To Ithaca (after 33 years)

Odysseus had been away from his home island of Ithaca for twenty years. We can beat that with thirty three! The last time we were there was our first Greek flotilla holiday in 1993. Since then we have had a fair few adventures ourselves, such as having children and moving addresses at least six different times (not including the nomadic periods of our lives). So we are heading back there now (Monday 5th October) after a lovely couple of days at Karnagio (possibly our new favourite stop).

Our first destination on the island was Kioni, at the north east part of the island. This is a small village, very popular with yachties, so it can be challenging to find a space on the quay.

Fortunately, we arrived early, just as lots of yachts were leaving. A couple of locals helped us with our lines. It looked like it was their job to do this, but the pair of helpful chaps did not say much so perhaps had no English. They tied our lines in front of a set of steps, cut into the quay and we could see it was quite shallow so we moved ourselves a little after they were gone. It was literally just half a boat width along, to a better position, with our anchor chain now nice and straight, holding us out from the quay (i.e. stern-to).

Now that we were safely tied up, Kerry went below to relax, while I stayed in the cockpit. A moment later an angry man appeared on the quay-side and asked us to move, using his ‘shouty voice’. He wanted us to move back to being positioned over the steps. I could not see a reason for this and explained that this would cause our anchor to be pulled at an angle, with the risk of other boats ‘crossing anchor’ with us, i.e. getting our anchors tangled together- let’s not go there!

Kerry heard this from ‘down-below’ and shouted up in a rather authoritative voice “no, no, no!”. I decided that now was the best time for me to take a back seat and let skipper sort it out. Kerry then questioned his authority and he got a little angrier, but then seemed to realise he had met his match and retreated (tail between his legs style).

About half an hour later, when he had hopefully simmered down a bit, we went to seek him again. He seemed ok-ish by then and Kerry persuaded him to shake hands. We then paid him some €20 (for one night only, as we felt uncomfortable with staying longer, due to this somewhat unstable guy, in charge of the quay). He also had a whistle, which he frequently blasted at boats, like an irate football referee. It all seemed too much for such a beautiful and potentially peaceful spot. After all this we went for a swim and felt a lot better!

That night we sussed out a great taverna (Souvlakeri), with the help of Google maps, a little back from the sea front. It was just a kitchen, with an outdoor garden area, nicely tucked away. We ordered mixed grill (surprise, surprise). It was excellent, if not a little filling!

The following morning we set off for Vathy, the capital of Ithaca. We planned to stay there a few days and see some of the sights of the island, the most notable of which being the Palace of Odysseus. Kerry will cover this in our next blog. Some of you may have heard of, or even seen at the cinema, the new movie ‘The Odyssey, staring Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon. It was not actually filmed here, nevertheless, here is where the real stuff actually happened, which is exciting.

We found a lovely, quiet quay-side spot for Barberry, well away from the hustle and bustle of the town of Vathy. Or so we thought. As the day went on, more and more boats came in and, by evening, we were jammed in, like a tinned sardine, but safe enough.

We needed a means to get around the island, to see the sights. Since some of the most interesting attractions were inland, and up some steep mountains, it seemed that car would be the best option (rather than boat, bike or foot). We looked into both hire car and taxi, but opted for the latter, as the taxi man also doubled as a tour guide and our friends Lyn and Frank (coincidentally staying on the same quay) were keen to come with us and share the costs.

The taxi man, Rotheis, in a lovely Skoda Octavia, said we did not need to bother with seat belts, but once we saw the mountainous route we strapped ourselves in. Not that it would have done any good if we had gone over the edge! Our first stop was a monastery, 920m above sea level. Fantastic views over Vathy from there.

Our taxi driver / tour guide took us inside the Monastery and was very knowledgable in the history. The last monk had sadly passed away a few years ago, so there were none left, and no likelihood of any more in the future. The place was all accessible though and seemed to be left just the way it had been, when it was occupied.

Inside the church was the most sacred artefact of all- ‘the icon’. The story Rotheis told us was that the icon had been discovered on the mountain, then moved to Vathy, but several times it disappeared, only to be re-found each time, back up on the mountainside. The local people took that as a heavenly message to locate a church and monastery here, where the icon will now remain, forever.

We were also taken through the monks living quarters and you could tell that it once had been a very busy place with plenty of dining and kitchen facilities. Rotheis told us that the last remaining monk died of over-eating and that he was a very large man. Apparently everyone always brought him food and he had no other monks to share it with. A bit sad.

In the oldest part of the building we could see beautiful painted walls, but, for some reason, much was concealed with plaster and whitewash.

Kerry will talk you thought the rest of our tour of Ithaca in the next blog. For now we’re going for a swim…