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GULFS OF PATRAIKOS AND KORINTHIKOS After spending five enjoyable weeks last summer in the Ionian Islands, we decided to enter the Aegean Sea via the Gulf of Patrikos and Korinthikos and the Corinth Canal. Before this, however, we rented a car for two days ($65 all-inclusive plus gas) and drove into the mountains of western Greece up to the Albanian border. Besides some very famous ancient sites like Dodoni, this area has probably the most exciting, remote and picturesque villages and scenery in all of Greece - well worth a visit. Before we entered the Corinth Canal, we also visited Delphi by bus from the port of Galaxidhi. Considered the "Centre of the World" about 500BC, Delphi is one of the most famous sites in Greece. It was here that the Oracle Pythia gave advice to such people as Alexander the Great. Its temples to the Gods Apollo and Athena are also well preserved here. The Roman Emperor Caligula first surveyed the Corinth Canal, and Nero actually started digging operations in AD67, using 6,000 Jewish prisoners sent from Judea. The canal was not completed, however, until 1893. It is interesting to note some comparisons with the Panama Canal: Corinth Panama
SARONIC GULF AND EASTERN PELOPONNESE After transiting the Canal, we headed for the island of Aegina, which we had been told was the best and safest place to leave the boat for a visit to Athens. Piraeus, the harbour for Athens, is just a huge commercial harbour, and no place to leave a private sailboat. The ferry from Aegina to Piraeus takes only about an hour and costs about $15, plus another dollar on the subway into Athens. We didn't like Athens too much and concentrated therefore only on the Acropolis and Parthenon which, I guess all visitors to Greece must see. Unfortunately, we were not that impressed. Before we took the big leap into the dreaded Aegean, we sailed south just a few miles to a beautiful and very safe harbour called Methana, located on the east tip of Peloponnese. This is an excellent place to leave the boat for land trips to Mycenae and other historic sites in the eastern Peloponnese. It is also a safe and cheap place to leave the boat for the winter. Ask for Janis - and he will look after you! Holed up for a Week By being very careful, we made it across the central Aegean to Samos off the coast of Turkey without any mishaps, although we were holed up for a week in one of the islands waiting for a Meltemi to blow itself out. Although we didn't particularly like the Cyclades and eastern Sporades, we had to admit the beauty of some of the small, typical villages with their whitewashed houses and churches with blue doors and windows and their richly coloured bougainvillea. And, of course, if you are in these waters, you must visit the notorious Mikonos, the picturesque but decadent tourist Mecca of Greece with its hordes of jet setters, back packers, artists, gays, and nudists. We found the Dodecanese Islands of Patmos, Lipsos and Kalimnos more hospitable and friendly. We had heard much good about Turkey and its people, and we were not disappointed. The very first anchorage we came to, reminded us of the Gulf Islands or Desolation Sound - a beautiful small bay with pine forests growing right down to the sandy beach and a fish farm in the middle of the bay. No other habitation for miles around!
Hospitable Fish Farmers Three young Turks came out immediately in the rowboats and helped us with a line ashore. They insisted that we should come and share their fresh fish dinner. What a pleasant change from Greece! Even if they didn't speak a word of English, we managed with sign language and drawings on a piece of paper. This first impression of Turkey stayed with us. Turkey is definitely our favorite country in the Mediterranean. Checking into Turkey is a bit more complex than Greece. We had to go to the passport police, customs, health office, port police, harbour master and transit log office. All were friendly and helpful; a three-month transit log costs US$25. After cruising the Turkish south and southeast coasts during October, we decided to put the boat ashore for the winter. October was ideal for cruising, and some years, part of November can be nice as well. But generally, from November to April it is quite cold and windy. We left the boat in the Sun Marina boat yard in Marmaris, right in front of TIERAS, which so sadly had been left for sale there when Alfred and Esther, due to illness, had to return home to Vancouver. To see as much as possible of Turkey, we traveled by bus from Marmaris to Istanbul via Cappadocia and Ankara. Buses are excellent and cheap, only about $25 per person for this whole trip of about 2000 km. Hotels and meals are also reasonable - a perfectly good double hotel room with bath can be as low as $30 and a good dinner with wine $15. Carpets & Tea, Underground Cities & Rock Hewn Churches Turkey is not only a friendly and cheap country with oriental bazaars, carpets and Turkish Delight, but it also has fantastic history, culture, scenery, and ancient sites. Think of a civilization prospering over 5000 years ago, with two-three story houses with running water, sewage systems, steam baths, and women dressed beautifully with intricate and delicate gold and silver jewelry - all this when our ancestors in Northern Europe were living practically in caves. These were Hittites, who along with Mesopotamians, Babylonians and Egyptians, had one of the oldest and most advanced civilizations in history. "Must see' historic sites are vestiges of the mythical city of Hattushash, the archaeological museum in Ankara, the Greek and Roman city of Ephesus, the ancient "underground cities" (rock churches and fairy chimney rock houses in the Cappadocia area), and, of course, fabulous Istanbul. After spending the winter in Vancouver, we returned to our "home" - NOR SIGLAR - in early March. There we found the new owners of TWERAS, Glen and Janice, busy scraping and painting like mad to get their "new" boat ready for the Mediterranean and Atlantic crossings. We had a lot of contact and fun with them the next month as we also worked on our boat. When we launched NOR SIGLAR the first week of April, Glen and Janice were still at it. EAST MEDITERRANEAN YACHT RALLY While in Vancouver, we had heard about the East Med Yacht Rally from our sailing friends Terry and Maggie Duckett, who also have their boat FIDELIO in Turkey. This is a rally sponsored by the Turkish government and large corporations to promote sailing in Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean. This year the rally started in Istanbul and finished in Egypt after calliing on many ports along the coasts of Turkey, North Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. We joined the rally, and although it's not normally our "cup of tea" to sail with 100 other boats from place to place, we must admit we enjoyed it. It was actually a very efficient, cheap way to see these countries since all entry, marina, and most sightseeing costs, and many dinners and cocktail parties were included in the $100 per person entry fee - a real deal! We actually joined the rally in Antalia and went as far as Israel via Cyprus, a wonderful island where we would have liked to spend more time. In Israel, it is a Jewish custom for families to invite foreign visitors to their homes, and the rally organization had arranged for a host family to look after each boat in the rally. This was a marvelous way for us to get a close, personal view of Israel in a very short time. After hearing so much about Israel and Palestine and about God's "chosen people" from the time we were children until the present, it was fascinating to visit and experience all these Biblical and historical places like Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, Masada, and of course, Jerusalem with all its Jewish, Christian, and Muslim shrines. Of all the sites, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem made the deepest impression on us, and next to that was Masada, the great mountaintop palace-fortress built 2000 years ago by King Herod. Its mosaics and frescoes, ingenious water systems, baths and balconies is an incredible engineering marvel, considering its remote and almost unassailable position. During the great revolt of the Jews against the Romans in AD66-70, Masada became the last refugee for almost 1000 men, women and children. By building a huge earthen siege ramp, the Romans eventually reached the fortress only to find that all its defenders had taken their own lives rather than face the brutal consequence of capture. After we left the rally in Israel, on our way back to Rhodes, we had planned to visit Gillian and Mike West on KHAMSIN in Southern Cyprus. However, because of the hostilities between the Turkish (Northern Cyprus) and Greek Cypriots, we were told we risked being arrested and the boat confiscated if we entered the Greek side after having visited the Turkish side during the rally. So we didn't dare take the chance and were able only to call KHAMSIN on the ham radio. That was a shame, since we left Spruce Harbour Marina together on September 1st, 1991, and hadn't seen each other since San Francisco that fall. KHAMSIN had come across the Indian Ocean and through the Red Sea this spring. After picking up our friend, Nicole McRae, in Rhodes on June 21, we headed back into the southern Aegean, hoping to avoid the vicious Meltemis before they start to blow in early July. We went first to the beautiful Symi and Ios islands in the Cyclades. Ios has the closest safe harbour for visiting famous Santorini on the island of Thira, the half-moon rim of a great volcano crater now filled with sea water. The black volcanic mass (pumice) of the cone is still in the middle, remaining after the last eruption in 1953. The first eruption was in 1450 -1440 BC when the Minoans lived here and on nearby Crete. Apparently, this is the largest known volcanic explosion, and the massive blowout, ashes and flood-waves wiped out the Minoan civilization on both Thira and Crete, 70 miles away. Santorini is a really picturesque, small village perched on the rim of the crater, about 1,500 feet above the water - probably the most spectacular place we've seen in Greece. But how people dare to live on the crater rim of an active volcano is beyond us! Nicole had by now been complaining about the motoring we'd done through light winds all the way from Rhodes. So, we asked Poseidon, the God of the Seas, to give us a Meltemi on our way to Crete. He obliged and gave us the "Mother of all Meltemis" so we made the last 50 miles to Crete in less than seven hours, hitting 9-10 knots surfing down the huge waves with three reefs in the main and a storm jib - fantastic sailing under a full moon. After being holed up in Spinalonga Lagoon for three days waiting for the gale to blow itself out, we continued cruising westward along the north Coast of Crete. By now, Anne and I were getting anxious to get out of the Aegean, and during the next break in the weather, we took off for the south coast of the Peloponnese. This is a great cruising area, not crowded, with friendly people and lots of interesting historical and scenic sites. Methana, Pilos and Katakolon are good places to leave the boat for land trips to Mystras, Sparta, Olympia and many other fantastic places on the Peloponnese. Now, after resting up a bit in our favourite cruising waters here in the Ionian, we will start heading out of the Mediterranean via Sicily, Malta, Tunis, Sardinia, and the Balearics, arriving in Gibraltar toward the end of September. From there, we will join the crowd across the Atlantic to Barbados via the Canaries and the Cape Verde Islands during November and December.
Copyright © Anne Brevig & Martin Vennesland. www.norsiglar.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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NORWEGIAN 
Exotic bellydancer entertains a mesmerized skipper at the EMYR farewell party in Antalya, Turkey 
Palestinians relax outside the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem 
