We are not yet on our way south. The weather continues to be quite unsettled and cold with rain. And the wind often blows from the south. So we have not yet made our way south. But almost a week ago we left our anchorage in the bay of Kilada. Our water tanks were empty. We didn't want to fill them with the murky, somewhat salty water of Kilada. So we sailed across the Argolic Gulf to the west and moored in the harbor of Paralio Astros. This is also where we were last year on our way to winter break. And here we have good fresh water from the mountains.
Paralio Astros is a nice little place with the ruins of a castle towering over it. At this time of the year the town has a few hundred inhabitants, in summer it becomes over 10,000. Many Greeks come here for a seaside vacation. And there are people who spend a longer time here every year. So we made a nice acquaintance with Ulrike and Jörg from Berlin. They have an apartment here for years, also work from here at times and know many of their Greek neighbours. They know the town an the environment and could also tell us, where to find good wine, the best olive oil and the most delicious eggs.
From our boat we can look at the Parnon mountains. The highest peak is over 1900m. Last small snow fields we could already make out up there when we arrived. But a few days ago everything was really white there again in the morning. Fresh snow!
The mountains always attract us and we like to hike. So on a dry day we drove 25km into the mountains to the village Platanos. There are waterfalls, caves and chestnut trees. You can hike from here along a creek bed 15km to the sea. However, in the creek there is currently still so much water that the path was not possible. So we hiked back over the mountains - a long tour with great views into the mountains and wide views over the Argolic Gulf.
We also celebrated a bit of Easter here - with delicious strawberries, which are just ripe, and of course with breakfast eggs, which we have not had on board before. Easter decorations are also provided. Karli and Annie (just under four and two years old) blew out eggs at home in Heidelberg with their dad and painted them for our boat. They survived the journey to the boat in one piece. The Greek Easter is coming next weekend.
Now we have been here in the harbour for almost a week and continue to wait for favourable wind and dry weather. Right now it is raining again, but tomorrow it should stay dry and the wind should turn to north.
