor on 6m of sand.  It is a beautiful bay

and the sea temperature was 18.5, so Lin had a swim.

We had a long night’s sleep to recover from being up till 2 the previous night and left Xero at 7.30 with a very weak southerly wind. We motored round Tragonisi, a “strictly private” island with one inhabitant, according to the census, but with three very large houses and their own harbor.

The other larger Petali islands had substantial houses on them, Khersonisi

and Megalonisi,

 

 but are uninhabited according to the census, so presumably these are second homes.

The wind gradually swung round as we motor-sailed towards Andros, eventually reaching a Force 4 northerly. We arrived in Batsi at 12.15 and went alongside the quay. 

We had a week’s holiday in Batsi about twenty years ago, but there has been so much construction since then (and maybe our memories are weakening) that we could not recognize anything or remember exactly where we had stayed.

We went for an excellent lunch at a taverna overlooking the bay, run by a very friendly Greek owner and his German wife, who had been there for 33 years. 

When we got back to the boat, the harbour master came up and asked us to move forward, to make room for another boat behind, although there was lots of room on the other quay and even if we moved forward there would only be room for a coracle behind us. Nevertheless, we moved to keep him happy. We then went for a walk up the road to find the recycling bins and to see if we could recognize anywhere from our previous visit. We succeeded at the former, but failed at the latter.

We came back down a long flight of steps through town, passing the taverna where we had had lunch. The taverna owner recommended we go back up and follow an alley round the town, crossing a stream and seeing a neoclassical villa for sale for 2 million euros.

We had pesto pasta for dinner after our big lunch and got to bed early.

We left Batsi at 7.45 with absolutely no wind. We motored down the West coast of Andros, past the narrow channel between Andros and Tinos 

and down the West coast of Tinos to Tinos Town in the southwest corner of the island. On the way the wind went round the clock, so we had the genoa out for a bit on one tack, then on the other.

We always keep a good look-out ahead, but on ferry routes you have to keep a good look-out behind as well. We did not see the first fast ferry until it was about half a mile behind us. He clearly intended to pass inside us, close to the shore, so we held our course and surfed his wash, rather than turning to face into it. 

The same happened with the second ferry, which we had seen from a long way off. 

The second ferry passed us soon before we got to Tinos town and was clearly getting ready to leave again as we reached the harbor entrance, so we held back until he had left.

We reached the harbor, after 27 miles, at 12 to find very few yachts there, so there was plenty of room on the quay. Two young men in hi-vis jackets took our lines very professionally and booked a diesel delivery for us – they turned out to be self-appointed harbor staff, but only asked for a tip when they had finished, rather than demanding a ridiculous fee, as often happens. They seemed delighted with the 5 euros we gave them and we were delighted when the diesel truck arrived more or less at the time promised. While we filled with diesel, the harbor authorities turned up to demand their fee of 14 euros – apart from Orei, the only time we have paid to stay anywhere on this whole trip.

We went for lunch in a very good little taverna up a back street recommended by the Greek Gastronomy Guide. After lunch we walked up to the hideous church of Panagia Evangelistra with its sacred icon. 

As our Greek Island-Hopping Guide explains: “The icon is reputedly the work of St Luke … and, if true, shows a remarkable anticipation of Byzantine art…. It came to light in 1822 after a passing nun saw a hunky bronzed workman digging in a field and had a vision (of what, history hasn’t recorded). Given instructions where to dig he unearthed the icon, miraculously unharmed.” The church was built on the site of the discovery, the icon has miraculous curative powers and attracts huge numbers of believers to Tinos, and the nun was declared a saint.

After looking round the church and looking at, but not kissing, the icon, we made our way back down the carpeted walkway along the main road.

After shopping we went back to the boat, read and chilled before a light omelette dinner.