We got up fairly early with the idea of visiting the old town before it
got unbearably hot. So the
alarm woke us at 7:30. We had
breakfast in the cockpit. The
British boat in front of us is leaving this morning, so R borrows their water
connector so that we can fill up.
As we are filling we note that the fuel tanker is on the pier. We toy with the idea of filling up
again, but decide that it is not necessary. So with a full tank of water (including filling the camp
shower bag) off we go into town.
Despite it being only 9am, it is very hot. Today is going to be a scorcher. It is a gentle but uphill walk of about a mile, but by the
time we get to the town I am desperate for a toilet and completely
dehydrated. So the first thing we
do is stop at the first café and have a Perrier with ice each and use the
toilets. Feeling better we explore
the town. It is really very
interesting. The town itself is
about 12th Century . It
is built within strong defensive walls and is full of little alleyways. It reminds me of St Paul de Vence in
Provence. Some of the town is in
ruins, but much of it has been lovingly restored with newly refurbished holiday
lets and hotels. The only
disappointment is that the upper town is closed for restoration. We can see the work they are doing and
it is very extensive. They seem to
be restoring most of the eastern walls and the churches at the top. We go up as far as we can.
On the way down we are again very hot and bothered. So we stop at another café and have ice
cream.
It is now getting on for noon, so we head back to the boat. On the way we ask about a launderette
and are told that there is none in the town despite our pilot book saying there
is one. Later we realize that one
of the local hotels was advertising doing a 6 Kilo load of washing for 6
euros. Another opportunity
missed. We decide to make lunch
easy and buy a couple of spinach and cheese pies. Back at the boat we first get into the sea and have a little
swim to cool off. We have seen
turtles in the bay. Richard
thought he saw one yesterday and was told there are four in the bay. Today on the way to the town we saw one
swimming very near the surface where the fishing boats were in sorting their
catch. I guess it wanted to eat
the rejects. But we see nothing so
exotic on our swim. We eat our
pastries, where are quite nice and then spend the afternoon in the cockpit,
having a swim every now and again.
Sometime in the middle of the afternoon a 50ft boat comes in. They want to take on water because they
have run out, but there is nowhere on the pier we are on for them to stop to do
so. They keep asking all the small
boats about our size if they can raft up to take on water.
Even though the conditions are calm, no one is keen on having such a
large vessel rafted to them.
However in the end Richard directs them to the end of the other side of
the pier where there is a water tap.
It is next to the lifeboat and we are certain they cannot stay there,
but they should be able to stay long enough to take water on board. We see them later. They are 10 in all including a number
of children and are Russian on a charter boat. They have been told to leave the spot where they stopped,
but were able to take on the water they needed and were very grateful to us for
our help. Later we see they found a spot on the
other pier where boats are moored stern to.
By 5pm we are quite hot, but are not too keen to swim in the harbour
because someone has dumped a whole load of soap suds in it. What a shame when the water was so
clean and clear before. So instead
we go in to town to do shopping.
As ever I have bought far too much food. We will have to eat on board quite a lot.
Back on the boat we are hot and decide to take showers in what is left
of the hot water which is barely tepid.
However, as it is so hot we are more than happy with cool showers. Perhaps we should not have been so worried
about the lack of hot water before our water heater was fixed!
Dinner on shore. There are
a number or tavernas on the waterfront.
They all seem to have more or less the same menu, so it is hard to choose. We just fall into one that seems as
busy as any other. We have a
fairly nice meal of local red wine, fried baby squid and mains – local sausage
for R and veal stew in tomato for me.
Now back on the boat. We
have a long passage tomorrow to get to the first of the Cyclades, Milos (where
the Venus De Milo was found). The
weather forecast seems OK, but everyone says the winds are quite strong. We shall see how we get on.
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