We arrived in Symi to a grumpy reception from the marinero, but a warm welcome from our friends on Money Penny, and our soon-to-be friends on Infinite Blue.
To be fair to the marinero, he had prepared a nice, easy berth for us with a lazy line that he could hand to us from the quay. But it was on the opposite side of the harbour – and a long walk - from our friends. And we wanted to be next to them. So, he had to jump on his moped, whizz around the harbour, leap into his dinghy, zip out to our boat, and then actually tie our long bowline to a mooring buoy. But he calmed down and was charming and very helpful.[Ed - especially when he learned Alix was Welsh. Apparently, the cast of ‘Pobol y Cwm’ used to holiday in Symi and so he had learned a good smattering of Welsh words.]
Here we were, in late October, in the right place in the harbour and with glorious sunny weather. Costas, our agent, went off to check us into Greece, while we cooled off with a swim in a nearby bay.
Money Penny and Infinite Blue were already on a trip heading south towards Rhodes, but had waited for a few days in Symi so that Missy Bear could join them. The conditions looked excellent for the next ten days, and would be a great opportunity to explore the southern Dodecanese again. We, and Missy Bear, were now officially on holiday!
Our first stop was Alimia, just north of the island of Rhodes. The island is now deserted but referenced by Pliny the Elder (he who perished when Vesuvius erupted). It has a Knights of Rhodes castle high up on a hill that originally dated back to Hellenestic times, and to which Richard inevitably climbed with our new friends Amanda and Jonny. I was allowed not to go.
The Dodecanese has a rich history of ownership, and were occupied by the Italians during the Italo-Turkish war of 1911. The islands became the centre of a bloody campaign during WW2. Following the removal of Mussolini, his replacement - General Pietro Badoglio - sought peace with the Allies. Germany anticipated the armistice, and rushed to seize control of the islands.
Alimia still has some abandoned garrisons that were used to house German forces, and the walls display art and graffiti from that time. There was obviously a very talented artist, with words that looked like poetry or song lyrics underneath. I took a photograph of one, and sent it off to a German friend of mine to help with the translation.
He very kindly did some research and replied with the following:
“Götz von Berlichingen is a successful 1773 drama by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, based on the memoirs of the historical adventurer-poet Gottfried or Götz von Berlichingen (c. 1480–1562). It first appeared in English in 1799 as Goetz of Berlichingen of the Iron Hand in a rather free version by Walter Scott.
"Goethe's plot treats events freely: while the historical Götz died in his eighties, Goethe's hero is a free spirit, a maverick, intended to be a pillar of national integrity against a deceitful and over-refined society, and the way in which he tragically succumbs to the abstract concepts of law and justice shows the submission of the individual in that society.
"The inscription says, "In all these things, think of the Götz von Berlichingen." So maybe it is a criticism of the Nazi regime as people and, in this case, soldiers in a foreign land had succumbed "to the abstract concepts of law and justice" which showed "the submission of the individual in that society".
Given the other graffiti and wall art from that time, this felt appropriate to us.
We stayed here for two nights before heading the few miles across to (C)halki. We managed to get our Code 0 (a large asymmetrical sail) flying on this short trip, and we owe many thanks to Jonny who kindly flew his drone to take some stunning shots.
[Ed – we arrived on Chalki on Oxi Day (October 28). Oxi means ‘No’ in Greek, and today was the 'Anniversary of the No', which commemorates PM Metaxa’s rejection of Mussolini’s ultimatum in 1940. The Greeks counter-attacked the invading Italian forces in Epirus during the Greek resistance.
We expected some celebrations in the village, but were to be disappointed. Notwithstanding, in the sleepy mid-afternoon, we jumped out of our skin when a huge, underwater explosion erupted in the harbour not far from our three yachts. It’s a good job none of us were swimming at the time. We speculated that a local had chucked some lit dynamite into the water as a sort of celebratory firework? When we asked the taverna owner later what the huge explosion was, he said that he didn’t really know as he’d been asleep; he assumed simply that his wife had hit him…]
The following day, with barely a breath of wind, we all motored north to Tilos. We weren’t sure of mooring depths in the village harbour, so Missy Bear gingerly edged her way in and went over to the quay to have a look. Happily, the depth was more than enough, and we were able to get all three boats in, and others who also turned up. We hired a car and some mopeds and spent an enjoyable day exploring the island.
Tilos is well-known for the discovery of fossil bones of dwarf elephants. We were keen to see the museum, but sadly it was closed (we will be back!). The cave where the bones were first discovered was also closed but a few hardy individuals snuck through a gap in the railings.
The old chora was delightful, but the highlight for me was the beach where we stopped for a swim, to be greeted by the local wildlife: the ubiquitous herd of goats, but also an ostentation of peacocks, or at least, one alpha male, some peahens, and some delightful little peachicks.
Zeus was renowned for his wandering eye, and fell in love with Io. He turned her into a white heifer to protect her from the wrath of his wife, Hera. Hera got wind of this and persuaded Zeus to give her the heifer. She then asked Argus - a one hundred-eyed giant - to watch over the heifer, so that her husband could not visit her. Zeus sent his son Hermes to fetch Io, and Hermes played his flute to lull Argus to sleep. One-by-one, the giant's eyes closed until Hermes killed him.
Hera rewarded Argus’ loyalty by placing his eyes onto a peacock’s tail, and that is why the peacock tail looks as it does!
We also stayed two nights at our next stop – the volcanic island of Nisyros. We had been here with Tony and Rachelle on our way to Turkey, and had rung the unofficial harbour master (George) at Captain’s House to check the depths as the harbour entrance silts up. As our last visit had only been a few weeks ago, we were more relaxed about the depths this time. George and his team looked after us very well, and cheerfully allowed us to start our noisy Yahtzee championship in the taverna.
The six of us hired two quad bikes and a Ferrari-red beach buggy, and revisited some favourite haunts. The volcano is worth a visit, with its crater hissing and smelling of sulphurous gases. There is a set of interesting information boards showing how Nisyros is part of a chain of volcanic islands in the area, including Santorini in the Cyclades, where the caldera is partly submerged.
By now we were heading north to our base at Leros. As the prevailing wind is north-westerly, this meant a beat to windward. The original plan had been to cross over to Kardemena, on the south coast of Kos, but with the wind bang on the nose, plan B was to head north-easterly to Kos town and the marina itself. We put one reef in Missy Bear and set off. We were creaming along when suddenly the wind disappeared. But not to worry, it came back in force as we approached Kos. If we’d had a longer trip ahead of us, we’d have reefed in again, but Missy Bear hunkered down and gave us one of the best sails of the season.
From Kos, we sailed the short distance to the tiny island of Pserimos for an overnight anchorage. [Ed – we flubbered to the beach and after a walk, lit a small fire to bake the two small Bream that Al and Judith had caught earlier off Money Penney.]
We had then intended to overnight in a bay called Palionnisos on Kalymnos. But it is very open to the south and ‘Windy’ was showing southerlies. Ilias taverna does have mooring buoys there, but they told us they did not think it was safe to stay given the forecast. So, in the end, we headed back to Leros and anchored in the safe, sheltered bay of Lakki, just outside the marina.
[Ed - Next morning, as we were swinging on anchor keeping our noses into the light wind, we all decided to drop, flake and bag our Genoas ready for winter.We called Sebastian, the local sail cleaner, and he agreed to meet us on the town quay in twenty minutes to collect our foresails. Jonny collected Al and me, and the three bags of canvas, in his dinghy and the rendezvous was made.]
We motored the short way into the marina, and the next day Storm Eva arrived as forecast. We even received alerts on our mobiles telling us not to make any unnecessary journeys, and stay at home etc. As predicted, at about 14:00, we started to see the lightning flashes that heralded the start of the storm, together with the first few drops of rain. The storm continued throughout the day. The deluge of rain eased later in the afternoon, and then started up again. The thunderstorms battered on into the night. We were all very glad to be back safely tucked in and tied up.
All we could do was to continue our noisy Yahtzee championship to round off our wonderful mini flotilla holiday.
Comentários