We arrived on the Greek island of Symi directly from Cyprus at the beginning of February. Symi town is very picturesque, with brightly coloured Venetian architecture in a steep sided valley. It is usually packed with yachts, tripper boats and tourists, but not at the start of February, when only the local population is evident. We would have liked to stay for longer but, as would soon become the bi-weekly event, there was a gale coming and the town was not the place to be, so we moved to Panormitis on the western side of Symi for better protection from the southerly winds.
The first hop from Symi was to the island of Nisiros. This is a volcanic island with an active crater that we visited when on Grace in 2011. During our stay we waited for more strong winds to pass and I walked to the main ferry port on the north of the island called Mandraki. The town has winding streets and an imposing castle. The castle was closed, but it was lovely just to walk around the town.
We next hopped north to Kardamena on the south side of Kos. We have grown to really like this town. In season, it is a package holiday destination, popular with Germans and Brits in particular, a place where you can enjoy a beer at The Stone Roses bar on the town square. For us, it is a great place to get food shopping, and laundry done. The harbour is well protected from the strong prevailing northerlies and there is a flat single track road that makes a great running route. On this visit, we also ventured up to the impressive Antimahia Castle in the hills, out the back of town. The interior landscape of Kos is feels dry, with canyons, a lot like the spaghetti westerns of old. On the walk we saw much more bird life than on the coast, including birds of prey, which turned out to be Bonelli's eagles.
Our next stop was Kos town. We paid to stay in the marina for two nights, hoping to achieve the twin goals of exploring the nearby historical sites and purchasing some much needed chandlery. We failed on the second of these, as the chandleries were mostly closed, poorly stocked, and did not fully re-open till the middle of March, but we did achieve the first goal. We spent a great day visiting a Roman villa in Kos town and cycling up to the Asclepion. The Asclepion has beautiful views out over Kos town and across the water to Turkey.
We spent a single night on each of Pserimos and Kalimnos as we made our way up to Lakki on the island of Leros, our chosen safe haven from the next southerly gale. Here we found the well-stocked chandleries that had been missing in Kos and were able to get everything we needed at reasonable prices. It was our anniversary the day before the gale arrived and we marked the occasion with a beautiful walk across to the port of Ay. Marina for a beer in the sun and vegan gyros – quite a find in the Greek islands. We walked up to the castle, passing some picturesque windmills along the way, only to find that the castle was closed until April.
After this gale we moved to the northern end of Leros to be protected from another gale and to meet up with some fellow cruisers we had got talking to in the chandlers in Lakki. A great drunken evening was had as the gale rolled through.
It was time to move on again, this time up to the island of Patmos, which was the chosen destination for my birthday. This was celebrated with another lovely walk, to a church this time, a meal out and a delicious orange cake. Unfortunately, due to another imminent southerly gale we could not stay in Patmos for Phil's birthday, and so it was off back to Leros, for baked camembert and a return social visit with our new cruiser friends.
With birthday celebrations complete, we had only three weeks left in Greece before we would need to check into Turkey, in order to reset our Schengen clock. We were extremely keen to explore at least one new island before we had to leave and so the decision was made to skip a number of Greek islands we had been to before and make the jump north to Lesvos. We are looking forward to exploring this new island which the cruising guide describes as "the jewel" of the Eastern Sporades.
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