We didn’t want to sail south from Paros, at least not too far. The Meltemi winds make sailing in the Aegean during summer a gamble. Large tourist destinations also tend to put us off. For our taste Paros already had enough people and ferry traffic. Islands like Santorini and Mykonos are groaning under the onslaught of tourists. After a few dry years, it’s so bad this year that in some places the locals have had their water turned off in order to have enough for tourism. The islands look correspondingly bare – climate change sends its regards.
Because we were so fond of the really beautiful kitchen utensils made of olive wood one can buy here, we planned our destinations around such shops. This took us to Lesbos. There is a small shop there with an attached workshop in the basement, which can be reached via a small bay good for anchoring. This plan turned out to be a stroke of luck. The island is still green and the town itself is very small and not at all crowded. In the local restaurant we ate in the evening, the food was tasty and costs only €17 for the two of us. But we had to pay in cash, which almost got us into trouble.
The wooden shop “Olive Tree House” has a great selection and the owner is super friendly. She offered us drinks and homemade biscuits. As we made a somewhat large purchase, she urged us to fill a bag full of biscuits for the next day. We weren’t able to visit the workshop that day because it was already late afternoon. Because we had paid for our wooden items in cash, there was little cash left for dinner in the evening. We dug up the last of our coins and discovered that we each still had €5 “emergency money” hidden in our wallets. Phew, it was just enough.
The next day Mathias got on his bike and rode to Lidl (also accessible from the bay). I stopped by the shop again and asked if I could see the workshop. I was then given an interesting tour. The drying processes for the wood are very long: two years in the shed, and an additional 6 months between the individual processing steps for bowls. There was sawdust everywhere in the workshop, which was also used to slowly dry the fresh new wood. Only branches that were diseased or where the tree had to be pruned are used for the items made here. The olive tree is never cut down completely.
Because it was the school holidays in Greece, all the employees with children were on holiday and only one older man was working in the workshop. He made a small vase on the lathe especially for me as a gift. After the tour, we got chatting and the lady showed me her garden and gave us some fruit. So I was still there when Mathias cycled past, back from shopping.
We changed our anchorage that day, because we wanted to walk to Lidl again the next day before leaving. Many things are much cheaper at Lidl, so we like shopping there even though in Greece they don’t sell quark at Lidl. So the next day we made a pilgrimage to Lidl with our mini trolleys and stocked up on drinks and other supplies. The way to the supermarket led past a refugee camp.
Mathias also wanted to go to the wood shop again. So he hopped back on his bike and set off while I stowed everything on board. He also had to visit the workshop and was given a turned mug.
It took us longer than planned to weigh anchor and set off on our return journey. It feels like a return journey, as we are now heading west and then soon north-west. There are hardly any terrestrial AIS points in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea, so we were not visible in the search programmes on the Internet (e.g. marine traffic or vesselfinder) or were still shown as anchored in Paros. Of course, our satellite tracker continued to show our position.
We stopped off at Oinousses, a small mountainous village on a small island that is said to be one of the wealthier areas of Greece. You didn’t notice much of this, as about every fifth house was in ruins. We first anchored there at night in the middle of the harbour basin and the next day we sailed into the neighbouring bay, from where you could easily return to the harbour by dinghy via a shallow area for an extended walk through the village.
From Oinousses we travelled to the fingers of the Peloponnese in day trips and occasional night trips. Once we stopped in front of the harbour of Chios. I got into the dinghy and drove into the harbour to get some new cash.
Then we stopped off at Tinos because I had googled a health care centre there and I had such a funny sore throat. I was treated there free of charge. The doctors aren’t very empathetic, but I was seen straight away. Nothing serious was found, so back to self-healing.
Anchoring at Tinos wasn’t so easy. We needed 3 attempts before we were satisfied with the holding of the anchor. During the course of the day, a strong wind came up and a boat that had anchored between our and another boat (why do people anchor between boats instead of keeping their distance?) drifted merrily towards the open sea. The people on board didn’t seem to mind. They only became active once they had reached deep water. Then they made another attempt to anchor. Again between the two boats and this time even more in front of ours. We went on deck and gesticulated that this was not such a good idea. When they realised it, they moved to the other side of the very wide bay next to a boat anchored there (!), even though the entire bay offered protection for the current wind direction. On the other side, their anchoring attempts failed again and they finally headed off towards the marina.
Anchored at the island of Kea. Ancient Pillars:
Wind farm island Agios Georgios:
We went to the next olive wood shop in Tolo. Another small shop with a good selection, also run by a family.
Koilada: Mathias was dropped ashore briefly so that he could cycle to the Lidl supermarket. We then sailed on to escape the next imminent thunderstorms.
The following blog post will take us to the Ionian Sea. There’s more to tell about thunderstorms……
