Our first day in Skala Loutra was a washout, literally. The heavens opened and forgot to close again, thunder rumbled in the background, small flashes of lightening brightened the otherwise dull drizzly sky in little bursts. We stayed on board through the boat cleaning rain, sea sloshing us around just enough to illicit that nausea feeling, lovely! Going outside would have been awful, not just because we would get wet, mainly its the drying issue on our return to the boat, damp clothing hanging in a small confined space with little chance of getting anything dry. The only electric point on the small quay, was having to be shared by our two boats meaning that putting a heater on was not really an option as we did not have the cabling to split the power. We created our recent video, logged our previous photos and wrote about the journey so far before the boredom set in forever. Fortunately, Paul and Lorraine on their yacht were have an equally dull day and by the evening we thought it best to eat together and play a few games of cards, neither of which I won I might add. That night, rain dripped even more angrily onto the boats disturbing our nights sleep however, tomorrow we had a plan....regardless of how many meters of rain fell between now and the morning, we are going outside. Today the 10th April, we are catching the local bus into Mityline then having booked a car online, we are going to see the sights of Lesvos, unless we get washed away first! Waking up to a bright quiet day was so lovely, we all slept soundly once the rain had dropped its final annoying drip. The bus is due around 10.15 am from just behind the quayside, very exciting! By 10 am we were loitering around the terminus, by 11 am we were still idly making little tours of the bus stop and by 11.30 am we were ready to give up and climb into the back of a local truck anticipating a lift to.....anywhere. Finally by 11.30 a rather lively personality turned up in his slightly beaten up coach. We clambered on board despite the scratched dented and battered exterior, which gave us a little insight into the drivers skills and possible behaviour on these roads. However, the sun was out and the sky hinted at a day without rain, we were ready for adventure. First stop Mityline, the islands capital. From the top of the hillside looking down over this large city we see the port complete with a ferry moored ready for its next journey. The sea looks relatively calm and the sky is a fabulous blue, ok not all of it is actually blue, there are some grey, blackish looking patches which I refuse to make eye contact with hoping they won't see us. The buildings are mainly terracotta roofed and white painted exteriors, a main thoroughfare takes cars out and around the huge outer castle wall. As we step onto the streets the bustling town engages our attention, bars and restaurants line the promenade, busy people moving through their working day skirt around us as we leisurely amble along. A few tired yachts sit forlornly on the harbour wall, possibly having been there all winter undisturbed, two naval vessels sit proudly along the quayside their crew nowhere to be seen. Our first purchase were various electrical parts to attempt to construct a few splitter cables, as mentioned previously, should we find ourselves on a quayside with only one power source, these cables with a variety of connecting end pieces, will allow us to share the power between two boats. The parts were found easily with the help of Paul's Greek/Cypriot language skills and even more fortunately, he is capable of working out how to construct them! The streets are very quaint, some unique little boutique style shops with most unusual gift ideas kept our attention while we located our electrical parts. Some shops are seasonal, and April I am afraid is a little early for their door opening, there are some very quirky items on display, from door knockers to what look like Fabergé eggs! A very attractive town with plenty to see which we must visit again, preferably outside of siesta time. We decide on a coffee break before checking out our car hire which is booked for this evening, both of which turn out to be neighbouring buildings, rather handy for us. Our ability to assess coffee and other beverages is becoming quite a skill, we have had some, interesting flavours and now have the knack of rating each even before the taste test, the things you do for amusement!
A castle visit is obviously necessary, the wall which could be seen as the bus brought us into Mityline is huge, apparently the largest in the Mediterranean. Mainly the outer wall with a few ruins from the ottoman empire invasion are left pretty much intact, a section towards the port has some of the old brothel buildings from a later era. During the last few year's the construction of a new ring road began in order to alleviate the congestion within the city. Unfortunately this involved destroying a part of the castle perimeter. During the construction of this road, the castle took a further assault from vibration which damaged both part of the wall and the new road itself. The ring road idea seems to have been shelved ever since. Our walk around the wall was joined by a few stray dogs, each of them were friendly, clean and certainly well fed. They even had kennels dotted around the grounds with food nearby, clearly well cared for by the locals. As we near our final section of circular walk the skies darken once again just above our heads, coats on and we quicken our pace before those big wet splashes dampen our otherwise great day. Towards the port entrance a small bronze statue of liberty built in 1920s stands welcoming visitors to Mityline, the young girl apparently symbolises a figure of freedom and holds the similar pose to the American version of the statue of liberty. Our car hire is ready and the rain is intermittent, we decide to collect some provisions before heading back to Skala loutra. A Roman aquaduct hides nearby according to our map, we make a detour to investigate. The seventeen arches of this highly impressive structure stand beautifully within the trees and hillsides. A section of 170 meters in length constructed with local grey marble is left standing for the world to see, and it is rather stunning. Our day is done, plenty more to see tomorrow now that we have wheels rather than sails!
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Sailing Kejstral AdventuresRetired and following our dream of sailing around the world Archives
April 2019
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