The past week has been simply amazing! We have much to share.

We went to Athens after Serifos. We spent one afternoon sightseeing in Athens and that almost felt like enough. We saw most of what we wanted to see and quickly tired of the crowds (Cindy did, anyway). We had planned to go into Athens again the second day we were there, but we spent much of the afternoon cleaning Seahike’s exterior. By the time we were done, Michael’s leg was really sore. I considered going into Athens alone but discarded that idea. In short, we didn’t see a lot. Here are a few pictures of what we (or I, when Michael needed to stop walking) saw.

Michael needed to stop walking after visiting the Acropolis, so I walked to the Ancient Agora of Athens. Some pictures:

And that was it for Athens. On the bright side, Seahike’s exterior (except for the sides) was nice and white again!

We left Athens by a sea of ships. Not sure why so many were there, but they were!

It was 32 nm from Athens Marina to the Corinth Canal. I was uber excited to sail the canal! First, the pictures we had seen looked lovely. Second, the canal itself is quite amazing. Here’s a bit of info about it. (When I say “a bit,” I mean a lot. I really like this canal!!)

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It is actually June 12 as I write this, but let’s talk about what we did last week.

I was a little tired after the previous week so I was ready for a bit of down time. The wind decided to provide us with some down time whether we wanted it or not! 🙂 We had planned to go to Milos, spend a day there, then come back “north” to visit a few islands before we went to Athens. That plan fell apart because it looked like we wouldn’t get back “up north” in time due to the N/NW winds. (When I say “in time,” I am referring to our deadline for getting to Lefkas to catch a flight to the US later this month.)

So, we skipped Milos. I regret that, but it is what it is. We’ve skipped other islands we’d hoped to visit due to the broken leg and the weather, and we’ve learned to accept the changes.

We went to Sifnos instead. Sifnos is one of the less touristy islands (you might have noticed that we tend to pick those types of islands) and it feels quite laid back. We rented a car and drove around a bit, had a nice meal with four cats, bought some honey, and enjoyed the slow pace.

I should mention that all four cats were ideal lunch guests and didn’t really beg. That could be because we pretty much ignored them . . .

Our next stop on the revised (Plan H?) itinerary was Serifos. We anchored out for the first time in a long time because Michael’s leg had healed enough to allow him to enter and exit the dinghy with little pain.

This big guy screamed past us on the way to Serifos. Look at how churned up the water behind the boat is!

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We left Rhodes after staying there for a week. We completed two necessary tasks: purchased two propane tanks (turned out they couldn’t fill the ones we had) and a passerelle. For those who don’t know, a passerelle is a gangway used to board or leave a yacht. We knew we would need one in the Med as soon as we started Med mooring again.

Our next stop was Tilos. We took a day to get there and spent the next day (May 27) touring the island via rental car. We chose Tilos because it isn’t populated with tourists and has some interesting sites. In antiquity, Tilos was popular for its herbs, and it prospered during the Classical period, which was also the time when Irinna, a famous ancient Greek female poet lived. Now it is a quiet island, said to be more true to its traditions than the more developed neighboring islands.

Our first visit was to Mikro Chorio. It isn’t wheelchair accessible so Michael waited in the car.  Mikro Chorio is a deserted village standing between Livadia and Megalo Chorio, the capital of Tilos. After the year 1940, the village was gradually abandoned and most of the inhabitants moved to Livadia. Today, only ruins of impressive buildings and stone built houses can be seen. It is an amazing experience to walk through the abandoned village. One can imagine how active it once was. Some pics of and from the village:

Our next stop was at the Charkadio Cave. Well, we didn’t actually go to the cave, but to the museum that displays the findings. The cave has become an important sight after a phenomenal discovery of 1971 by the geologist and speleologist Nikolaos Simeonides. His team brought into light Neolithic artifacts, including hunting tools and pottery. But the most important discoveries were of the fossilized bones of elephants, turtles and deer within the cave. According to scientists, dwarf elephants lived on Tilos 45,000 years ago and disappeared about 4,000 years ago. The museum contains actual fossilized bones as well as reproductions. This first picture shows the bones of a baby elephant. The human skulls give you an idea of just how small the elephant was.

This is Michael sitting next to a skeleton of a dwarf elephant (full grown – see how small it is!!), made of both real and manufactured bones (the elephant, not Michael). 😉

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