Our 1^st experience of a Greek city (pop. either 40,000 or 57,000 depending on source), huge by our standards!  It’s a bit of a culture shock, both to be in a proper marina again, and a place with a wide choice of eateries & shops.  Kalamata, home of the huge, fat black olives, is at the very top of the 1^st deep gulf in the Peloponnese, so although it gets strong afternoon sea breezes sweeping up the bay, it is otherwise unbearably hot.  By the evening of the 1^st day it was nearly 40C in the cockpit and not much cooler below.  Unlike being at anchor, we can’t just dive off the back of the boat to cool off, so we’re really appreciating the new sun awning, and have just ordered 2 more fans to keep the air moving below.

Our only reason for staying here is to do some exploring inland, so we’re off tomorrow to hire & car to see Sparta, Mystras, ancient Messina plus a few others if we have the energy.  We might even stay overnight.  So we’ll post a full report & photos when we get back.  We’ll be checking that the hire car has a working spare tyre this time…