Greetings from the Ionian!

We made it!  A rendezvous with Team Baird is now imminent!

To bring you up to date, when last we blogged we were hanging in Galaxidhi. First of all, can someone please explain to me what the difference is between Lamb and Meat from Baby Sheep? Maybe I don’t want to know…

After acquiring our fancy new phone, we headed to Delphi in our rental car.  I was getting pretty hangry, so we stopped for lunch in town before hitting the historical site.

Pizza in our bellies, we proceeded to the site.  It did not disappoint!  It was a steaming hot day, but the ruins were spectacular enough that we hiked all the way up to the top, marveling the whole way that such a place in the mountains would even exist.  Seriously, if I lived in a time without cars, I would be dwelling at sea level at all times, but maybe that’s how they kept the riff raff out.

We returned to Galaxidhi where we braved dinner at the taverna we could see from the boat in the hope of getting some WiFi I could use to download the season finale of Silicon Valley.

The WiFi was a NoGo, but we did make some delightful new boat friends, Paul and Janet!

The next morning while I slept, Mike went for an early morning walk and did some Greek rock stacking.

We then pulled up the anchor and headed west in the Gulf of Corinth.  Next stop was Trizonia, a small island with an apparently abandoned marina that is freaking full of boats.  We anchored in the bay–the water was pretty murky, but it was so hot we went swimming anyway.  That decision may or may not be related to the earache I’ve had ever since.  Mike convinced me it wasn’t worth going ashore, but I’ve since heard otherwise.  Note to self–don’t trust Mike.  You’d think I’d have figured that out by now!  He redeemed himself with some delicious bean burritos for dinner, using the perfect avocado we had waiting in the fridge.

The next morning we continued west, stopping in Navpaktos for breakfast and a stroll.  The guidebook said it wasn’t as nice as Galaxidhi, but I would argue that point–it’s a great spot with medieval walls around the harbour and lots of cute shops with reasonable prices.

This was our last stop before passing under the Rio-Antirrio bridge, as seen on The Amazing Race.

We soon arrived at the marina in Patras where we backed into our berth for the next two nights.  Shore power allowed us to indulge in the ultimate luxury–air conditioning.  Yes, Coral has air conditioning!  Generally Captain Mike would never permit the drain that it would make on the batteries (it’s all about the batteries, folks), but the combination of shore power, oppressive heat, thumping music, and the stench of Patras convinced the good captain to close up the boat and have at it.  Ah, sweet relief.

The next morning we headed to the train station for a little tourist adventure.  First some breakfast, where the restaurant menu offered a little taste of home.

We had purchased our tickets the night before for the Kalavryta-Diakofto Railway, a narrow-gauge, rack and pinion railway through the mountains.  A lovely day awaited us–bus to Diakofto, an hour to Kalavryta, lunch and an afternoon in the mountains, and then the return journey.

For some reason, the lady at the train station put us on a bus that arrived in Diakofto at 11:15, the exact time the train was to depart.  Needless to say, we missed the train.  So, we walked to the beach and drank until the 2:30 train, fell asleep on the train because we were half in the bag, did not get off the train because the last train back left in 2 minutes, and then missed our bus back to Patras, waiting another 2 hours in Diakofto. It was a boozy, Diakofto kind of day.  I’m not really complaining–I’m Irish, what’s not to like?

Water and diesel tanks full, the next day we headed to Mesolongi, apparently the place Lord Byron died, and a major salt cultivation spot in the Mediterranean.  More importantly, it’s where we once again bumped into our new friends Janet and Paul!  We went for drinks and the next thing we knew it was 1:45 am and we’d had bar peanuts for dinner.  Again, not complaining!  Our waiter was impressed with my new Greek phrase “another round”. He said I either must drink a lot or travel a lot, lol.  He returned later to apologize if he had offended me, but I assured him it was no problem, he was correct on both counts.

We had planned to hang around Mesolongi for a few days while I crammed some varnishing in before the Bairds see Coral again, but it’s a pretty swampy bay that we both were less than keen about swimming in, and it’s freaking hot.  And so now we find ourselves anchored in lovely Vathy on the island of Ithaca!   No jellyfish in sight,  a dinner of pork and couscous with the yummy peanut sauce Marc and Deb brought from home, and I am a happy girl.  I was afraid that the summer boat crowds would be oppressive, but it doesn’t feel any worse than what we’ve been experiencing for the past two months.  I am a little leery of encountering the charter folks again, but if that’s all I have to complain about, life is good!

Side note, we have a neighbour flying a flag that is a white iron cross on a red background. Anyone know what that represents?