Candarli - Turkey to Plomarion on Lesvos, Greece.

With the Duncans arriving on the 4th July, we had a couple of days to explore the region and the winds looked good for a 30nm westerly sail to Lesvos Island in Greece. So, at 10:20 on the 1st July, we weighed anchor and by 10:45 the sails were up and we were on our way...

There was a loud bang from the back of the boom when the mainsail went up, but an investigation (of sorts) revealed nothing untoward...?? By 12:55 the sails came down in nil wind and we motored for a couple of hours to Med moor in the delightful little harbour of Plomarion, power, water, loads of space 14 Euro for two days... gotta love them Greeks.

This island is famous for its Ouzo. This is a drink I cannot understand the attraction for, but I find myself in the minority on this...


So, off we popped to the Bapatiannh Distillery, the two kids and I on one scooter, Sal and Al on the other.

The production plant sits beneath a a museum of the history of Ouzo and this particular and very famous plant is now run by the 4th and 5th generation of a family of Ouzo makers since 1860. The Production plant makes four 'grades' of Ouzo ranging from 43% alcohol to Aphrodite at 48% by volume.

We learned the proper way to drink Ouzo and one big mistake is to put ice in it... Half Ouzo, half cold water and if it is sweet and not 100% distilled (should state this on the bottle) it is not good Ouzo. I still don't get it....?

We did however manage to endear ourselves to Yannis, one of the distillery workers, who ignored all other site see'rs, took us under his wing and showed us all the stuff not many get to see. We never did establish whether he was Mr 5th Generation.

There are 'No photo's and no Video's' signs everywhere and naturally we complied as always...

After the obligatory tasting of all four makes which were dryer than I've tried before, we were left to our own devices. Good thing we were on scooters and that I don't like the stuff!

Our host then pointed us in the direction of his Wife and Mother in-laws restaurant, 6kms on the other side of town along a magnificent coastal road.

Always skeptical of descriptions like "the best Greek food in Greece" He'd been so good to us we decided to give 'Maria's' Restaurant a go.

Situated in a small river valley right on the water, Maria's was indeed a great suggestion. A lovely ride to get there, a quaint rustic restaurant which served a meal that really was right up there and a beach and diving platform to swim and have the entire afternoon to sleep off the long lunch.

Interesting ashtray??

A wonderful day. The winds were looking favorable for a great sail south east toward Izmir in the morning. We'd have a couple of days there to ready the boat for the Duncan's which meant some juggling of the sleeping arrangements.

They would get the port aft queen suite. (Al's bedroom)



Will moves back into his double room so then Kiyomi and Summer could share Summer's room.....

What do we do with Al?

Well, Al being Al, he happily volunteered to move into the Captains cabin. This is a single quarter in the Port Bow accessed via a deck hatch and it had never been used for anything but storage.

He made it his comfortable home for the next few weeks as we had the Duncan's and will be hosting the Hayman's and then the Green's.

We also cleared and cleaned out the Captains bathroom in the Starboard bow which turns out to be the best loo on the boat!

Morning Al! As he emerges from said cabin after night one...