View of Navpaktos from Envoy's anchorage
The two Dianes - modern day "oracles" - by Temple of Apollo ruins, DelphiKevin & Diane O’Sullivan arrived in Patras on Friday 1 June and on Saturday we passed under the spectacular Rio Antirrio bridge which links Peloponnisos Island with mainland Greece and anchored off the village of Navpaktos. Here is one of the most preserved medieval harbours to be found in the Med, overlooked by a Venetian castle. We took a long walk up the hill to the castle only to find it is closed for renovations. However we found a great café up there and had a drink overlooking the harbour.
The next stop was due to be Galaxidi but the whole jetty structure was being repaired so we diverted to Itea and laid alongside the jetty which was very smooth concrete with no surge. Nevertheless we deployed our tyres to protect the fenders just in case and stayed two nights.
The next stop was due to be Galaxidi but the whole jetty structure was being repaired so we diverted to Itea and laid alongside the jetty which was very smooth concrete with no surge. Nevertheless we deployed our tyres to protect the fenders just in case and stayed two nights.
It was in this bay that one Frank Abney Hastings used one of the first steam powered iron warships to destroy a large Turkish fleet. Itea is not at all “touristy” but just a Greek working town. We found a rather primitive butcher’s shop and asked for lamb but they only had mutton and with bits of bone and fat flying everywhere the butcher prepared some chops which were the largest we’d ever seen and turned out to be delicious. Itea is only 20 mins by taxi from ancient Delphi and we went up for an explore. The ruins at Delphi are spectacular, one of the most important in Greece, covering quite a wide area and well marked out so that you can get an appreciation of how it once was. In particular the Temple of Apollo , the 180m long Stadium (where you can still see the athlete’s starting blocks) and the Theatre were great.
Delphi was considered by ancient Greeks to be the Centre of the World and was inhabited from 1300 BC. The cult of the Oracle was established by 700 BC and the most recent Temple of Apollo of which the ruins can be seen, was built in 330 BC. In the chambers beneath the Temple, the “Pythia” or High Priestess would go into a state of ecstasy and give a prophecy in inarticulate sounds which were supposedly the voices of the Gods. These would be translated by Priests and the Prophecy given to the supplicant who had paid considerably for it.
Alexander the Great took matters into his own hands: after hearing the jibbering of the Pythia he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her around until she screamed “enough Oh unbeatable one”. Alexander said “I have my prophecy” and let her go. There was a tendency for the supplicants to try and seduce the Pythia in order to gain a more favourable prophecy so later all Pythias had to be over 50 years old !
Kevin & Diane, who we’ve known for many years through Coastguard are of course very experienced boaties, Kevin being a commercial skipper and the consummate yachtsman who “wrote the book” on knots. So we’ve been spending time with Kevin refreshing our knowledge of knots, learning some new ones while Kevin has also done some splicing for us at about four times my pace.
For the last few days we’ve been getting Louis Vitton results by text from Frank Curulli & Don Pickering and celebrating in style especially for the final result on Weds 6/6 – the time of the results coinciding perfectly with “beer o’clock”.
From Itea we went Eastwards through the Kolpos Domvrainis to the most Easterly part of the Gulf of Corinth – Porto Germeno. Here is the impressive remains of the 4th Century BC fortress of Aegosthena with stone walls and two towers quite intact. Apparently the area turned out to be of little strategic importance so was never damaged by war or improved upon by subsequent armies.
The next day a small Coastguard vessel pulled alongside and wanted to know what we were “towing in the water”. By sign language Kevin explained they are our stabilizing paravanes.
On Saturday 9 June we left the Gulf of Corinth via the 3.2 mile long, 25 metre wide Corinth Canal, which has a maximum height in the limestone cut of 76 metres. This is quite expensive costing about 200 Euros but saves a several day trip around the South of Peloponnisos Island. The canal was originally started by Nero who used a ceremonial golden axe to make the first cut and then put 6,000 Jewish slaves on the job. The canal was never completed until the French & Greeks did so in 1893.
We are now in the beautiful harbour at Aigina and Kevin & Diane departed this morning.
Kevin & Diane, who we’ve known for many years through Coastguard are of course very experienced boaties, Kevin being a commercial skipper and the consummate yachtsman who “wrote the book” on knots. So we’ve been spending time with Kevin refreshing our knowledge of knots, learning some new ones while Kevin has also done some splicing for us at about four times my pace.
For the last few days we’ve been getting Louis Vitton results by text from Frank Curulli & Don Pickering and celebrating in style especially for the final result on Weds 6/6 – the time of the results coinciding perfectly with “beer o’clock”.
From Itea we went Eastwards through the Kolpos Domvrainis to the most Easterly part of the Gulf of Corinth – Porto Germeno. Here is the impressive remains of the 4th Century BC fortress of Aegosthena with stone walls and two towers quite intact. Apparently the area turned out to be of little strategic importance so was never damaged by war or improved upon by subsequent armies.
The next day a small Coastguard vessel pulled alongside and wanted to know what we were “towing in the water”. By sign language Kevin explained they are our stabilizing paravanes.
On Saturday 9 June we left the Gulf of Corinth via the 3.2 mile long, 25 metre wide Corinth Canal, which has a maximum height in the limestone cut of 76 metres. This is quite expensive costing about 200 Euros but saves a several day trip around the South of Peloponnisos Island. The canal was originally started by Nero who used a ceremonial golden axe to make the first cut and then put 6,000 Jewish slaves on the job. The canal was never completed until the French & Greeks did so in 1893.
We are now in the beautiful harbour at Aigina and Kevin & Diane departed this morning.
Last night we met friends of theirs – Takas, Irene and their daughter Katarina who fluently speaks Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish & English ! Takas was an admiral (a real admiral !) in the Greek navy and had interesting tales to tell about his experiences.
From here we head to Piraeus, near Athens where we will stay for about 1-2 weeks and get our stabilizers working again and the gearbox oil leak fixed. Also do some sight seeing in Athens.
Technical: Nothing much to report - we are using the Paravane stabilizers and the metal “birds” or stabilizing plates which are 5m under water, weigh about 25 kg each and are heavy to retrieve. Kevin has rigged up a block and tackle for us to save our backs when retrieving the birds out of the water.
From here we head to Piraeus, near Athens where we will stay for about 1-2 weeks and get our stabilizers working again and the gearbox oil leak fixed. Also do some sight seeing in Athens.
Technical: Nothing much to report - we are using the Paravane stabilizers and the metal “birds” or stabilizing plates which are 5m under water, weigh about 25 kg each and are heavy to retrieve. Kevin has rigged up a block and tackle for us to save our backs when retrieving the birds out of the water.
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