Unsere Reisegeschichten

"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 und Rob sind befreundete englische Musiker, die in einem hübschen kleinen Landhaus in Plomari mit einem vorbeifließenden Bach leben, umgeben von kleinen Gemüsegärten und von Steinmauern umgebenen Feldern mit Pferden und Ziegen. Sie erlaubten uns freundlicherweise, für die Monate, in denen wir Philoxenia Secret Escape renovierten, in ihrer länd...

Ich frage mich oft, warum Henry und ich Plomari so sehr lieben. Es ist nicht die typische Stadt Ihrer griechischen Inselvorstellungen. Es ist an den Rändern ein wenig ausgefranst, ein wenig verblasst, etwas grobkörnig, nehme ich an. Was also zieht uns und unseresgleichen in diese eigenwillige Stadt? Das sind viele Dinge – die Menschen, das Essen, d...

Im Juni 2017 lag unser Segelboot Pegasus im Hafen von Plomari auf Lesbos vor Anker, als ein massives Erdbeben der Stärke 6,3 R einschlug, das Boot wie ein Korken erschütterte und Chaos in der Stadt anrichtete. Es war einer der schrecklichsten Momente in unserem Leben. Aber bemerkenswerterweise ermutigte uns das, was die meisten Menschen abgeschreck...

Die Entdeckung wurde während der neuen Serie „A Greek Odyssey“ von Channel 5 enthüllt, als ihre Moderatorin – Bettany Hughes – sich auf eine Reise über die griechischen Inseln begab, von der Küste der Türkei – wo der mythische Trojanische Krieg stattfand – zur Insel Ithaka im Westen Griechenlands. In den Ruinen eines antiken Theaters in Mytilene wu...

Im April dieses Jahres sollten wir von Südafrika auf die Insel Lesbos fliegen, um Zeit damit zu verbringen, Philoxenia Retreat, unserem wunderschönen Bauernhaus aus Stein in Plomari, den letzten Schliff zu geben und es für unsere erste Ferienvermietung seit dem Kauf und der Renovierung vorzubereiten. Verheerend für die ganze Welt traf Covid19 ein u...

Wir haben die Worte „Siga-siga“ viele Male gehört, seit wir vor 8 Jahren mit unseren Abenteuern begannen. Wenn wir von uns sprechen, ist das normalerweise der Beginn der Saison, wenn wir noch unter Hochspannung stehen und uns beeilen, das Boot fertig zu machen, damit wir loslegen können! „Siga-Siga“ bedeutet „langsam, langsam“, meist begleitet von ...