The Sea
By definition, whenever you are on a Greek island, you are never far from the sea. Throughout history, boats have provided essential transportation and food to the island people, and their ports and harbours still provide some of the most interesting and colourful sights on the islands.
This is one of my favourite sights and one of my favourite places. Wherever I go near the sea, I invariably find myself spending a lot of time just staring into the waves as they break onto the foreshore. I find it just washes away stress and worries, and leaves me with a deep sense of inner peace.
I love the colours that the Greeks use in their boats. They always seem so cheerful in the sun. This fishing boat was tied up at Sami harbour in Kefalonia. I ate my lunch in a taverna a few yards away from here, and watched the fisherman painstakingly repairing his nets.
I found this fishing fleet resting in the winter sunshine in Agios Stefanos, Corfu. It seemed so full of character, (I think that means more than old and rusty).
I don’t know which bit of this photograph I like the best; the earnest hard work of the fishermen in the background, or the Blue Star Lines flagship in the foreground. It is a wonderfully grand name to have emblazoned across such an apparently rotting hulk. Maybe it was a lifeboat off the Titanic!
Not all harbours are just fishing ports however and here in the old harbour in Rethymnon, Crete, you can see how a traditional harbour can be taken over as a leisure marina for well-off tourists.
Fiskardo in Kefalonia has become such a “well-to-do” centre for water sports, and here we see a waterfront taverna by the yacht basin, with a row of yachts for hire in the background.
I am no yachtsman myself, but I was very tempted by this sight in Fiskardo. You can hire these motorboats by the day; take a picnic and a few beers in a chill box and set off along the coast to visit the many beaches and coves south of here that can only be reached by boat. Or, if you are feeling adventurous, you can set off across the straits to explore the island of Ithaka, the kingdom of Odysseus, which you can see in the background.
I have promised myself a return visit to Kefalonia. It is a truly beautiful island and I didn’t have time to explore it sufficiently in the week I spent there. When I do return, I shall definitely take one of these boats out for the day.
Typical of many ports in the islands, this harbour in Argostoli, Kefalonia, offers a beautiful view and a fine walk along the promenade, with a gentle sea breeze thrown in to take the heat off the summer sun. No wonder I like harbours.
Not all ports are merely picturesqe however. Some of them are essentially practical, and here in the new port of Rethymnon, you can see the ferry to Piraeus, which sails daily, joining Crete to the Greek mainland.
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