36
43.6 N 24 26.9 E
Milos
14th – 17th September
We had
a fairly uneventful sail from the mainland to Milos with various sail
configurations depending on the wind. At one point we even had to put in the
second reef in the main as the wind got up considerably but this was short
lived! We saw few boats and several ferries on the way. On entering the large
almost enclosed harbour of Milos we decided to take a look at the quay at
Adhamas but to anchor overnight and manoeuvre the following morning when
hopefully the wind would be less. We were soon securely ‘hooked’ and both had a
sleep as it had been a long day. We were in the company of 2 large ketches in
the anchorage – there were several mooring buoys with local boats closer to the
beach. We had a quiet night and duly headed for the town quay in the morning. We
were helped with our lines by Sam a local fisherman whose boat was on the other
side of the quay. Later the ‘waterman’ arrived to explain about the water and
electricity to which we duly connected. The quay had been pretty quiet on our
arrival but was full by the evening.
Jacky
went off in search of a car hire company and the local tourist information
centre and en route met a chap called Patrick ( he has lived on the island for
30 years) an ex-pat who runs a car rental business from another town on the
north east coast called – Pollonia. He suggested Nikos car rental as being
honest, competitive and having good cars so that is where we got our vehicle
from for the following day. In the mean time we explored and found an excellent
supermarket and some other good shops for browsing. Jacky also met a lady –
Maureen, who has been visiting
Milos for 35 years she is in her eighties but has walked most of the island and
gave us loads of information about where to go with the car.
On
Thursday morning we set off for the first of our points of interest the villages
on the hill above Adhamas –the ‘Chora’ and then on down to see the old fishing
hamlet of Klima. The roads are reminiscent of high alpine tracks – mostly made
up with many rough patches consistently one track wide with few passing places
and of course the numerous hair-pin bends just to add to the mix! The tiny
settlement consists of 2 story buildings set against the rocky foreshore –
originally they were just fishing huts / boat houses but over time second floors
were added so that the fisherman had somewhere to sleep when they had returned
their boats to the cove. Each front has what appears to be a large garage door
all brightly painted in various primary colours– which led into a place for the
boat in the winter but mostly now being used as storage or even living rooms.
Above on the second floor were terraces with brightly coloured window shutters
painted to match the big doors.
There
was an ancient city above Klima and it is still being excavated – we parked and
walked to view the amphitheatre which was set looking out across the large bay
of Milos – really spectacular. On the track leading to the top of this was the
marked site from where the famous statue Venus De Milo was stolen by French
soldiers in the 1820s – it now resides in the Louvre. Also near bye are the
famous Christian Catacombs’ which were closed but apparently housed some 5000
bodies when they were opened!
Milos
is still famous for its extensive mineral deposits which are mined all over the
island. First settlers as long ago as 2000BC were extracting obsidian to use for
arrow heads as there was no local supply of flint. The island was a huge volcano
and the bay of Milos is in fact the crater created when there was an enormous
eruption much like the water filled crater in Santorini. We next drove to the
north western coast to Sarakiniko where there is an area of softer sand type
rock which has eroded over time to create the most amazing moon-like landscape.
We walked down to an almost entirely enclosed bay through sculpted sand dunes
not dissimilar to the topography we saw in Cappadocia last year.
Next
we headed for Pollonia a charming fishing village with a tiny harbour and a good
sandy beach where we had a snack lunch and Jacky had a swim. We called in to
speak to Patrick at his car hire firm – Axiom cars and met his wife Sheila. They
suggested we should next head for Paleochori beach via the high point on the
island which gave us a view of the various mining activities and showed the
different colours of the rocks on this island. We eventually found our way (the
maps are no help really!) to the said beach and collapsed for a rest – Jacky had
several swims and we finished off with a cooling drink in one of the beach
tavernas before heading for home. The route took us to the south of the island
and into the much wilder landscape with ravines, crevasses and moor-like
vegetation – we made it to one of the famous churches/ monasteries before the
road surface defeated us and we turned back for Adhamas.
It is
certainly an interesting island and well worth exploring by car – it was a shame
we didn’t have more time. For walking enthusiasts it is wonderful.
On
Saturday we left around 1000 and
headed for an anchorage we had selected on the small satellite island of
Poliagos to the north east of Milos. We had a rough slow passage as the wind was
on the nose once we were out of Milos bay – however it was only 15 miles or so
and we were anchored and swimming by 1400. The bay was called Manoloniso and was
delightful – just goats for company and clear turquoise water! The goats are
wild as there are no inhabitants on the island and they have obviously evolved
to be big and hardy – they were almost the size of small cows and many had very
long horns!
This
anchorage was fine while we were awake but sadly when the wind got up around
0030 we began to drag the anchor and as it was such a small place we decided
that prudence was called for so cut our losses and set sail for
Thira!
