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.