36:41.175N 22:49.930E
21/05/24 We spent a lovely couple of days in Monemvasia, and, although we had been there before, it was nice to see it again. This time we managed to visit Agia Sofia church on the top of the rock, it was closed the last time we were here. The weather remained benign, so we left Monemvasia on the 18th and had to motor all the way to Cape Maleas. Just as we got to the corner, the wind filled in and in true Cape Maleas fashion we suddenly had a F6 beam reach. However, this time it didn’t last, and we were soon back to just making way under sail in calm conditions. So our mythical tour has taken us to Cape Maleas. This is the point at which the Ionian meets the Aegean and, as we experienced last year, can be terribly turbulent. However, the reason it merits a mention is because this is the point where everything starts to go wrong for Odysseus who is trying to get back to Ithaca after fighting in the Trojen war. Approaching Cape Maleas by sea, Odysseus was experiencing North wind against him that eventually reached hurricane force…… ”so that land and sky’s were hidden in thick clouds and night sprang forth out of the heavens. We let the ships run before the gale, but the force of the wind tore our sails to tatters, so we took them down for fear of shipwreck and rowed our hardest towards the land. There we lay two days and two night suffering much alike from toil and distress of mind, but on the morning of the third day we again raised our masts, set sail, and took our places, letting the wind and steersmen direct our ship. I should have got home at that time unharmed had not the North wind and the currents been against me as I was doubling Cape Maleas and set me off my course hard by the island of Cythera. I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of nine days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower……” Homer, the odyssey. Translated by Samuel Buttler, 1900. Taken from Sam Jefferson’s book In The Wake Of the Gods. A cruising companion to The World of The Greek Myths. We arrived in Elaphonisos motoring the last bit into the bay due to lack of wind. We were only going to spend a night in Elaphonisos, but it was so quiet, warm and sunny that we stayed the next day and had a relaxing time, swimming in the clear turquoise water. Unfortunately the weather is not allowing us to keep to our plan just at the moment, so we decided to sail higher into the Gulf of Lakonikos to shelter from some predicted strong wind and will have to delay our visit to Cape Tainaron until later in the week. So an unplanned visit to Plytra was our next stop. We had a good sail from Elaphonisos to Plytra, until, again, the last half hour when we had to motor into the bay. Another bay with turquoise water, quiet, with excellent anchoring on sand, once you find a sandy spot without a rocky base. The small village is a favourite Greek holiday place, so, as it is not the time of year for the Greeks to be on holiday, it was very quiet. Plytra has a submerged city on the southern side of the breakwater. The year of establishment of the city of “Asopos" is somewhere between the pre-historic and the descent of the Doreis. The town had great prosperity during the Roman years, and with 18 other coastland cities of Lakonia, were part of the so-called people of the liberal-Lakonians. It had the luxury of independence and cut their own coins. one side of them illustrated the Gods of Poseidon, Artemis and Nemesis and the other side the inscription “Asopiton”. So we are still on the trail of the Gods, even though we are slightly off course at the moment.Chris thinking he is as strong as Hercules, playing bowls with cannon balls in Monemvasia  Inside the church of Agia Sofia Monemvasia  Submerged city of Asopos in Plytra  Sent from my iPad |