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Tag: History

Apulia – Trulli Baroque

Apulia – Trulli Baroque

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Coned trulli housetops with decorations

Our sailing blog has been greatly neglected this past winter and spring. Life got in the way – more precisely, land life in a very cold land. It was hard to find inspiration for writing about adventures along the sunny Mediterranean while wading about in deep snow. Now that the new sailing season has already begun, perhaps it’s time to draw a quick summary of the places we visited from our winter base – in no particular order. Next time, I might tell you more about which way the winds are blowing this summer. Continue reading

Cretan Spring and New Sailing Season

Cretan Spring and New Sailing Season

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Grey stone windmills on a rugged mountain.

Winter 2021-2022 was unusually cold and stormy in Crete. Our boat Aina seemed to think it was the most uncomfortable winter along our journey so far, with frequent rain showers, hail storms and constant swell. The writer of this story, Inka, spent the winter back in the snowy homeland while the boat and the rest of the crew stayed in the marina at Agios Nikolaos. Continue reading

Spinalonga Island – A One Way Ticket

Spinalonga Island – A One Way Ticket

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Venetian bastion with the Kalydon peninsula in the background

I was a teenager when I first visited Crete. It was my first and only holiday trip “south”. Besides the beautiful beaches and too salty but wonderfully warm water, I’ve never forgotten my visit to an island of lepers. Decades later, we had arrived in the same place on our own keel, sailed past the famous island, Spinalonga, and anchored in the sheltered bay behind it. It was time to hop in the dinghy and visit the island fortress again. Continue reading

Escaping winter to Crete – Spinalonga and Elounda

Escaping winter to Crete – Spinalonga and Elounda

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Elounda fishing harbour is full of colourful boats.

Aina sailed peacefully, following her favourite compass heading, 180°. We saw Mykonos behind us, and soon also Naxos and Paros, as we continued further south. It was the last day of October, and the sun would set early. There would be no moon to guide us on this night passage. The cloudy sky soon turned pitch black. But the wind wasn’t bad, the sea not too bumpy, so we both slept well in turns. As I climbed into the cockpit for my shift around midnight, I saw the beautiful glittering lights of Santorini on our starboard side. Perhaps we would sail there one day, but not tonight – our destination was Crete. Continue reading

Mykonos with Wintry Winds

Mykonos with Wintry Winds

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We had been dodging strong northerly winds for a week in Naxos during the second half of October. During a short calm break, we paid a brief visit to the island of Delos before having to hunker down for the next windy spell. There appeared to be some sheltered bays on the south side of Mykonos, so we headed there. Mykonos is one of the most touristy islands in the Cyclades, but perhaps this late in the season it might not be quite so crowded. Continue reading

Delos – the Sacred Island of Apollo

Delos – the Sacred Island of Apollo

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Sometimes I think about what it would be like to be Greek. To have been born on a random island or a section of the coastline, where ancient bronze statues wash up on the shore on a regular day. Every hill around your home village would be an alleged birthplace of some son or daughter of Zeus’ seventh wife. The olive tree in your backyard would have been there when Aristotle was a little boy. Your grandfather would have grazed his sheep on a field where the Greeks once fought the Persians. Continue reading

Naxos – Marble Villages and Byzantine Treasures

Naxos – Marble Villages and Byzantine Treasures

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The island of Naxos has a lot to see – you could easily spend several fully packed weeks here. This time we only had a day to tour the island on a rental car, but we managed to get a very nice glimpse of the island. We headed east, over the hills, from Naxos town. The further we got from the rugged coastline, the greener and lusher the landscape became. Continue reading

Naxos – the Greatest of the Cyclades

Naxos – the Greatest of the Cyclades

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Our Cycladic adventure had begun from Paros, and now we arrived in Naxos after only a couple of hours’ sail. Naxos is the largest of the Cyclades islands. The main city goes by the same name but is often called Chora (chora means simply “town” or “main town” and there are many Choras all over the Greek islands). The town is situated in a large bay on the northwestern corner of the island, nestled behind a small island with the ruins of Apollo’s temple on it. Between the temple island and the town is a small anchorage, and that’s where we decided to drop the hook. Continue reading

South Along the Ionian – Zakynthos of the Sea Turtles

South Along the Ionian – Zakynthos of the Sea Turtles

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Last time we got to know the island of Ithaca, home of Odysseus. In mid-July, we continued further south. We anchored in a little cove on the southeastern side of Kefalonia. Two goats, a mother and a kid, provided our evening entertainment. They effortlessly jumped from rock to rock along the seaside. In the morning we continued towards Zakynthos. Continue reading

Odysseus’ Ithaca and a Bit of Kefalonia Too

Odysseus’ Ithaca and a Bit of Kefalonia Too

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The most famous sailor to ever roam the Mediterranean sea was, no doubt, Odysseus. All of us later colleagues have heard of him, and in many ways travelled in his wake. Odyssey, the epic poem of Homer, is a story about a war hero trying to find his way back home from the Trojan war (around 1192-1184 BC). He was the king of Ithaca, and it took him ten years of adventuring to make it back. There are many candidates to every place depicted in the story, including Odysseus’ home island. Some have placed his Ithaca on Kefalonia or Lefkas. Continue reading

Castle to Castle – Parga

Castle to Castle – Parga

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The Ionian islands of Greece were part of the Venetian Republic for more than four hundred years. Venice conquered the islands one by one – Corfu in 1383, Zakynthos about a century later, Kefalonia and Ithaca around 1500 and finally Lefkada in 1718. The Venetians and Ottomans fought over the territory for many centuries, but unlike the rest of Greece, the Ionian islands escaped the Ottoman rule. Corfu, as the bulwark against the Ottoman empire became one of the most fortified places in Europe. Continue reading

Stone Crazy – Exploring the Villages of Zagori

Stone Crazy – Exploring the Villages of Zagori

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During the first days of our mountain holiday in Zagori, we visited the mountains and the spectacular gorge that I wrote about in a previous post. In earlier brief history, I mentioned that there are also 46 old villages built of stone – now it’s time to visit some of them! These days there are less than 4000 inhabitants in the area. In the heyday, the number was many times that. Fortunately, travellers interested in nature, hiking, biking, horse riding, canoeing, climbing and other outdoor activities are beginning to find their way here, as well as those who are into history, architecture and stone construction. And for people who just love rocks – we happen to have those among our friends – it’s an endless goldmine. Continue reading