Our Journey: 2021
Journey to Kalamata: (Sept 2021)
After a few days in Poros where we met several friends,we decided to get closer to Kalamata
were Terus was going to spend the winter.Kalamata is located South of the Peloponese. We
passed numerous places that we had visited before such as Ermioni, Portohelli, Vivari and
Spetse island. However, we had not yet stopped in Astro harbor. In the past, this port
wasdifficult for private yachts as charter boats blocked the harbor and prevented any visiting
yacht from stopping even for a night. Now with Covid, the charter companies have moved their
boats and Astros was open to visiting yachts. This place is well suited for boats that want
to prepare for the dry dock in Kilada located only 15 miles away. In Astros, the main attraction
is the beautifull beaches, there is lso a castle, but otherwise,there is not much to see. After
three days spent in Astros, we moved 15 miles to the east to the bay of Kolaida. A lot of boats
were moored in the bay as they waited for their turn to be hauled out of the water for the
winter. The reason we moved to the bay was not the Kilada boat yard, but the historical cave of
Fachti. Excavations in the cave started in 1967 and soon, the archeologist realized that the
place was much more valuable than initialy thought. At the entrance of the cave there are
several panels that explain the site. They found indications that the earliestsettlements
started 39,000 years ago. 18,000 years ago the sea level was 120m lower than today and 7 km
further away from the current shore. 10,500 years ago the sea was only 2km away and the sea
level was only 50 meters lower. A vertical excavation revealed that there were 4 major periods
during which the cave was occupied, the oldest one being in the Paleolithic age. A lot of
artifacts have been found and are now stored in the Naplio prehistory museum. After this very
interestingvisit we moved to Monemvasia where we waited for a good weather window to pass
Cape Malea. We passed the cape at the end of September and arrived
in Kalamata 2 days later. As we had flight reservations on the 23rd of October, we had hoped
that we could do some sightseeing around Kalamat, but the many rainy days forced us to report
on this next year. The few sunny days were filled with preparing the boat for the winter, such
as lowering the sails,changing the engine oïl, desinfecting the watermaker, closing the thru
hulls, as well as numerous other tasks. We also installed several lines with strong
shockabsorbers to make sure the the boats would not suffrer any damage in the event of a
strong swell. On the 21st of October we took the bus to Athens. During our one day layover, we
decided to visit the Industrial Gas museum. It was located at the first Energy plant founded in
1857 in Greece and it provided lighting gas that was used in the streets of Athens as well as
some private houses.
The gas was produced by heating coal wich released around 20% of its weight in gas. In
1984,the plant was closed as electric power was so much more practical for providing light. The
site has now been restored and much of the machinery remains intact and it is easy to imagine
how harsh the conditions were for working in the plant. If today the plant was still active we
would be disgusted by the amount of carbondioxide produced and I am very happy that coal is
no longer used to produce lighting gas. The machinery is very well preserved and illustrates
extremely well how much the industrial revolution depended on engineers.
were Terus was going to spend the winter.Kalamata is located South of the Peloponese. We
passed numerous places that we had visited before such as Ermioni, Portohelli, Vivari and
Spetse island. However, we had not yet stopped in Astro harbor. In the past, this port
wasdifficult for private yachts as charter boats blocked the harbor and prevented any visiting
yacht from stopping even for a night. Now with Covid, the charter companies have moved their
boats and Astros was open to visiting yachts. This place is well suited for boats that want
to prepare for the dry dock in Kilada located only 15 miles away. In Astros, the main attraction
is the beautifull beaches, there is lso a castle, but otherwise,there is not much to see. After
three days spent in Astros, we moved 15 miles to the east to the bay of Kolaida. A lot of boats
were moored in the bay as they waited for their turn to be hauled out of the water for the
winter. The reason we moved to the bay was not the Kilada boat yard, but the historical cave of
Fachti. Excavations in the cave started in 1967 and soon, the archeologist realized that the
place was much more valuable than initialy thought. At the entrance of the cave there are
several panels that explain the site. They found indications that the earliestsettlements
started 39,000 years ago. 18,000 years ago the sea level was 120m lower than today and 7 km
further away from the current shore. 10,500 years ago the sea was only 2km away and the sea
level was only 50 meters lower. A vertical excavation revealed that there were 4 major periods
during which the cave was occupied, the oldest one being in the Paleolithic age. A lot of
artifacts have been found and are now stored in the Naplio prehistory museum. After this very
interestingvisit we moved to Monemvasia where we waited for a good weather window to pass
Cape Malea. We passed the cape at the end of September and arrived
in Kalamata 2 days later. As we had flight reservations on the 23rd of October, we had hoped
that we could do some sightseeing around Kalamat, but the many rainy days forced us to report
on this next year. The few sunny days were filled with preparing the boat for the winter, such
as lowering the sails,changing the engine oïl, desinfecting the watermaker, closing the thru
hulls, as well as numerous other tasks. We also installed several lines with strong
shockabsorbers to make sure the the boats would not suffrer any damage in the event of a
strong swell. On the 21st of October we took the bus to Athens. During our one day layover, we
decided to visit the Industrial Gas museum. It was located at the first Energy plant founded in
1857 in Greece and it provided lighting gas that was used in the streets of Athens as well as
some private houses.
The gas was produced by heating coal wich released around 20% of its weight in gas. In
1984,the plant was closed as electric power was so much more practical for providing light. The
site has now been restored and much of the machinery remains intact and it is easy to imagine
how harsh the conditions were for working in the plant. If today the plant was still active we
would be disgusted by the amount of carbondioxide produced and I am very happy that coal is
no longer used to produce lighting gas. The machinery is very well preserved and illustrates
extremely well how much the industrial revolution depended on engineers.
