Greece

Ionian and North-Western Peleponnisos

Unlike many of our friends who first travelled up the sole of Italy’s boot to Brindisi before crossing to Greece, we opted to leave from the toe – Spropolo – and head directly for the Ionian Island of Zakinthos (though being Toodle-oo!, we made landfall in Kefallinia!) for a passage distance of 240+/-NM. We left at 6:00am on July 31st and arrived August 1st at 6pm. We’d had good sailing for the most part – but still ended up motoring about 25%.

Instead of going straight to Argostoli to check in we anchored off a beautiful little cove for a couple of days, being joined by friends Anne and Stefan on Mokendeist on the second day – a nice gentle way to introduce ourselves to Greece. The Ionian islands are much greener than we were expecting.

We officially entered Greece on August 3rd at Argostoli and managed to clear in successfully and without too much hassle as all the officials we had to meet were roughly in the same building complex. We received our all important Transit Log – which means that we have to check in – and out – of every port we enter. Once in, we began to explore a very different country indeed and were immediately welcomed by everyone – who for the most part spoke some degree of English. So different to our experience in Italy.

A couple of days in ‘the big smoke’ and we decided to move back to our arrival anchorage – and a couple of days later, began a slow trek south towards the Peleponnisos peninsular, stopping first at a crystal clear anchorage at Spartia on the south coast of Kefalonia. We’d left Mokendeist in Argostoli awaiting a fridge repair – but we also had an important appointment in Zakinthos for a scooter rental – having been unable to rent one in Argostoli. Unfortunately with no wind, we motored the entire way – and then faced Med-Mooring in the main port at Zakinthos. Fortunately with calm winds we managed successfully and without damage to boat or pride!

A couple of days later including 2 short sails we anchored up in Katakolon on Greece’s Peleponnisos peninsula which we would use as a base to visit – by train – the ancient site of Olympia where the first 1,000 Olympic games were held. Katakolon isn’t much to write home about – but with the train connection, it’s the obvious place to visit Olympia from – which even though it’s a World Heritage site, is not all that much to write home about either – it’s broken!

A long sail to Pylos followed – a marvelous little town with a large castle – and a smaller older castle across the bay. Both were very interesting to visit. While in Pylos, I took advantage of having a dive shop close by so was able to easily replenish my tank (which I exchanged for my old one) on a regular basis, spending 3 days to get Toodle-oo!’s bottom cleaned of all the growth. Thank you Anne for your assistance!