LESVOS.
After saying farewell to David and Susan (Stella) our cruising buddies, who are leaving the boat in Bodrum for the winter, we moved quickly north – well 60 to 70 miles a day, towards Istanbul and the Black Sea.
We have mainly being going from Greek island to Greek islandas it is a lot quicker than hugging the Turkish coast. So we have overnighted in Nisas Agathonisa, Chios and now Lesvos, which is about 60 miles south of the Dardanelles (Gallipoli) and we should reach the Sea of Marmara in a couple of days.
This part of Greece is completely different from what we have experienced so far. Mostly it is a lot less commercial, which means you tend to see the real Greece before the tourists arrived – that is the laid back approach to life. No one seems in any hurry,the Greek people seem happy just whiling the time away in the tavernas or sitting outside their houses watching the world go by.
Probably one of the most noticeable differences is the lack of other cruising boats. We are in the second largest port in Lesvos and there are only ourselves and a German yacht here – no stink boats, no super yachts and no gullets. The down side is the harbour police have more time on their hands so you tend to have more official hassles!!