An Evening in S.Mourtos

It was another beautiful evening and after a glass of wine sitting on deck we get ready to go out. Every evening has been really casual on this trip, wearing a t-shirt and shorts actually feels like getting dressed up after spending the day in your swimmers.

We head down to the taverna, part of a villa complex, for dinner and decide to have a cocktail or two before eating. I enjoyed a coupled of martini’s and Colin stuck with the Greek beer, Mythos.

The beach front terrace was lovely and looked to be filled with fellow sailors from our flotilla. We ordered a broccoli and cheese pie and baked feta wrapped in filo pastry with honey and sesame seeds, both were delicious and I’m definitely going to try and recreate the baked feta back home. Cheese appears to be predominate ingredient in Greece, although I did speak to a lady who was dairy intolerant and she said she’d managed to avoid it ok during her trip.

I opted for chicken with mushroom sauce and Colin went for fillet steak, medium rare. Unfortunately the steak wasn’t up to much and we ended up sharing my chicken which was really tasty. Both dinners came with chips and both commented we should have asked for salad and actually could have just had the starters with a Greek salad, it would have been more than adequate.

They bought us water melon for dessert whilst we enjoyed the sun setting behind the hills. The sky turned a beautiful pink giving an ideal photo opportunity of our yachts looking pretty in the bay. We finished dinner about 10pm, just after the sun had set.

All this sun and sailing makes you super tired so we headed back to the yacht for coffee on deck before going below to sleep.

Looking back at the restaurant from our yacht

Sivota Mourtos

Sivota looks like a really pretty place, we are moored a bay round from the main harbour and it’s either a 5 minute dingy ride (with motor) or 10 minute walk. I suggested we walk in to town to get food supplies for the morning.

We set off with just flip flops on our feet and after climbing a very steep road comment that this maybe wasn’t such a good idea, we were walking up and up and up.

I suggested to Colin we might want to turn back, it was scorching hot and both of us were regretting our choice of foot wear.

Nope, Colin said we’ve set off so we’re going. A steep road down followed the walk up and we eventually arrived at the main harbour ready for refreshment.

We bumped into some fellow sailors and they invited us to join them. They were playing bridge in a harbour front bar whilst enjoying a glass of wine.

After an hour or so of chatting we headed to the supermarket to get supplies.

We stocked up on croissants, ham, fruit, beer and wine and got a cab back to the bay with 2 of the people we had met up with. We took all the shopping back in the can whilst the others walked back. The taxi driver got upset with us as we told him the wrong place to take us back to and he had to do a big detour to get us back.

Back at the boat we unloaded the shopping and started getting ready for dinner

Night out in Parga

The flotilla punch party finished at 8pm and we jumped on a boat taxi to Parga town to hunt out some dinner.

The taxi boat seats about 30 people and whizzed through the bay and around the headland. We turn the corner and were met by a pretty town nestled in the hill side with hundreds of bars and restaurants all buzzing with tourists.

We paid our 5 euro return fare and hopped off the boat onto the quay.

Pleased we’d made the trip into town we started hunting for a restaurant for dinner. We have a bad habit of wandering around for ages looking at restaurants but decided we just needed to pick something and go for it. We found a table in a place “Restaurant Gemini” and swiftly ordered drinks.

Dinner was a mixed grill for me and mixed seafood for Colin. The food was delicious but way too much of it, in fact there was so much of it left we asked if they could box it up for us to take home. Perfect for lunch the next day.

Colin asked for the bill and also if we could take one of their candles, to light our cockpit in the evening. Not only did the waiter say yes he went and found us a new one, how very sweet of him.

I’m sure we could have wandered around all the back streets for hours, they were crammed full of gift shops, restaurants, clothings stores and many more but it was really busy and we didn’t have the energy or patience to negotiate our way around the many tourists. I spotted a bakery selling spinach and feta pie, we had it the previous year in Mykonos and it was lovely, and headed straight for it. We bought some to go with our lunch leftovers the next day.

The bakery was filled full of cakes, breads, pastries and also the freezer display units with the prettiest looking ice lollies. Colin opted for a slice of apple pie which they boxed up to take back to the boat to have with coffee later.

We picked up water, ice, yogurt and fruit from a supermarket for breakfast and grabbed a glass of wine and beer whilst waiting for the taxi to arrive to take us back to our boat.

They were selling balloons on the quay, covered in colourful lights. I’d commented earlier that we could do with some fairy lights for the boat canopy, I told Colin if they were 5 euro’s or less I was having one to light up our cockpit. They were exactly 5 euro so had to buy one.

The taxi arrived and we jumped on board. Back round the headland the way we came but this time in pitch black, I have no idea how the skipper knew where he was going but manoeuvred around the rocks with ease. Everyone on the taxi had boats moored in the bay so the taxi dropped everyone back at their own boat, manoeuvring round and locating the boats by torch light.

We had a lovely evening out but were pleased to be back on board our boat, leaving all the hustle and bustle behind us.

We had a quick cuppa before heading to bed, we decided to leave the apple pie for another day.

Shattered from what seemed like a very long day I fell into bed and was one of the few people who didn’t hear all the lead crew and younger people in the flotilla come back, trying to be quite but apparently making lots of noise, at 4am.

Getting settled in

This boat of ours, named “Filiata”, a Bateau 323, is snug to say the least. Built to sleep up to 6 people but I recon 2 adults is comfortable.

That is by no way a complaint though, I’m already in love with my new home for the week and feel that getting back to basics is a far greater experience that staying in some 5 star hotel. Already pestering Colin as to when we can come back !

So, we packed light but already realising we should have gone lighter. Storage is not the boats best feature and luckily we have a spare bedroom to leave our bags so looks like living out of a hold-all is the way to go.

We have a cute little kitchen with a gas stove and a fridge that you access through the worktop. We’ve filled it with frozen bottles of water to keep the beer and wine cold as not sure it’s gonna get anywhere near cold enough on its own.

I guess you should be impressed with how they get a functional bathroom in here, although it’s far from conventional with a sit down shower and a loo you have to pump. Instructions – “flip the switch, pump 15 times, flip the switch, pump 15 times”. I think I’ll be seeking bathroom facilities on shore, although from what I’ve seen so far that’s what most people do and the tavernas all seem to have shower facilities, which they offer free if you eat with them.

Now I don’t like enclosed spaces, been known to walk many flights of stairs rather than get in a lift, so the sleeping arrangements was my biggest worry. Yes, it’s a small room at the stern of the boat with a pretty low ceiling but actually quite spacious. Making the beds was a mission and I left that to Colin, he likened it to crawling around in a loft on one of his house projects.

The salon is spacious with plenty of seating for the 2 of us but it’s so hot down there that I’ll be sticking to the back deck of the boat.

We’ve opted for 2 extras for our trip, Stand up paddle board (SUP) for me and and outboard motor for the dinghy, for Colin.

Looking forward to sharing our adventures on Filiata ⛵️

Excited about our first sailing holiday

Off to the Ionian Sea, Greece 🇬🇷

I’m super excited that we are setting off on our sailing adventure this weekend.

We booked our holiday some 9 months ago and I haven’t stopped going on about it since. Colin, my hubby has had a sailing trip on his bucket list for years, I was never over keen but once I got immersed in looking at brochures I got really excited.

We were due to go to the South Ionian Sea and travel to Ithaca, Kastos, Kalamos and Meganisi but due to some law change, something to do with novice sailors not being able to sail into the harbours, our route has had to change.

After researching the islands we were going to visit and admiring the stunning scenery from pictures I am somewhat disappointed about the change. Oh well, Colin says we will still have an amazing time and we can’t change it so just have to get on with it.

So, on Sunday morning we fly out to Prevenza on mainland Greece and drive to Sivota, on the south coast of Lefkas (via a bridge) where we meet our boat and fellow flotilla sailors for the week.

Our new route will now head up passed Meganisi, through the Lefkas canal and on to Prevenza and Paxos, although we won’t know the final route till we get there. This is such a short notice change I’m not sure the sailing company even know the exact route yet.

We had already booked an extra pair of hands for our first day but as we now have to navigate the canal they will need to stay with us for 2 days. Makes me kind of nervous that the sailing isn’t going to be quite as easy as I thought.

I look forward to sharing more of our journey but in the mean time your’ll find me practicing my knots in between packing my suitcase.