After motoring all night from Poros we arrived off Poliegos, a barren rocky island with just a handful of residents, where we were to enjoy our first swim stop.
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| Quite a different view from our cabin this morning! |
The Galileo prides herself on being able to anchor in places like this where the big cruise ships could never go. The water is a brilliant blue, made more vivid by the white rocky bottom about five meters down, and the jagged cliffs look like pink marble.
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| Almost everyone got into or onto the water. |
The Galileo lowers stairs down the side of the boat into the water, so you can walk up and down. They provide kayaks, snorkelling gear, and floaty noodles.
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| Our first swim stop, at "the most beautiful bay in the world" - maybe? |
The boat was tethered to a jagged pinnacle of rock at the stern, and to its anchor at the bow. Unlike the Pacific, there is very little sea life - certainly no coral or tropical fish, but just a clean sea floor and a few tiny silver fish.
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| A few mega-yachts kept us company. |
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| Time to go. One of our seamen hauling in the stern hawser. |
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| The top sundeck, where you can cook as long as you like, if you can stand the heat! |
We did not land at Poleigos, and after our swim set off again for tonight's stop, at Folegandros 35 km away.
Folegandros
Folegandros is another small rocky island, sparsely populated, and with a small "capital town" sitting on cliffs 300 metres above the sea. It was founded about 1200 AD by the Venetians who positioned it to be difficult to spot from the sea. Our guide Joseph explained that back then they did not whitewash everything like they do now, so the houses were the colour of the local rock from which they were built, and therefore much harder to see from a distance.
Part of the town is the "fort", which is not obvious because the fort is actually formed by a ring of houses all built together with few windows and doors on ground level. There was a gate which could be closed sealing the fort off from the rest of the town.
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| Another tiny picture-postcard fishing boat. |
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| Joseph our guide. Like Ave on our earlier trip, he is very expressive and engaging. |
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| A house with an excellent view, but I'm not sure about those foundations... |
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| Another Folegandros cat. |
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| A traditional stone house, within the fort. |
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| Joseph showing us the gate to the inside of the fort. |
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| This guy (not one of our group) launched his drone out over the cliffs. |
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| Some more modern apartments on the edge of town. |
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| White-washed houses are the norm. Most have rounded corners to reduce wind noise. |
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| There are "public" cats everywhere, owned by no-one but looked after by everyone. |
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| Al fresco dining is everywhere, with many restaurants appearing to have no indoor space at all. |
We rode up to the town from the little port in the local bus, and returned the same way after dark to the Galileo. We slept the night there - well most of the night, because the engines roared into life about 5 am as we set of for Santorini!
