Monday 31^st May – Monemvasía

36:40.977N 23:02.356E

The marina we are in is actually by the town of Yefira on the mainland.  Monemvasía itself is a small island, looking like a mini Gibraltar, linked to the shore by a short causeway

This morning we cycled the short distance through the town and across the causeway.  Vehicles and bikes were parked up on the road approaching the entrance to the walled, old village on the island, so we left ours there and went in on foot.  This was the right thing to do – in the village it was not suitable for wheeled transport of any kind, the only transport we saw was four-legged, being used to haul cement up the narrow winding cobbled pathways of the hillside for the extensive, yet sympathetic, restoration work.

The old village is of Byzantine origin but was rebuilt by the Venetians; the renovations have included the opening of some small hotels and tavernas but the cobbled streets and walls remain in character and it is very pleasant walking around what I couldn’t help thinking of as ‘base camp’, knowing what lay ahead.

Behind the village is a steep, zig-zag footpath winding up the side of the hill, past numerous small buildings and old churches, through a tunnel (a rest in the shade is required here) into the ruins of the fortress and then on again to the summit.  At the very top of the rock that is Monemvasía there is an old Venetian citadel and a church, Ayia Sofia, which sits on the edge of the cliff on the north side.

The views from the top were fantastic.  The ruins of the fortress were vast and did not offer any shade; by now the sun was too high to be able to walk around so whilst Richard went exploring, I did a little exploring and then went to rest in the shade of the church.

We came back down a different path which took us around the cliff edge, with sheer drops to the side of us most of the way, and wonderful views down in the very clear blue water. 

We came back to Pyxis for some lunch via the bakery and I settled down with a book for the afternoon.  Richard (don’t know where he finds the energy) donned his wetsuit, strapped on his weight belt and some tools and went diving to clean off a very dirty propeller and scrape the bottom of the boat.  He was down there all afternoon.  I popped in for a dip myself to cool off.

I kept listening out for Richard’s periodic rise to the surface – just in case he didn’t return.  At one point as I was watching, I noticed that one of the turtles in the marina had come over to see what this new type of fish was and he was swimming just below Richard.  The water in the marina is very clear and we can see the bottom very clearly here in 4m of water.

This evening I cooked on board and we have enjoyed a lovely warm evening in the cockpit enclosure using our anchor light as a cockpit light.

Just as we were going to bed we heard the engines start on the offshore lifeboat that is kept moored in the harbour; soon after, the rest of the crew arrived, and it was heading out of the harbour.  Not sure if we will find out what the problem was.

Monemvasía

© Pyxis 2010