Meganisi to Frikes on Ithaca Island

Graeme and Kate decided to stick with us, so at 10:45 on Friday the 13th we headed south on glass to Frikes, Ithaca.

The definition of Glass

Closing on Frikes, Sally did the customary pre-arrival re-read of the approach, mooring and facilities of the place we are about to enter. "what made us choose this place?" I asked having heard snitbits like... "With the prevailing wind there are strong gusts out of Ormos Frikou and care is needed" or "The best place is the SW breakwater. Other berths, particularly those on the NW quay are badly affected by wash from fast ferries passing outside the bay!"

This was a tiny harbour, it promised to be full, no power or water, it was Graeme's first shot at Med Mooring with a large spectatorship and it was Friday the 13th!
Ah well, something made us choose it. Kioni Bay is just around the corner so we have a Plan B if it all goes pear shaped...




I have tried to join these two shots to give you an idea of the whole harbour taken from an ancient windmill up the hill.

Those are our's and Graeme and Kate's Catamarans on the 'best place' SW Breakwater.

A panoramic of the bay from the town. Those are our two masts in the background centre

Amazing how life never hands you quite what you expect. We found the harbour all but empty so we were able to take prime position of the SW breakwater. A water truck turned up to fill our tanks at 3Euro per 50 litres and the town itself is inhabited almost entirely by Australian and South African Greeks.

This was reflected in the hospitality, the fusion of food, the celebratory atmosphere of the World Cup as both Greece and Australia were to play during our stay and before long we felt absolutely like locals. Laundry done by Kiki at the super market, hot showers behind her place. We managed to provide custom to just about every outlet in town, they were all that genuinely welcoming and it was all we could do to drag ourselves away in the end.

We hired a car as is becoming the norm, so as not to miss anything of the place if we don't get to sail there. Ithaca is a rugged, mountainous island, dramatic in every sense. It is an adrenaline rush just driving along the narrow precipitous winding roads with breathtaking views threatening to take your eye off where it really needs to be, adding to the buzz.

We visited the monastery at the very heights of the island. Beautiful and baffling as always... who builds these places, how did they do it, who lives here and why??

Port Vathi from the Monastery. Our next stop.

We drove to Kioni. I'm glad we did. It is beautiful and would have made a great Plan B to Frikes but we would not have experienced what has to have been our most favorite stop yet.

Kioni is a large horseshoe harbour with plenty of space and places on the wall to moor.

Wine as it was sold when I lived in Italy in the early 80s and probably for centuries before that. Fill the demijohn and place it on the scales. Weigh it and pay by the kilo, or litre... they amount to the same thing!

This was the oldest winery in Greece and the only building to survive the devastating earthquake of 1953. It is now a very nice shop filled with fine art pieces.

Needless to say, Sally was taken by one of these....

What is it about wineries??