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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 en Rob zijn Engelse bevriende muzikanten die in een mooi klein landhuis in Plomari wonen waar een beekje langs stroomt, omringd door kleine tuintjes en met stenen ommuurde velden met paarden en geiten. Ze stonden ons zo vriendelijk toe om in hun landelijke idylle te blijven gedurende de maanden dat we Philoxenia Secret Escape aan het renoveren...

Ik vraag me vaak af waarom Henry en ik zo veel van Plomari houden. Het is niet de typische stad van je Griekse eilandfantasieën. Het is een beetje gerafeld aan de randen, een beetje vervaagd, een beetje korrelig denk ik. Dus wat trekt ons en anderen zoals wij naar deze eigenzinnige stad? Er zijn veel dingen - de mensen, het eten, de stranden, de ar...

In juni 2017 lag onze zeilboot Pegasus afgemeerd in de haven van Plomari op Lesbos toen een enorme aardbeving van 6.3R toesloeg, waardoor de boot als een kurk schudde en de stad verwoestte. Het was een van de meest angstaanjagende momenten in ons leven. Maar opmerkelijk genoeg moedigde wat de meeste mensen zouden hebben afgeschrikt ons aan en we be...

De ontdekking werd onthuld tijdens de nieuwe serie 'A Greek Odyssey' van Channel 5, terwijl de presentator - Bettany Hughes - begon aan een reis over de Griekse eilanden, van de kust van Turkije - waar de mythische Trojaanse oorlog plaatsvond - naar het eiland Ithaca in het westen van Griekenland. Een oude Griekse tempel gewijd aan de godin Nemesis...

In april van dit jaar zouden we van Zuid-Afrika naar het eiland Lesbos vliegen om de laatste hand te leggen aan Philoxenia Retreat, onze prachtige stenen boerderij in Plomari, om deze voor te bereiden op onze eerste vakantieverhuur sinds de aankoop en renovatie. Verwoestend voor de hele wereld sloeg Covid19 toe en moesten we onze reis annuleren. We...

Dit zeer vreemde jaar dat de hele wereld voor zes heeft geslagen, was bijna surrealistisch voor ons. Terwijl de rest van Zuid-Afrika worstelt met een kapotte economie, werkloosheid, honger en intense frustratie, genieten wij van de mooiste winter bij Ballots. We hebben vrij door het natuurgebied kunnen lopen, de zee kunnen ruiken, naar de vogels ku...