Mystra’s Mysteries

We continue up the coast until we get to the top of the second finger and tie up in the Kalamata harbor. It is a large industrial city with not much charm but we did manage to find a very good Gyros restaurant. It is also the nearest port town to Mystra, one of the most important cities during the Byzantine period. We rented a car and drove about 45 minutes inland near the city of Sparta. The drive wound through steep verdant cliffs with spectacular scenery. Mistras was once the Byzantine province capital and it thrived during this time period. While a lot of the town is a pile of rocks where once great mansions rose up, it still has some beautifully preserved Byzantine churches some of which are still plastered and painted with religious icons in their interiors. There are also large public buildings and a large palace that is still standing. A lot of these structures are going through restoration, but the outsides attest to their once great grandeur.

Coolest Cave Ever

We continued to sail down the first finger of the Peloponnesus and then up the second. About half way up the second finger is Diros. Its claim to fame is perhaps the most magnificent cave anywhere in the world. The cave winds through the limestone cliffs and total over 14 kilometers of mapped tunnels. If that is not cool enough, most of the bottom is water, so to view the cave, you climb into a low wooden boat that floats through brilliant white and golden stalactites and stalagmites, glittering crystal drapes and ceilings that look like the underside of a gem-studded pin cushion. Most of the passages are narrow and you have to keep your head low to avoid being smacked on the forehead by a stunning stalactite. I always find caves amazing works of nature, and this one is over the top spectacular.

Choosing the Right Rock

Spending as much time sailing the coasts of the Mediterranean, you begin to understand what medieval cities wanted when they choose their locations. They liked access to the sea for easy trade, but they also knew that being near the ocean invited pirates and foreign invaders to your doorstep. So the next most important thing they looked for is a place where steep cliffs would make attacking the city very difficult. Monemvasia was built on such a location. Shear parched red rock cliffs 900 feet high on all sides and a large plateau at the top of those cliffs made a perfect location. To make this a little more inviting, it is an island that is connected to the mainland by a small narrow bridge. Throw up a castle and build a rock wall around the edge and you got yourself a city that will grow and prosper. The first fortress was built at Monemvasia around the 6th century BC. Its heyday however was during the Byzantine period between 1263 and 1394. But sometimes that prosperity is also the downfall of a city. Everyone wants a piece of that action. So like most important cities, it was conquered by the French, Turks, Venetians, the Pope, then Venetians, Turks, Venetians and Turks again. Kind of exhausting huh. I sometimes wonder how prosperous the world would have been if greed and power were not so woven into the history of civilization.

Changing of the Crew

We say a fond farewell to Jean Michael, Raul and Scott at Navplion. They came on our boat as passengers and as often happens, left as good friends. Later that afternoon Peter from San Francisco and Daniel from Italy arrive on the bus from Athens and begin their time with us. It is our only back-to-back charters this summer. We usually like a little time between but this is just how it worked out. Navplion is a beautiful town with large marble paved plaza, a couple of well lit castles on the hill and charming side streets with balconies covered in flowers and fragrant vines. Restaurant tables spill out into the alleys and the smell of roasting lamb waffles in the air. We spent the night in Navplion restock our galley at the local grocery store, and then could not resist taking our new passengers back to our enchanted bay.

Coasting up the Coast

We continued north up the coast of the first finger of the Peloponnesus, stopping at the island of Spetsai and then settling into a beautiful bay just south of Navplion. Sometimes you find a spot that you just want to hang out in. This was one of those bays. We ended up spending a couple of nights there before heading for the town marina. One of those nights was July 4th which we celebrated with Jean Michael who is French, Raul who is from Madrid and Scott who is from Santa Cruz. We had a small barbeque on the beach complete hamburgers, watermelon, Greek potato salad and ending with sparklers. At night, away from city lights, the stars provide their own sparkle. But what was really unexpected is swimming in the bay in the darkness. As your hands and feet move through the ink black water, glittery phosphorescent plankton light up around you. It really is an Avatar experience with these tiny sparkles of light encircles your hands. It feels like you are in a Disney film where with the move of a magic wand, light shimmers.

Idhra/Hydra However you spell it, it spells chaos.

Sometimes when we are approaching a harbor, it feels like you are sailing right into a postcard. You want time to just stop so you can soak in all the beauty of the place. Everything seems placed by some grand design to lure you into a sense of peace and beauty. Idhra is one of those places. We came in to the port in the late morning. The port is small and it didn’t take long for the marina to fill up completely. Then the harbor theater began. It turns out, this is a very popular place for Atheans to spend the weekend. Just when you thought you could not possibly squeeze in another boat, two more would come. And they wouldn’t take “no room at the inn” for an answer. When there was not enough room between the boats to slip a razor blade between them, the boats started tying up to the bow of boats that were docked on the quay. So another row of boats managed to slip into the harbor. And then the big boys started to arrive. I am talking the mega yachts that would pretty much take out the entire port if they were to come into the harbor. They dock on the outside of the harbor breakwater toward the sea where the ocean floor was very deep and the spots completely exposed to the ocean elements. I guess if you have a big enough yacht, you don’t worry about possible weather conditions.

Evidently Idhra is the place to see and be seen on the weekends. The town was teaming with wealth and shops that cater to that cliental. In the morning you had to coordinate with the boat that was parked in front of you to get out. And the anchors were tangled in the middle of the harbor like a plate of spaghetti. Each anchor had to be pulled up in just the precise order to avoid too much of a mess. We loved the town but were glad to make our escape to somewhere sane.

Popping Around the Peloponnesus

For the next month we plan to sail the Peloponnesus peninsula of Greece. One reason we chose to do this is because it is July and the hordes of tourists are descending on the Mediterranean. The Peloponnesus is a less traveled area. The other reason is we have heard so much about the beauty of this area.

Our first stop to Epidhavros does not disappoint you. It is a quiet new port with travernas and a small yacht harbor. Yeah really small. Our boat took up the whole outside quay of the harbor. The water was so clear you could see it teaming with schools of fish. Locals hang out until the wee hours of the morning making a paste of sardines and casting their lines into the water. Fish reward them for their efforts and they leave with dinner in a pail of saltwater. This port is a jumping off port to visit the ancient city of Ephidhavros whose crowning monument is a big 14,000 seat outdoor theater that is so intact; it is still regularly used for events. The ancient draw of this city was the beginning healing arts of medicine. In ancient times it was a sanctuary of the Askeplion religious cult dedicated to healing the sick. After paying your offering, you would enter the sacred temple, drink of the holy water and then sleep on the floor. During the night, the gods would take the sickness from your body if you were worthy.

Heading to Athens

The weather has been calm and water flat as we head to Athens. We anchored out at the foot of the temple of Poseidon as it towered on the edge of the steep point. As the full moon rose behind it, the scene was transformed into a beautiful postcard advertising all that is beautiful about Greece. The next morning we headed to Aegina, a small island right off the coast of Athens. We prefer it to going into the crazy charter filled ports of Athens itself. I spent my 60th birthday there which was both exciting and a bit sobering. How did all those years happen so fast and why did the years leave behind all these wrinkles.

We sailed over to Athens to pick up a newly wed couple who are chartering with us for the week. Jean Michael is from France and Raul is from Madrid. They both live in New York now. They were suppose to take the ferry over but Greece is having a one day ferry strike in protest to the government austerity cuts. Scott, a friend from home also joined us. So the 5 of us set out for our first forays into the Peloponnesus.