Monday, 16th September In Search of Underwater Cities

We have been going progressively wilder and more remote. On Thursday we sailed to the most northern and far-flung of the Northern Sporades to a small uninhabited island called Psathoura. It is in the Marine National Park, but you can land here. It is very exposed and nowhere to stay safely overnight, but we made a good day of it and returned in the evening to Panayia Island further southwest. We came in search of an underwater city that reputedly you could see from the surface (the water is crystal clear). The pilot book says it is off the north coast. A local book given to us by Sophie and Alastair when they visited in July claimed it lay off the southeast coast between the island and "Mega Rock" - but that is was more a village than a city.

The various accounts state you could see streets and the outlines of buildings. The island is volcanic and the sinking was due to an eruption. Some claim is it just a village, other notables claim it is the ancient city of Halonnesos, a temple site with a fine temple of Athena, and ancient texts by Pausanias et al claim it to be ancient Chryse, home of Piloctetes. Jacques Cousteau apparently explored on more than one occasion. However… Locals dismiss all this as legend or claim not to know anything about it. It is true that many pottery fragments have been found (we even found some) dating from 4th C BC, but it is likely they are from the wreck of a ship.
Long story short, we circled round. We anchored and searched in the dinghy. We snorkelled. We landed ashore and found the remains of what looked like a round stone storage hut. Apart from that, nothing. Zero. The water was crystal, the sea was flat, it was perfect conditions, and we looked for hours. No good. We tried to force fit some of the rock formations into building shapes or streets, but a lot of imagination would have been needed.

So back to Panayia, climbing to the top of a rocky outcrop to see the view from the ruined monastery there - disturbing only a few local goats. Thence to Steni Vala on Alonnisos Island, where we talked to a local man in a dive centre who said they had never found anything remotely like a sunken city. That made us feel a bit better.

To continue the wild theme, we are heading south and east. Saturday we landed on Skantzoura another uninhabited island - its only building was a disused monastery on top of a cliff. And carried on to where we are today - the island of Skiros.

Although technically in the Sporades, it sits out on its lonesome in the middle of the Aegean, and is very different to the rest. We are in Linaria Port, tiny but very well run (very unusual in Greece!). We had to present our papers to the Port Police (and got scolded for not having had our Dekpa stamped for over 2 months - must be done at least every 30 days) and charged the princely sum of on average 5 Euros per day. We are attached to the quay; we have free electricity, water and wifi. Amazing.
We hired a scooter for a day to explore the island. Unusually the main town of Skiros is on the other side with no natural harbour. The island splits into two halves. The northern half is fertile and has trees and crops, the southern half is mountainous and bleak and barren. The buildings are like white cubes, more reminiscent of those in the Cyclades. We aim to visit a Neolithic site tomorrow - if we get there. Scooters are dangerous. Greek ones are anyway. It has no gears. It has no power. And it doesn't know how to go round right-hand bends. Left it can do, but not right. We came off once - well twice really, but the first time was just learning curve! Nothing worse than a scraped elbow and bruise for Richard - I came off more lightly.

Returned back just in time. Sudden sharp squall passing through, lots of bounding about, high winds and rain, then stops just as suddenly. Clearing as we speak.