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"Meraki" - A labour of love - to do something with passion, from the heart. The essence of yourself .   Some say we are brave, others crazy. All shake their heads in amazement, perhaps disbelief.In November 2023 we arrived back in Plomari after sailing for a few months and we were welcomed with smiling faces and excitement. The season had been...

OTAN PINEIS STIN TAVERNA - by Tsitanis "When you drink in a taverna, you sit and don't talk.Every so often you sigh, from the leaves of your heart.I would like to ask you and get informedWhat distress made you so melancholic?Maybe you also loved and got betrayed, Come and sit with us, so we can party together." The sounds seduce us – backgammon tok...

The earthen pot surrounded by crinkly parchment arrived at our table. My mouth was drooling. Succulent lamb topped with feta, olives, wild mountain herbs and tomatoes lying on a bed of soft potatoes saturated in lemony juices. Lamb Kleftiko. My favourite dish in the whole of Greece. And what a joy to find that it is a speciality of the Zagori regio...

I close my eyes a lot when we're driving in Greece. The roads are astonishing - narrow, winding, treacherous, a feat of engineering skills. We've driven along loopy roads in Nisyros, skinny tracks in Tinos, spiky passes in Lesvos, precipitous roads in Leros.......but none have been as marvellous and terrifying as the steep, narrow, zig zaggy, deser...

 Sally This year has been one of the windiest sailing years we have experienced, but around the middle of the season, there was an unexpected 7 day lull forecast with the weather maps showing glass like conditions. In 2013 we had tried to sail to the Fourni islands not far from Samos, but we were forced to turn back when we hit the notorious w...

We have visited Gialos, the harbour of Symi island, many times over the years and been seduced by this beautiful town with it's gorgeous pastel coloured neo-classical houses nestled in the natural amphitheater around the harbour and up the hillside. We have always been on the boat, which, in this small and busy harbour, can be a bit stressful, and ...

Particularly in the Dodecanese, it is hard for a traveller to miss seeing the shadows of the Second World War. I have written about this before but it continues to fascinate me as more information unfolds. Italy owned the Dodecanese (meaning twelve) islands from 1918 to 1945. The Italian architecture and town planning in Lakki on Leros island is in...

One week after we launched Pegasus this year, we were exploring the beautiful Chora of Patmos looking for a place to draw. The options were endless in this UNESCO world heritage site with the monastery perched on top of the rocky outcrop and the beautifully preserved old houses and small churches tumbling down around it.  We walked through a p...

Our sailing adventures this year have been peppered with surprises – most good, a few bad. The worst was obviously the earthquake that hit Plomari and terrified the living daylights out of us. Our friend, Gerhard Euler, wrote to us just after the earthquake and the title of this blog is thanks to him: "Wow, so reckless Poseidon has frightened you. ...

Henry and I were having our now habitual siesta one afternoon in Skala Loutra, a small fishing harbour in the Gulf of Gera on Lesvos, when we were woken up by a dull and rhythmic thwack, thwack, thwack. We dozed on a bit and then a cement mixer clunked into life, breaking any chance to carry on sleeping. We dragged ourselves upstairs and saw, on th...

 SALLY AND HENRY A week ago we were about to send out our first blog of the season when we heard news of the devastating fires sweeping through Knysna and the Garden Route. To be so far away from home and see and hear what was happening was awful and we felt powerless to help. Our first inkling of anything wrong was when little Naledi (Dineo w...

We have experienced many firsts during the last 12 years of exploring Greece – the wrath of Poseidon tossing our little boat on choppy `Aegean seas; Greek Easter festivities; eating at a taverna with the sea lapping a few centimeters away; experiencing the generosity and hospitality of Philoxenia (meaning friend / kindness to the stranger) and the ...

It was June 2021. Tired from a stressful trip from George to Lesvos with Covid obstacles flung at us at every turn, we eventually walked down the magical winding path leading to our traditional stone farmhouse with more than a little trepidation. We had been away for 2 years and who knew what we would find? When we dashed for the airport to fly hom...

Cath og Rob er vores engelske musikervenner, som bor i et smukt lille landsted i Plomari med et vandløb, der løber forbi, omgivet af små markedshaver og stenmurede marker, der omslutter heste og geder. De gav os meget venligt lov til at blive i deres landsidyl i de måneder, hvor vi renoverede Philoxenia Secret Escape. Vi elskede det, men efterhånde...

Jeg spørger ofte mig selv, hvorfor Henry og jeg elsker Plomari så højt. Det er ikke den typiske by for dine græske ø-forestillinger. Det er lidt flosset rundt om kanterne, lidt falmet, lidt grynet formoder jeg. Så hvad er det, der trækker os og andre som os til denne idiosynkratiske by?Der er mange ting – menneskerne, maden, strandene, arkitekturen...

I juni 2017 lå vores sejlbåd Pegasus fortøjet i Plomari havn i Lesvos, da et massivt 6.3R jordskælv ramte, rystede båden som en prop og forårsagede kaos i byen. Det var et af de mest skræmmende øjeblikke i vores liv. Men bemærkelsesværdigt nok, det, der ville have afskrækket de fleste mennesker, opmuntrede os, og vi startede vores kærlighedsforhold...

Opdagelsen blev afsløret under Channel 5s nye serie 'A Greek Odyssey', da dens programleder – Bettany Hughes – begav sig ud på en rejse tværs over de græske øer, fra Tyrkiets kyst – hvor den mytiske trojanske krig fandt sted – til øen Ithaca i det vestlige Grækenland.Et gammelt græsk tempel dedikeret til gudinden Nemesis er blevet opdaget i ruinern...

I april i år skulle vi flyve fra Sydafrika til øen Lesvos for at bruge tid på at lægge sidste hånd på Philoxenia Retreat, vores smukke stenbondehus i Plomari, og forberede det til vores første ferieudlejning siden køb og renovering. Ødelæggende for hele verden ramte Covid19, og vi blev tvunget til at aflyse vores rejse. Vi kom hurtigt overens med m...

Dette meget mærkelige år, der har slået hele verden i seks, har været næsten surrealistisk for os. Mens resten af ​​Sydafrika kæmper med en ødelagt økonomi, arbejdsløshed, sult og intens frustration, svælger vi i den smukkeste vinter på stemmesedler. Vi har kunnet gå frit gennem naturreservatet, dufte havet, lytte til fuglene, spore zebraen og nyde...