Greece
July 19th- Sept 13th , 2020
Passage from Italy
Greece here we come. Fast crossing in 15-18 knots of wind, doing 8 knots
Luckily we didn't have to self-quarantine
Our first anchorage in Greece was this lovely island, Othonoi, just north west of Corfu.
Corfu
Sailing down the strait of Corfu. Albania is in the background
Is it really ok to paint a boat like this?
Road trip
The start of our road trip up in the mountains
The road up to the monastery, on top of the tallest mountain on the island. Mount Pantokrator , is located in north-eastern Corfu, 906 metres (2,972 ft).
At the top. The sign for the monastery
The monastery at the top. Now with big structure, for antennas. But it was not that disturbing, still very pretty
From the top of the tallest mountain. Behind us you can see Albania
Inside the chapel at the monastery. Stunning
Anders found a huge spider up by the monastery
Very green all around. But we specially loved these huge junipers
At the Canal D'Amour
This is the world famous Canal D'Amour, in Sidari, on the north west coast. Behind us is a tunnel through the cliff. The legend says that if you swim through the whole tunnel with you loved one you will stay in love forever
We drove through a lot of these beautiful olive plantations
Just stunning beaches all around the island
The Monastery Panagias Paleokastrisa. Very strategic built on top of this steep cliff
"None shall path"...Anders the guard
The beautiful western coastline
One of the small mountain towns with narrow roads
Our view from our dinner restaurant yesterday, Palaiokastritsa, on the west coast
Face mask on when your not sitting at the table, at the restaurant
Having coffee overlooking the monastery of Vlacherna. Can you spot the airplane?
Our rental car on steep narrow dirt roads on the southern tip of the island
You just have to
And this was actually the view from the selfie spot, pretty steep
On old monastery on the southern tip of Corfu.
Anders is trying the stairs...Oh oh, it doesn't lead anywhere anymore
Our Dinner spot, at the Emones beach on the west coast
Another narrow street in one of the small mountain towns
Sailing south
A funny island outside Gouvia marina, Corfu
Our anchorage right in Corfy city, with the old fort right next to us
Corfy city and the fort by night
Our next anchorage was on the south east coast of Corfu, close to the small town of Petritis. This was a funky creation on some rocks in the water
The west coast of the smaller island south of Corfu, Paxoi, was just stunning. We were lucky with the wind it was pretty calm so we could spend the night here. It was only us and one more boat though for the night. But this picture was taking during the day. Lots of boats....
We explored all the cool surrounding caves in this anchorage called Blue Cave! It's a must see.
So many different colors in this cave
We passed through this narrow passage between the island and the rock formation
We found another cool cave just south of Blue Cave. I took the dinghy in to explore while Anders stayed on the boat
Lunch stop at the next island just south of Paxoi, AntiPaxos. Very cool place with good snorkeling
Very cool anchorage of a tiny island south of AntiPaxos, Nsis Megalo Daskali. Perfect day spot with good snorkeling. We spent the night here all alone!
On an island walk we found this cool arch
Perfect "harbor" for our dinghy
Circumnavigating the small island. Nice frame of Horizon
Another great anchorage on Paxoi, Mongonissi. Nice bay with some good restaurants
Lefkas
Approaching Lefkas canal with the opening bridge, and the fort. We left Horizon in Lefkas marina during our eight day road trip in Greece
Lots of charter boats here!
Road trip to Delphi, Athens, Meteora and Mount Olympus
Eight day roadtrip in Greece. mainland. We started of by visiting the historical town of Delphi. Truly amazing!
Lots of water aqueducts up in the mountains
Almost full moon over Delphi
Retsina greek wine. Very tasty
The dogs are falling over since it's too hot
In the museum. Try to imitate
I am happy in front of the ancient twins
Hmm, what I am looking at
Apollo templeThe ancient
Selfie in front of the temple of Apollo
The ancient amphi theatre
On the way up to the cave. Pretty rough road
At the entrance of the cave
Selfie in front of the cave
From inside of the Corycian cave
Anette is trying to meditate in the Corycian cave
Stayed in Mira Mara hotel in Galaxidi. Top notch, with service location and cleanliness
The charming town of Gallaxidi. A typical small fishing village in Greece
I loved that they had a "boat" for the ducks. And a feeder dinghy :-)
We stopped by the historical Corint canal
Truly amazing... Soon we will sail through it
If you're up for an adrenaline boost you can go for a bungee jump of the bridge in to the Corint Canal!
Finally after eight months I got my self a haircut, in Greece
Majestic Acropolis! Always under construction
Selfie at Acrooplis
View over Athens from Acropolis! After this visit we got really tired of Athens with all the people and cars. So we headed back out in the countryside
Our Greek road trip continues. Here are some highlights. Quick visit to Athens
Nice view from our hotel room in Kalambaka. The Monasteries of Meteora is behind Anders on top of the rocks
In front of the Great Meteoron Monastery
View from the Great Meteora monastery. How many Monasteries can you see?
One of the Monasteries in Meteora
The question is; How did they built this?
This is the Monastery of Holy Trinity, where they shot some scenes for the James Bond movie " For your eyes only"
Walking up the stairs to the Monastery of Holy Trinity
View over Kalambaka from the stairs
The cable car. This used to be the only way to get to the Monastery before they built the stairs around 1920. And before that they had wooden ladders and ropes...
At the top of the monastery it looked like this. Green gardens, very pretty
Our hotel room in Litochoro. Love the rock wall in the shower
There is also a rock wall behind the bed
We didn't have any views at all here, but this was a pretty cool feature. A little scary to step on first though
We went on a two day private guided hike up to Mount Olympus, Greece tallest mountain. What a great adventure! We spent the night at one of the five refuges on the mountain. The next morning we climbed the tallest peak, Mytikas 2918m. I must admit that this was one of the hardest hikes I've done. 20 km (12.5 miles) in length and elevation difference of 1844m (6050 feet). But it was so worth it
Still some snow up high
Almost at our hut for the night
The toilet. You scoop up water from the barrel and pour it in to the hole to flush
At the hut, 2648m. Very tired but happy
Dinner at the hut. It was super good. Pasta to load up with carbs for tomorrow
The view from the hut
The sun is setting
Early morning selfie. The peak behind us is were we going
Anders got company from one of the hut's dog. They are roaming free and like to follow people
The ridge up to the last climb
Anette on the first ridge on our way up to the peak in early morning sunrise. Below you can actually see the ocean
Our guide had all the safety gear needed for the last climb. Helmet, harness and ropes. When I booked this tour they just said that the last part was a little bit of a scramble. Hmm, This was real climbing.... Can you spot the dog? Another one from the hut
That is our guide up there. We were roped together. If I had knew this I'm not sure I would have signed us up. I don't like climbing! But, we did good and I do not regret it!
At the top, Yay
We signed the guest book at the top!
These mules were amazing. They are bringing up all all the supplies to to all the refugee hut on the mountain and bringing down all the waste, on really steep rocky trails
The story about Zeus! We didn't see him though
Lots of steps on the last day! That will do it for a while...now back to the boat to relax
Back on Horizon, going south...
Approaching Vasiliki, the Mecca of Windsurfing and all water sports!
The southern tip of the island of Lefkada
Great spot for a sun bath, with the umbrella :-)
We were planning to sail up on the west coast of Lefkada but the the sea was to rough and the wind was against us so we turned around right in front of this big ship
The next day we had a beautiful spinnaker sail back up to Lefkas canal
We sailed a long stretch back up to Corfu. This is a beautiful sunset when approaching Corfu
Anders is up the mast to replace the starboard lower shroud.
We got a new shroud on warranty shipped to Greece, which was a hustle to get that through the customs
Back in Gouvia marina in Corfu. Since we only got 30 days permission to stay in Greece we had to "leave the country and sail to Italy and back". But the port authorities told us "An imaginary trip is OK. But keep a low profile". So we did exactly that. During our "two day imaginary trip" we got a lot of boat projects done. When we cleared in again we got, what we should have got the first time, clearance to stay 18 months.
Very nice anchorage on the mainland, Sevota. Very busy and popular during the day. But nice and quite at night. Very nicely built resort
South coast of Antipaxos, South Lighthouse anchorage. Crystal clear water. Amazing snorkeling
You could snorkel through this cave, super cool
Back in Lefkada but this time we anchored on the west coast. Small little fishing town, Agios Nikitas.
Very calm day, perfect for exploring the normal rougher west side of Lefkada
Best snorkeling so far. Deep blue water and tons of fish when swimming through the arch. And it was super cool to see the sun rays in the deep blue water. It was to deep to anchor so we took turns to snorkel
We stopped at this cool little island just off the west coast of Lefkada
Big, Bigger and Biggest is anchored next to each other :-)
Beautiful rough and ever changing coastline here on the west coast. Totally different from the other side of the island
The southern tip of Lefkada island with the Cape Lefkas lighthouse.
Nice anchorage on the island of Kastos. Anchored next to a beautiful beach. We were all alone during the night . Only the goats greeted us in the morning
On our way back up to Lefkas marina we passed on the east side of Kalamos. Amazingly green island
Anders is taking Black Bird, the drone, out for a fly. First, and last attempt to fly from the boat. First fly was a success. Second landing ended up in the water and unfortunately Black Bird has flown his last flight :-(
Sailing with Swedish friends
12 minute video telling the story of our friend sail in Greece. Thanks Juan for making the video.
Yay, we got company on Horizon. First one since lock down in March. Hans and Doris was two of ten Swedish friends joining us sailing in Greece for a week. The other eight had rented a catamaran.
The first day we just sailed out from Lefkas and back. We heard a Mayday call on the VHF. Someone was transmitting - SOS, Mayday, my engine is kaput. You are not sailors if you don't help us!
We answered the call, asking about their position. - I'm the captain of my own boat. Help us.
It was obvious that they did not understand that we needed their GPS position. It was also obvious that they did not understand that we were too far away to help them.
When we came to the channel, we found the Danish boat in distress. A lot of boats had just passed them without helping. They were stranded ashore right next to the channel. Since we were close by we came to the rescue.
Hans and Anette in the dinghy and Doris and Anders on Horizon. We towed them to safety and left them at the dock close to the bridge. It became utterly apparent that they had no clue of what they were doing. For instance, they thought they could not steer their boat whilst being towed. Their lines and the boat was a mess. We were happy to leave them with the port authorities when we left.
We got the news first afternoon after the Swedes arrived that Lefkas canal was closed for all traffic with no information on when they will open again. So change of plans, next morning we left early with the first sunlight and headed out trough the bridge to the north instead. The weather was luckily very favorable for going down on the west coast of Lefkada instead. Here is a picture of the Catamaran with the rest of the Swedes.
Since Horizon already had checked this route out we went back to our favorite snorkeling spot for the first stop. Everybody thought it was super cool
Everyday mid morning we have "Fruktstund" fruit break on Horizon
The wind picked up after lunch and we could fly the spinnaker down the last stretch of Lefkadas and on to the next island
One of our anchorages. The catamaran didn't come with dish brush or cutting board so we delivered it from Horizon swimming
Happy and the best crew
One of our delicious lunch
Pretty cool cave. We did a quick stop here for a swim or dinghy ride
The crew on the Catamaran, White Waves
Last night with the gang! We have had a fantastic sailing week with our Swedish friends. Thanks for organizing this and make it happen in these hard times. Miss you already
Crew Beling is signing off from Horizon
Turning north again...
Anders is taking a nap. It's tiring to have company and being social for a week
Sunset from the fort in Parga overlooking our anchorage
Parga by night
We hiked up to the old fort. Stunning views in all directions. On our way back up to Corfu we stayed in charming Parga.
This anchorage was really different but what a gem. Green water and wild nature. we felt like we were out in the wilderness all by ourselves just waiting for the crocodile to attack ;-)
The next morning we woke up to this. The water was like a mirror
Dinghy excursion. Just stunning here
And then the goats came and said good morning
On our way back to Gouvia marina in Corfu once again. This time to do a service on the engine, do some laundry and grocery shopping
We haven't used the bikes for a while so of course we had a flat tire. But that was easily fixed on the sidewalk
We sailed up to the north coast of Corfu. We anchored close to the little charming town of Kassiopi. Hiked over to the town. Here is the local popular beach, in the background is the city of Sarande in Albania
The small harbor of Kassiopi. WE didn't stay here though just walked through
Last anchorage for now in Greece on the northern most Island of Greece, Ereikoussa. Beautiful and quiet anchorage.
Horizon from the beach. Sunset over Corfu in the distance
This morning it was dead calm so we hiked around the island, took less than two hours.
The Ocean was dead calm, like a mirror
Horizon safe in the anchorage of the beach and next to the very sheltered harbor
We set sail going north in the afternoon. Croatia here we come!