Our first stop, the Island of Samothrace
After a wonderful and totally unexpected sail for 43NM, with the winds much better than forecasted, and with some lively friends accompanying us, we arrived safely at the Port of Karmariotissa, where I managed to duck out of the first mooring of the trip, as it was alongside the quay, David’s forte!
Samothrace, from the approaches was a foreboding looking place, just a gigantic lump of marble which is said to rise up to 1600m at the summit of its mountain, Mt Fengari, the highest mountain in the Aegean. Legend has it that Poseidon sat on its top to watch the Troy war.
However, after the indifferent, even borderline rude reception we had on the mainland shores, which were very un-Greek, we found the people to be lovely, friendly and very helpful. After waiting for the arrival of the ferry to make sure its wash didn’t cause us any problems, on our first evening we went and explored the town of Karmariotissa and dinner (David had a craving for pizza, instead of souvlaki) with some vino, well why not!
We spent 3 days on this beautiful island, the first of which was spent onboard desperately trying to source a new dinghy, as we finally realised ours wasn’t capable of saving. It was at this point that we found that there were none to be had in the whole of Greece, well none that were not double the money because of the shortage of supply. We checked all neighboring countries, no luck and finally found one in Malta which the seller was willing to ship!
Thinking we had it sorted, just waiting for the shipping quote, we hired a car for the second day and went off first to explore the Chora, the “capital of the island, and wandered through its tiny shaded cobbled streets.
We then went off to the next village ‘Therma’. Not sure we could call it a village but it did have the most beautiful hydrangeas we have ever seen!
Then, adorned with trainers, we went off to explore the mouth of the Fonias River, why you might ask. Well the best things on Samothrace are not the beaches as on most of the Greek Islands, but by the ‘Vathres’, natural rock pools in which flows the water of the waterfalls, formed by the numerous rivers which spring from the mountain and find their way to the sea. It was about a half an hour walk up, winding our way up the river bed, trying not to get our feet wet as we had to cross from one side to another on a few occasions to follow the path, but it was worth it!
We then jumped in the car and followed the coast road as far as we could…..to Kipos beach, for a freddo cappucino and to soak up the atmosphere!
Then, with the dingy not quite as sorted as we had thought, we went back to the boat to get some measurements required to make sure it would fit our davits (as it wasn’t the same as our old one), and an hour later got back on the road to go and see the most famous landmark of the Island, the ruins of the sanctuary of the Great Gods, without realizing that it closed at 3.30pm…. bugger, and an even bugger was that we were leaving Samothrace early the next day to take advantage of the winds, so it really wasn’t going to happen. Instead you will have to suffice with an image stolen from the internet!
We did however get to see the Winged Victory of Samothraki, well not the original as that can be found in the Louvre. This is the famous symbol of the island, somewhat hijacked by both NIKE and Rolls Royce…
We then took the coast road out to the other side of the island, to the beach of Pahia Amnos….
We rounded the day off with a visit to the hillside town of Profitilas Ilias, famous solely for one thing, ‘goat’, where we had a wonderful dinner out before returning to the boat to make our preparations for tomorrow’s sail to Lemnos!
29th June 2022
