Sailing the Greek Island #3

Next we set of for Milos and again it was blowing over 30 knots.  The boat handled the seas well but even so, Pat, Mona and myself were most comfortable on deck.  For Captain Chris this was nothing since he makes his living as a commercial fisherman in Alaska. 

On the way into the harbor at Milos we passed these buildings.  We're still speculating as to what they were.  At first we though they were boat houses, but they are up a few feet from sea level.  

As we got closer they almost look like they could be houses with the downstairs being like a deck.  The one with the open door has what looks to be living space on the ground floor.  

A little further down we caught this fisherman getting his pole ready.

Then there were these caves several of which had doors.  Your guess is as good as mine as to what they were used for.  

We tied up along the pier just on the edge of town.  Milos would not be a good place for me to live.  There is a small population on the island but there is a bakery there to die for.  And if that wasn't enough, next door to the bakery was this sweet shop.  After another fantastic dinner at one of the few remaining open cafes we went to the sweet shop for desert.  Everything in there was soooo gooood!  I had a parfait thing was comprised of cheese cake, berry, custard and a few other things.  Now here is a business opportunity.  I've often wondered why Friday Harbor doesn't have a good bakery like Nancy's Bakery in Lund BC or the one on Milos.  I think one in Friday Harbor would make a killing in the summers.

One the other side of the island from the harbor there were these arches and caves to explore.  We anchored the boat and climbing into the dinghy to explore the area.  I'll let the following pictures speak for themselves. 

That evening we anchored off Milos, and, yes, it was pretty chilly that evening sitting on the deck.

The next day we motored to the island of Folegandros and anchored in their small harbor.  The town sites on this high bluff above the Mediterranean.   We were wondering why they chose to build the town up so high and not down around the small bay.  

The town was a 3km hike up hill.  It felt good to walk and the small town was a favorite.  It was really a sleepy place. 

The only stores open were two small cafes just off the town square.  Like the other cafes we have come across,  there was only a couple of things on the menu.  This one said they could make us some crepes so we each ordered one.  Every 10 minutes or so the owner would run out, and I do mean run, with one of the crepes.  Turns out he only had one cooker.  They were delicious and well worth the wait for each one.

Throughout the trip whenever we would ask one of the locals what island we needed to go to, Santorini was on the top of everyone's list.  Oia the first town we came to.  The other, larger town, is Fira. Our favorite by far was Oia.  Fira was cruise ship central and, as a result, the town was usually packed.  

Santorini is a volcano that blew up with the Mediterranean filling in the caldera.  One of the highlights of our trip was anchoring off the dome.  Think of the dome in the middle of Mt Saint Helens.  There was a small inlet in the dome where we took the dinghy.  The further in we got the hotter the water became.  Eventually we all jumped in and floated around.  It was great with huge lava boulders completely surrounding us. 

That evening we grabbed a buoy off Oia's port and had dinner at one of the three cafe's.  The proprietor was a lady from Vancouver BC.  We had a great time talking with her about how she ended up living in the Greek Islands for 20 years.

The next morning we hiked up from the harbor to the town.  Unfortunately, we arrived just as some of the buses from the cruise ships arrived.   It was crazy crowded!  After lunch however it was as if recess was over and all the cruising people had to go back to their ships as the town pretty much emptied out.  

Up in town we found this great little bookstore.  Imagine the book store in one of the Harry Potter books and you pretty much have it.

Mona shopping for gifts in one of the shops

Lunch in Fira

Later we motored to the other side of the island where the “Marina” was.  I found it interesting how you would pass one formation where the rock was volcanic black and next to it would be a white rock formation.  

Another thing I found interesting was that the Greek Islands do not cater to private yachts.  Some of the islands would have a small area where a few yachts could tie up.  Even the so called marina on Santorini had room for maybe a half dozen private yachts.  The rest of the small marina was filled with charter boats almost all of which were in port.  Did I mention that we were at the very end of the tourist season, which was good for us as we never had a problem finding a place to park the boat for the evening.

One of the many churches on the island.

Our last stop before flying out in the afternoon was a walk through the excavations of Akrotiri, a Minoan Bronze Age settlement.  It was abandoned around 1600BC probably because the volcano was erupting.  

Mona, Pat and I flew out that afternoon for Athens.  After spending part of the night in Athens we left at 4am for home.  I managed to catch some sort of bug, probably from the fatigue of traveling over 26 hours to the other side of the world, and spent the next week in bed.  But this trip of a lifetime was well worth it.  

Our captain Chris along with his crew of Tyga and Mikey continued onto Turkey where they laid up the boat for the winter.  Mona and I can't thank them and Pat enough for inviting us along.  It is something we both will fondly remember forever.