Captain Paul left Kea at 1 am to arrive on the island of 'Skyros'. We anchored in the western port 'Linaria'. This Greek island has very interesting history, including a tomb where the famous poet Rupert Brooke died on his way to Gallipoli. Also this was the home of rogues and criminals in Byzantine times, who collaborated with the many pirates and created a wealthy culture in home decoration with furniture and ceramics. It is also believed this island was the hiding place of Achilles. It is not a large island even though it is the largest in the Sporades group. It has many small bays rolling farmland and pine forests.
We venture to the town of Linaria to find a taxi to take us to the capital of Skyros. There is only one taxi available and we have to wait some time for another. We spend our time in a wonderful ceramic shop run by Nikos Papas. Nikos is very entertaining and is reputed to be a good fisherman. His Austrian wife Monika makes all the ceramics. We all have to buy several pieces each. We also arrange to go Tuna fishing with Nikos that evening. We are dropped by the taxis on the edge of Skyros town and wander through this attractive town to visit the two museums. Firstly, the archaeological museum which is small but houses very important 3rd millennium BC artifacts through to 1st century jewelry and pottery Greek and Roman all found on the island. The museum close by was a folk museum belonging to Manos Faltaits. This is a private museum housing the outstanding collection of Skyrian ethnology detailing the mythology and folk lore of Skyros. We spent a fascinating hour here and as they also sold very good ceramics we also left with a few. From here we walked to the beach to another well recommended taverna on the beach 'Stefano's. Again we have a great Greek fish lunch with local white wine.
Back on black pearl we meet with Nikos and the boys head off to catch yellow fin Tuna and Benito. They troll for a couple of hours without a result so Nikos takes them for a dive for oysters and razor shells. To our surprise he comes back with 17th century cannonballs. Back onboard BP Nikos shows us how to eat the razor shell meat and the two small crabs inside one female and one male. Nikos then joins us for dinner. We find him very articulate on many subjects including the political situation in Greece. Nikos says the situation is not resolveable as only 30% of the population will vote.
Tomorrow we will head off again early for our final Greek island this leg, to Limnos.
JB and Mick