Psara - Paradise?

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sun 10 May 2009 19:12
38:32.3N 25:33.8E

Sunday 10th May
What a wonderful day!
Last night we enjoyed a wonderful pizza and salad in a delightful taverna on
the sea front and felt that this was one of the nicest towns we had been to
in a long while.

Alarm went off at 5.30am so we could make an early start on the 68 miles to
Psara. Very impressed by the Greeks who were arriving in cars on the quay
(to start fishing) as they were switching off their engines and coasting
into the car park so as not to disturb the few yachts tied up!

We slipped our lines and were away at 5.50am and as we motored out into the
bay we watched the sun rise over the southern tip of Evia island.

Had to dodge any number of Russian tankers and cargo ships heading to and
from the Black Sea as we made our way up and across the Doro Straight, which
by all accounts, is a passage that even these huge ships will not undertake
if the wind is blowing hard from the north! We were blessed with just 15
knots of wind from the north today and this allowed us to have the most
wonderful day's sailing, as Serafina ate up the 68 odd miles of open sea
bringing us to the island of Psara about which very little seems to have
been written.

The history is tragic as although it has been inhabited since Mycenaean
times, it prospered under Ottoman rule only to take the wrong side in the
War of Independance and in 1824 an Ottoman fleet landed and butchered 15,000
people and took others as slaves. The island has never recovered from this
and today only 400 people live here in just the one settlement around the
small harbour. As our guide book says, "very few people ever make it here
and intrepid peace seeking travellers will enjoy this pristine speck in the
sea well off the beaten track (or any track)."

When we arrived here there was just one other yacht here and an hour later
one more joined us. Sarah and I had a stroll around the town and were
captivated by its charm and the extraordinary friendliness of the handful of
locals sitting out in the Sunday afternoon sun. The place is immaculate and
if there are only 400 people here (hard to imagine so many!) there must be a
church for every 20 of them. The island is almost completely barren and
there are few signs of its former wealth. The one incongruous bit we found
on a long winding empty road out of the village, was a helipad complete with
landing lights and a small stone building, but the fence and gate showed no
signs of recent use!

Photos will be posted as soon as we next get Wi-Fi.