VOLUME 5: GREEK ISLANDS & TURKEY, Part II
SPECIAL FEATURES
-
Highlights include segments on using radar and electronic charts.
- Anchoring techniques
- How to do a Mediterranean mooring
- Plus a look at the best ports in these
areas of Greece and Turkey.
Episode Outlines
31 - Plomari Greece is a country that takes great pride in it's ancient
and classical history but in Plomari, on the south coast of the island of
Lesvos, the focus is on regional history. Throughout the summer there are
numerous festivals celebrating this heritage and visitors are encouraged
to participate. Plomari is the capital of ouzo and the Shards arrive at
the Plomari marina on the first day of the Annual Ouzo Festival where for
four nights in July there is feasting, regional music and free ouzo
provided by the local distilleries. Following the festival, a local couple
take the Shards for a boat ride along the coast to see a hidden church in
a cave surrounded by healing natural hot pools. Paul and Sheryl end their
visit by attending the the Annual Horse Festival where local riders parade
through town and display their riding skills in a unique dance competition
at the waterfront.
#32 - Passage to Chios - Sigri, Inousses, Chios Paul and Sheryl continue
sailing along the south coast of Lesvos, anchoring in the Gulf of Kalloni
before reaching the port of Sigri at the west end of this Greek island. In
Sigri they explore the Petrified Forest where ancient tree stumps, now
petrified into stone, stand scattered across the landscape. Back aboard
Two-Step they head south for the small island of Inousses, home to many
Greek shipping magnates, then on to the island of Chios where they learn
to harvest mastic, an aphrodisiac once prized by the Turkish sultans and
their harem. They travel inland to remote hilltop villages and
monasteries. In the village of Pyrgi the homes decorated in unique black
and white symbols and patterns, and the Shards participate in the town's
procession honouring the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, one of Greece's
most important summer religious festivals.
#33 - Samos (Greek Islands) Continuing their voyage south through the
North Aegean islands of Greece, Paul and Sheryl arrive at the small island
of Fourni. In a remote anchorage at the south end of the island, they wait
for the 'meltemi', a strong north wind, to quiet down before sailing to
Quarry Bay, where they explore an ancient Greek marble quarry and dive on
the marble ruins beneath the sea. From here they sail on to the island of
Samos where they meet up with geologists Myrsini and Dionysis Matarangas
who are studying the marble used in the ancient temples here to determine
it's source. With the Matarangas they visit the Temple of Hera and the
Efpalinio Tunnel, a 1040-metre aqueduct built in the sixth-century BC.
Samos has a long history of boat building and the group drop in on a local
builder still creating traditional 'caiques'. His workshop in located in a
forest on a mountaintop where he's close to the best wood for building.
#34 - Patmos (Greek Islands) The Shards continue south to the island group
surrounding Patmos in the Dodecanese region of the Greek islands. Their
first stop is the islet of Marathi where only a couple of goat herding
families live who run several excellent beach tavernas for visiting
boaters and daytrippers. At Patmos the Shards demonstrate how to tie up at
the town quay using a technique called Mediterranean mooring. From the
waterfront they hike up the island's rocky pinnacle to the cave where St.
John the Divine is said to have received the New Testament's Book of
Revelation. At the summit, where the imposing monastery, built in 1088,
stands overlooking the island and surrounding sea, Paul and Sheryl are
introduced to the former king of Greece who is on a return visit with his
family.
#35 - Leros After leaving Patmos, Paul and Sheryl haul out their sailboat
in the boat yard on the small Greek island of Leros to install a new
self-steering system, radar, and other navigation equipment. Leros is a
dry deeply indented island whose bays offered protection to the Italian,
German, and British Mediterranean fleets during WW2, and in the town of
Lakki they wander the unusually wide streets and buildings built in Art
Deco style during the Italian occupation in the war. A local sailor
interested in the island's history invites the Shards to join him on
expeditions to rediscover old WW2 bunkers and tunnels . At a local taverna
the Shards meet a French women who came for a vacation and never went
home. When the boat jobs are complete and their sailboat, Two-Step, afloat
once again they sail to their favourite anchorage for a special Greek
dinner hosted by the island's most famous bazouki player and are treated
to any evening of traditional music and dancing.
#36 - Marmaris, Turkey From Leros, it's an easy hop to the Turkish town of
Marmaris where the Shards clear back in to Turkey. Marmaris is one of the
most popular beach destinations in Turkey as well as the country's largest
yachting centre. At the Marmaris marina the Shards meet a local family who
teach them how to prepare regional summer foods, introduce them to the
night life of the town, as well as the delights of the surrounding
forested countryside where they go almond-picking, visit a beach where
there is a legend of a girl escaping from pirates, swim in a waterfall,
learn about Turkish herbal remedies, and participate in a village ritual
that promises a long and happy life. #37 - Turkey's Lakelands The town of
Marmaris on the southwest coast of Turkey it is just a 5-hour drive the
Lakelands District, Turkey's major inland boating and recreation
centre.The Shards rent a car and with Turkish friend, Ali, drive to the
town of Egirdir where they meet a retired army officer who has hiked the
surrounding Taurus mountains for 35 years. He outfits the Shards and Ali
for mountain trekking and while travelling through the mountains, the
threesome head explore a huge cave 2 km long used by the ancient Romans as
a temple and meet people of the Yoruk tribes who are nomadic goat herders
living in goat hair tents. When the Shards and Ali come down out of the
mountains they recover from the strenuous hike with a feshwater swim at
the beach on Lake Egirdir's Yesilada Island.
#38 - Turkey's Turquiose Coast Leaving Marmaris and the Aegean Sea, the
Shards sail along the south coast of Turkey which returns them to the
Mediterranean Sea. This region is known as the Turquoise Coast and is a
green forested mountainous shore with numerous bays and coves and
amazingly clear turquoise water - paradise for anyone who loves
watersports. A riverman from the village of Ekincik takes Paul and Sheryl
in his boat to explore the ancient sites along the shallow Dalyan River.
At the ruins of the old port the Shards explore an ancient Greek temple to
Hera, a Roman amphi-theatre and bath house, as well as a Christian
basilica.They continue up the river passing Lycian cliff tombs. Sailing on
to Wall Bay they dive on a shipwreck, and in the anchorage at Karacaoren
the meet a local shepherd family now running a successful restaurant for
visiting sailors and daytrippers from nearby resort towns.
#39 - Rhodes Returning to the Greek islands, the Shards visit the
strategically positioned island of Rhodes, home of the crusading Knights
of St. John from 1309 to 1522. The Shards raft up with many other yachts
along the town quay where the huge statue to the sun god Helios, known
better as the Colossus of Rhodes, once stood. They explore the
well-preserved medieval city of the Knights and visit the Palace of the
Grand Masters. Next we experience the beauty of the annual migration of
colourful tiger moths in the Valley of the Butterflies. From Rhodes, they
sail to the nearby islet of Symi where they anchor near an old monastery
and visit the abbot who has lived there for 57 years after washing ashore
there as a child, surviving the shipwreck that killed his mother.
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