Leros

Arwenofbosham
Rob and Jacky Black
Sun 20 Sep 2009 12:50
37 07.8N 26 50.9E
Sunday 20th September
We arrived here yesterday and having booked a space we are on the wall beside the taverna in Port Lakki Marina. Lazy lines here so no need to use the anchor. I'm glad we had booked as we have the last available place and the wind is blowing strongly again so we will be here for a couple more days. There are a number of British boats here and we have found out more about the place - everyone speaks very highly of the boat yard linked to the marina and our first impression when we visited yesterday was very favorable. In fact so much so that we now plan to leave the boat here and not return to Mesalonghi. We are hoping that the marina in Mesalonghi will hold our deposit over for next year!
The island is very indented with bays and although not so hilly as Samos it is very green. We can see the higher hills of Kalimnos from here and Kos is only 40 miles to the south so not far to go for our rendezvous with Rob's mum next week. The facilities here are the best we have found in Greece - free wifi, lovely showers and toilets and two washing machines and a drier! The bay where Port Lakki is situated is the safest and biggest natural harbour in Greece and was used by Mussolini's Italian forces during the war - he even had a villa built here. There are still many Italian buildings in the town although some were destroyed when the Germans bombed the area later in the war. There is a lovely swimming beach 400 metres from the marina with a taverna behind so I have made use of that already -although the water temperature is dropping now it is still lovely to be able to swim. There are a good selection of shops here not much in the way of tourist things - proper butchers, bakeries and supermarkets which makes a pleasant change and the best thing for us is there is an airport 5 minutes walk from the boat yard with daily flights to Athens.
We plan to leave here on Tuesday morning and head for Kos.