37:31.08N 22:51.87E
Muskrat
Chris and Alison
Wed 26 Oct 2022 19:37
23/10/22 Weather: Wind S SE F1, sea state slight. Temp 28’c, water temp 27’c. Sunny. Hannah and Joe left for their flight home so we decided to visit Tolo, a once small fishing village that has now been transformed into a tourist resort. As it is now late October we found that the tourists had mostly gone and we were happy to find the village and the bay quiet. Most of the hotels looked shut for the winter with only a few still operating for a very small amount of guests. We anchored just off the town and the beach with the anchorage to ourselves again. Tolo’s archaeological site is the once city of Asine. There has been occupation of the area since Neolithic times. Asine is dated from the 3rd c BC. With its natural harbour and fortified walls, Asine had an excellent defensive position, and in times of trouble the populations from around the area would come to Asine for refuge. The stragegic advantages of the site and its natural sheltered harbour played a key role in tis development over the centuries. Asine is first mentioned by Homer in the Iliad in the “catalogue ships”, a list of cities that sent ships to the Trojan campaign as part of the Argolic mission under the command of the Argive king Diomedes. The inhabitants on Kastraki (as Tolo was once known) appear for the first time during the 3rd millennium BC in the Early Helladic period. The occupation of the lower town was intensive during middle Helladic, spreading to cover part of the opposite hill toward the end of this period. Finds from the settlement and chamber tombs of the Mycenaean period show a thriving community whose members had acquired power and wealth due to their engagement in trade between the palaces of the Argolis and the centers beyond the Aegean sea. Habitation in the area continued almost uninterruptedly until 700 BC, when, according to Pausanias, the settlement was destroyed by neighbouring Argos and its residents were relocated to Messenia. At the end of the 4th century BC, Asine flourished once more and was fortified with strong walls, probably by the Macedonian ruler Demetrius Polioretes. The ruins of Asine were finally destroyed by the Italians during the WW2 who used the stone from the buildings and walls to make their defences, in the process destroying artefacts and the remaining site.  Washing day on Muskie in Tolo bay  Tolo bay  Ancient city of Asine  25/10/22 Weather: Hot and sunny, Temp 28’c, sea temp 27.4’c. Wind var F1 We moved onto Vivari, a small almost land locked bay just south of Tolo. A very quiet, sleepy fishing village with a Venetian fort at its head. We anchored at the head of the bay in a very quiet spot with only the occasional fishing boat sailing by. With only a few days left until we get Muskie lifted out, we decided it would be a good idea to get the mainsail down and packed away in the piece and quiet of this bay. There are NW winds forecast for our final sail to Koiladhia so we could sail under the Genoa only back down the gulf.  Vivari |