From Trizonia we continued along the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth towards the Gulf of Patras, first to Nafpaktos. There we were - but without a boat - one year ago with Beatrix and Peter and admired the wonderful little town, the Venetian fortress and the spectacular little harbour, for more details see "Things to know".
Nafpaktos was - Saturday evening - totally full of mostly young people, the cafés and taverns filled to the last seat. Here you didn't notice anything of Corona except for the masks of the waitresses and cellars.
There is now a floating dock outside the city wall where you can moor up, because the harbour is so small that you'd rather not go in - at least not with a boat of our size. The pier has the disadvantage that it is completely unprotected from wind and swell, which we clearly felt. In the afternoon a strong wind with a strong swell came up, the boat was dancing up and down, lines and fastening cleats were at their limit, fortunately the spectacle calmed down in the evening.
On Sunday morning we set off in the calm, further west. Entering the Gulf of Patras, we crossed under the spectacular Rion Bridge, which connects the Peloponnese near Patras with the mainland. You have to contact Rion Traffic on channel 14 and indicate the height of the mast. The height is 15 metres in our case, no problem with a maximum possible passage height of 45 metres in the middle. Nevertheless it is a queasy feeling to be directed a little further away from the centre and the distance between the top of the mast and the bridge is maybe 5 metres, exciting to see from below.
After the bridge there is already the steep Varasova mountain, so to speak the local mountain of Messolonghi. Then the huge, wide lagoon landscapes, where the water depth abruptly drops to 30 cm. When entering the canal you have to be careful, because it is dredged and next to the fairway are the herons and the flat boats of the eel catchers. The bathing beach Tourlida and the pile dwellings of the fishermen (see also the article in "Things to know") are meanwhile familiar to us and soon we are in the marina and mooring. Again directly in front of the bar. Mimis, the barman, is happy to see us again, and so are we. Also Dimitris, "our" electrician is there right now, both are friends. Their sons go to the same school class.
