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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 engelske musikervenner av oss som bor i et vakkert lite landsted i Plomari med en bekk som renner forbi, omgitt av små markedshager og steinvegger som omslutter hester og geiter.De tillot oss veldig vennlig å bo i landet deres i de månedene vi renoverte Philoxenia Secret Escape. Vi elsket det, men etter hvert som dagene ble lengre og...

Jeg spør meg selv ofte hvorfor Henry og jeg elsker Plomari så mye. Det er ikke den typiske byen for dine greske øyforestillinger. Det er litt frynsete rundt kantene, litt bleknet, litt grisete antar jeg. Så hva er det som trekker oss og andre som oss til denne idiosynkratiske byen?Det er mange ting – menneskene, maten, strendene, arkitekturen. Men ...

I juni 2017 ble seilbåten vår Pegasus fortøyd i Plomari havn Lesvos da et massivt jordskjelv på 6.3R rammet, ristet båten som en kork og forårsaket kaos i byen. Det var et av de mest skremmende øyeblikkene i livene våre. Men bemerkelsesverdig nok, det som ville ha satt de fleste av dem oppmuntret oss og vi startet vår kjærlighetsaffære med Plomari....

Oppdagelsen ble avslørt under Channel 5s nye serie "A Greek Odyssey", da programlederen - Bettany Hughes - la ut på en reise over de greske øyene, fra kysten av Tyrkia - der den mytiske trojanske krigen fant sted - til øya Ithaca vest i Hellas.Et gammelt gresk tempel dedikert til gudinnen Nemesis har blitt oppdaget i ruinene av et gammelt teater i ...

I april i år skulle vi fly fra Sør-Afrika til øya Lesvos for å bruke tid på å legge siste hånd på Philoxenia Retreat, vårt vakre steingårdshus i Plomari, og forberede det for vår første ferieutleie siden kjøp og oppussing. Ødeleggende for hele verden rammet Covid19 og vi ble tvunget til å avlyse turen. Vi kom snart overens med manglende vår i Hella...

Dette veldig merkelige året som har slått hele verden for seks har vært nesten surrealistisk for oss. Mens resten av Sør-Afrika kjemper med en ødelagt økonomi, arbeidsløshet, sult og intens frustrasjon, nyter vi den vakreste vinteren på Ballots. Vi har vært i stand til å gå fritt gjennom naturreservatet, lukte på havet, lytte til fuglene, spore seb...