We never had in mind sailing around the Peloponnese, the main reason being that we wanted to cross the Corinth Canal on our way to the Ionian Sea. But during last winter there was a landslide and the Canal will remain closed at least until the end of 2021.
So the alternative route was sailing around the Peloponnese. When we started to read about it, and what to see and where to stop, we soon decided that it was a trip that we wanted to do slow, enjoying the area, discovering the anchorages and the towns. Leaving the stress behind and just enjoying this adventure. And we can't be happier about the decision. It took us about 4 weeks to sail from Aegina/Poros, where we started for the season, to Kalamata, where we would stop for 1 month for work.
Dokos Island
The first obvious stop in this route would have been Hydra. But we already visited it last autumn. It is a beautiful place, but docking there is stressful and complicated, so we decided to skip it and after anchoring for the night in the bay around Cape Skyli, we stopped for a couple of days in Dokos island.
The north part of this almost deserted island is a huge bay, protected from the prevailing SE wind and its very popular for anchoring for all size of boats. We enjoyed the beginning of this trip just swimming, relaxing and working. Last season we didn’t get so much experience and confidence on anchoring, so it was a perfect spot to get some skills and confidence on it on windy nights. The usual weather in this area is calm mornings with SE winds appearing in the early afternoon and usually falling around sundown.
The second day the weather was much calmer, so we went for a sunset dinghy ride to explore the island. There are interesting hikes up to old ruins but it was too hot for us during the day, so we just went for a short walk and to say hello to the donkeys. Sunset, olive trees, views of the bay, crickets… it felt so nice.
Welcome to the Peloponnese: Poúlithra
We left Dokos with the idea of stopping in Spetses Island for the night. But the weather was so nice, and we were having so much fun cruising at 7 knots with 12 knots of steady crosswind, that we decided to go the whole way to the peninsula. Ambrym is heavy and generally slow. And last year we had some troubles with the mainsail boom support and we couldn't adjust it properly, so this fun awesome sailing was something special and we wanted to enjoy it. It was a perfect sailing day and we saw a sea turtle!
Our plan then was to head to Leonidio, but as usual in this area, in the afternoon the wind got stronger and with more than 25 knots we decided to continue to the protected Bay of Poulithra instead.
Wow, perfect decision.
Reaching the bay the wind was completely blocked by the mountains, and we found ourselves almost alone in this green, calm, beautiful anchorage for the night. It was so strange feeling the wind changing from 25 to 3 knots in a couple of meters.
After relaxing a bit, we went exploring around, swimming, paddling and enjoying the views.
This area is so different to what we had seen in Greece before. We were told that Peloponnese was not going to let us down. And Poúlithra was the perfect first contact with it.
Kyparissi. Mountains and sea
When we read that Kyparissi is a small unspoilt town surrounded by high mountains, green, charming, with cristal clear water... we immediately put it in the list of places to visit in the Peloponnese.
We already loved it while approaching the town harbour, where we stayed for 2 days. The town has nothing special to see. It is all just about relaxing, enjoying the views of the mountains, swimming and going for some walks. We couldn’t stop looking around and being fascinated by the green, the rock, the atmosphere, the calm… of this unspotted corner of the Mediterranean.
We could have anchored, but we decided to dock in front of the town and be able to walk from the boat after some days at anchor.
We hiked up the hill to the remainings of the old acropolis, where the views are fantastic. And we walked the extremely nice path to the church bay. Both the path and the bay are awesome, so relaxing and spectacular. The bay is a bit too deep, but it’s so beautiful and the water is so crystal clear, that I think we would anchor here if we ever come back.
An evening dinghy ride to the bay again for a swim on the second day was so worth it too. Even with low light, we could perfectly see the bottom 20m below us. And water so calm and the sun hiding behind the mountains made the evening magical.
Kyparissi was only accessible by boat until the 70s, and nowadays the road access is still difficult. That's why it's not so spoilt by the tourists yet. Nowadays becoming a famous area for rock climbing, we couldn't stop looking at the imposing walls trying to guess the climbing routes.
We could have stayed here for so much longer than 2 days. But they were many other nice places waiting for us...
Gerakas: a fjord in the Mediterranean
We left Kyparissi behind, feeling that we would soon miss the green and the mountains as sailing south... but we didn't miss it for long. A couple of hours motoring a glass calm sea brought us to the next stop: Gerakas.
This small town looks like it hasn't changed at all in the last 30 years and it's protected from the sea inside a small fjord.
Picturesque and very protected, we relaxed at anchor until the heat went down in the late afternoon, when we took the dinghy out to explore the lagoon (the end of the fjord). We also climbed the hill to see the views of the fjord from the ancient town.
Can you recognise Ambrym between all the boats? We can't say that it was crowded, but we hadn't have so many neighbours for a while! We have been really enjoying the calm in the Peloponnese, far from the typical charter boat routes, the races to get the best spot and all the stress that it means.
Monemvasia: a fortified medieval town built around the rock
As we kept sailing south along the Peloponnese the hills were not so green anymore, but we still found awesome places full of so much history.
Monemvasia is just stunning. The old town (or towns) on top of the hill, the cliffs, the path to get there, the beautiful fortified medieval town... We spent 3 days in the town harbour (we needed power and water after more than 1 week), we met fantastic people, and we explored the town.
And... on top of everything else...there are turtles in the harbour!!!!
You can see them peacefully swimming around at any time of the day (there was one swimming around the boat when we arrived and we couldn't drop the anchor!) and every morning, around 9, when the fishermen come back and clean the nets... it's showtime!! they come for breakfast and you only have to sit there and enjoy the views.
The only problem we had the days we spent there was that it was so hot!! We really really wanted to explore Monemvasia and the castle on top of the hill, but how could we do it at 36 degrees? So... we had one of our crazy ideas! "Let's go for sunrise!! - Wait a moment... sunrise is at 6.20 now... ok, let's do it anyway!"
And there we go. At 5 o'clock the alarm went off... We didn't make it to the top before sunset. And it was hot anyway! But oh it was so worth it!
The place is beautiful, you can feel the history at every step. Just imagining how they built it at that time... - if rocks could talk...
The towns built at different stages in time, as well as at different heights in the hill. The special shape of the island, such a great defensive location. The new town, full of charming B&Bs and cafes.
Yes, Monemvasia is another very special place no to be missed!!
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