| Past Updates |
| Page 23 |
| November 11, 2002, Update #34 |
| Next legs: Italy to Greece, then onto Turkey We arrived in Corfu where we checked into Greece from Italy. Corfu was a busy harbor with lots of sailboats and day charter boats called "gulets." The gulets are beautiful wooden, schooner-like rig sailboats that are basically party boats that go from island to nearby island stopping for touring, lunch and swimming. These stunning boats basically take over a harbor during the day making it more congested for people like us who are on private sailboats. We headed for a marina for a night or two and then to the town wall (which was free). Corfu had a very nice outdoor produce and fish market and lots of other shops to provision and catch up on odds and ends on the shopping list. For example, when we arrived in Spain last year, we purchased a GSM mobile phone and bought a pre-paid Spanish SIM card, giving us a Spanish telephone number. This allowed us to stay "phone connected" with friends aboard other boats and family at home. As we moved from country to country, our first shopping list item is always to purchase a new SIM card for that country. It does throw a small wrinkle into the mix in that each time you change your SIM card, you get a new telephone number; however, this is what everyone does to avoid huge roaming charges. Speaking of phones, etc., we signed up for a "callback" service in the States. The way this works is as follows: they set you up with an account (that automatically charges your monthly telephone usage to your credit card) and assign you a "call-in" telephone number. When you call this number from your phone, you are instructed to hang up. Within a few seconds, your phone rings (the callback is calling you) from the service at which time you are on a "US" telephone line and allows you to call within the US or even back to Europe at better rates than available here in Europe and certainly better than using a cell phone. We know of folks who might be in Italy and who call their callback number in the US to then call to Greece or other European locations. It is cheaper to use callback in the States to then call Europe even though you are already in Europe; unbelievable, isn't it! We arrived in Greece on September 10 and sailed over 15 of its islands as we headed eastbound to Turkey. The Greek islands were nice but we both agreed that they were not as exciting and beautiful as we expected. The food was very basic and for the most part, lacked creativity. The prices were a bit on the high side given the quality. The wine, however, was on the whole quite good and inexpensive. So, needless to say, we stocked up on the wine. Most of the islands we stopped out had either a quiet anchorage or a free tie up to the town wall (without water and electricity) or free slips at unfinished marinas. We continued to hop scotch around the islands always meeting up with another boat we met earlier in other island harbors. Probably three of the most spectacular experiences in Greece were in Delphi, Athens and the Corinth Canal. We tied Zelda up to a free unfinished marina near Delphi and took the local bus up the mountain to Delphi. The bus trip alone was worth the trip with a fantastic view of the olive trees, slopes, and harbor. At the top were fantastic ruins to explore as well as a great museum. Besides other artifacts, the recovered pottery was spectacular. It is here that the Greeks built the Sanctuary of Apollo on the slopes overlooking the Gulf of Corinth. Delphi was regarded as the centre of the world according to mythology; Zeus apparently released two eagles at opposite ends of the world and they met in Delphi. Delphi reached its height in the 4th century BC. From Delphi we sailed further eastbound stopping at other smaller islands as we made our way to Corinth (the town just outside the famous Corinth Canal). We once again tied to a free marina and spent about a week in Corinth. We also took the time to tour Ancient Corinth and its museum. We took the train into Athens from Corinth, about 45 minutes and spent the entire day exploring this vast city; probably the biggest city we have been in for quite a while. We hiked up to the spectacular remains of the Acropolis with its beautiful 360 degree view of Athens and surrounding areas. We also planned our trip into Athens to coincide with the huge Sunday flea market. Given it was Sunday, most of the traditional shopping districts were closed, however, we filled our day touring the ruins. By the way, there is a lot of preparation going on for the Olympics, lots of tee shirts and souvenirs already for sale. With a good weather window, we left the marina of Corinth and staged our passage through the Corinth Canal, which was about 6 km west by boat from the marina. Before entering the Canal you must check into the control center, as the traffic is either inbound or outbound and not both. The Canal is extremely narrow but since it accommodates large tankers, Zelda also fit! The two bridges that are at both ends of the Canal actually drop "down" into the water rather than lift up; that was something to see. We followed a huge tanker and three other sailboats through. The Canal was created by cutting through solid rock of the Isthmus of Corinth to link the Ionian and Aegean seas. It is over 6 km long and 23 meters wide. The vertical sides rise 90 meters above the water. Going through the Canal saves boats a tremendous amount of distance, but….it does cost. For a 49' boat like Zelda it cost over $100. Once through the Canal, we stopped at several other Greek islands mostly as stopovers so as to arrive in Turkey early in the Fall. The weather remains warm here which allows for a longer and warmer sailing season. We checked out of Greece in a beautiful tiny harbor town called Simi and then headed for Marmaris, Turkey, where we once again checked in with the officials. In Turkey, the check-in requirements included Customs, Immigration, Port Police and Medical; given the number of people to see, it was surprisingly quick and easy. In Turkey, we received a 90-day visa that can be renewed for another 90 days. As usual, we purchased our new SIM card at one of the many phone stores. Marmaris is a relatively large harbor town with lots of gulets and private sailing boats. Our first Turkish dinner was delicious and inexpensive! They mostly cook with lamb, chicken and beef and do a lot of kebabs and casseroles. The wine so far has been quite good and reasonably priced. While in Marmaris, we had our 110v refrigerator and freezer compressors replaced, one of them failed a few weeks earlier. Luckily our boat also has engine-driven refrigeration so we were able to keep the food chilled until we made landfall into a large enough marina that could do the work. The new refrigeration system is working great and is now running off our 24 volt batteries so it remains on (thermostat controlled) throughout the day and night. With the 110 system, we either had to be plugged into a dock or run our 110 generator. From Marmaris we anchored in a small harbor near the mouth of the Dalyan Creek. We understand that parts of the African Queen movie were filmed along this reedbed creek. Along with our friends Ann and Garry on the catamaran, Toucan Tango, we hired a private boat to take us up the creek to view the most unbelievable, well preserved ruins of a 9th century BC city. Further up the creek were the remarkable rock tombs. The talented artisans of these tombs hand carved superb structures out of rock that resembled temples. It is hard to imagine how they created such beautiful structures with the technology at hand. Nearby is the famous beach where the loggerback turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. We missed the nesting season; also learned that the beach where they nest is off limits. Next was Gocek and then Kekova Roads, Turkey. While anchored in a harbor near Gocek, a local boater who was selling freshly made pancakes stuffed with your choice of spinach and cheese or honey and lemon came along side Zelda. The woman on the boat (actually his mother) rolls out the pancake while you watch, stuffs it and cooks it on a special "crepe-type" pan; quite good and cheap (3 million Turkish Lira which is less than $2.00). From Kekova Roads we took a taxi back to Kas, a small harbor town we passed by with Zelda. Along the rode we stopped to photograph a camel that was waiting for its owner who was tending goats. In Kas one could easily see more of the remarkable rock tombs embedded into the cliffs. While in Kekova Roads, we also took a hike to more ruins where there were many, many sarcophagi (tombs) scattered in every direction. |