Istanbul & Greece

We had a brief stopover in Istanbul on our way back to Europe from Africa. We’d had an overnight flight from Cape Town with little sleep and found the heat of the day a bit of a shock, so we didn’t push ourselves to see or do too much.

These were a few of our highlights:

The Ottoman-era Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque):

The domes, the 6 minarets, and the 20,000 handmade tiles with intricate blue and turquoise floral patterns adorning the interior were absolutely beautiful. We also had a really lovely conversation with a young volunteer who came and sat with us on the floor and spent a long time with us answering all of our questions about the mosque and Islam, and sharing about our respective families (her Romanian mother (who had converted from Catholic to Muslim) and her South African father had met in Canada, had two daughters and then moved to Türkiye). The mosque was a beautiful space and we loved how the volunteers and other muslims encouraged us to enjoy it so completely.

The food:

Lokum rolls filled with so many different nuts, fruits and pastes; herbal tea made with such a variety of fruits, flowers and herbs; dolma; grilled aubergine; chicken kebabs; meze platters, simit from the street sellers (like pretzels), cold watermelon and slushies when the children were melting in the sun…and did I mention the lokum!

The street stalls and Grand Bazaar:

We really enjoy the colours, smells, noise and small-talk of markets, stalls and local stores. We don’t buy much, if anything, but it’s a lovely way to learn about local icons, traditions, foods and customs.

Zara’s highlight:

The cats! Everywhere! All waiting for a pat and a cuddle!

Lowlight:

Zara’s dearest little friend Blankie Bear didn’t make it off the plane, likely left snuggled up inside a Turkish Airlines blanket 😭. We contacted Turkish Airlines in so many different ways (online form, phone, email, Facebook, in person…) but no one could locate B Bear.

Blankie has had many adventures over the past 10 years but he has always found his way home, but it looks like this time we have to let him go. Zara wears her heart on her sleeve and Blankie has been a constant companion and comfort to her, so it’s much more than just losing a teddy. Zara also likes to write notes to manage her emotions so she wrote this letter to Blankie…this is one of the saddest letters she has ever written 😭.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Istanbul and all wished we had a bit more time to explore more of Türkiye…but the world is a big place!

From Istanbul we flew to Athens. Again we only had a brief stop there so we just saw a few highlights and spent the rest of the time wandering through the interesting streets and lanes of Athens.

Greek history is not our strength and perhaps this should have been a time that we had a guided tour, but our evening at the Acropolis was beautiful with the marble of all the ancient structures glowing in the setting sun, and our shallow dive into the history was wonderful.

One of our favourite sites was the Panathenaic Stadium, especially as we were following the Olympics as best we could. The history, the design, and the reconstruction were fascinating and it had beautiful views across Athens to the Acropolis.

Like Türkiye, Greece is filled with delicious food too. We couldn’t resist a visit to the Hans & Gretel gelato store for bubble waffles and chimney cakes!

We enjoyed the cool of the National Garden with its pretty walkways, a fun playground, and this pond with WAY too many turtles!

Logan really wanted to have a go at sailing in Greece but sailing amongst the well-known Greek Islands was well out of our budget. Back in New Zealand, Logan spent a lot of hours and emails back and forth with a broker in London who eventually found us a yacht in Volos that we could afford. Whilst you definitely get what you pay for, Sophia was perfect for us.

Whilst Logan and I both had experience sailing dinghies, and Logan has a ton of experience driving all manor of vehicles and a deep understanding of how waves work, neither of us had any real big boat experience. Not to worry, Logan set about obtaining his New Zealand Boat Masters extramurally whilst we were travelling. Unfortunately, and completely out of Logan’s control, that completely fell apart at assessment time and we were left with a few days to sort out a solution for us to be allowed to take Sophia without needing a skipper. Thankfully a local assessor in Volos, Carl, agreed to accept all Logan’s theory and to spend a day with us all on the water (the day before we were supposed to go aboard Sophia) to see if Logan was skilled enough to be signed off on his Day Skipper’s license. Carl was super practical, thought we made a great team, and was more than happy to sign Logan off – phew!

Now over to the Captain…

Saturday 10th August

We picked up the yacht Sophia, a 10 metre keeler, from the waterfront at 4:30pm. We’d been to the supermarket for a week’s worth of food and were very happy when the supermarket staff said they could deliver directly to the yacht free of charge. Loaded and ready to go, we headed south to Amaliapolis, 17.6nm (nautical miles) from port. The sailing was surprisingly stress free with a furling mainsail and genoa, and the crew learnt the ways of the boat quickly. We had a late night swim in the dark off the back of the boat – the sea was like bath water!

Sunday 11th August

It was already hot when we woke up so the day started with a swim. There were zero knots of wind so we motored out of the bay across the Pagasetic Gulf, joined by a pod of dolphins. We stopped for a quick swim to cool off in the middle of the harbour as it was hot without any breeze. The kids had a go at steering, taking the role very seriously, and it was great to see them gain confidence over the week.

Covering 23.3nm, we took advantage of the smaller size of our boat and anchored in a lovely little cove for the night. Unfortunately we were joined by 50 or more wasps at dinner time so we had to shift to the neighbouring bay and anchored a little further offshore.

Monday 12th August

41.1nm out into the Aegean Sea and around to the east side of the island of Skopelos, this was our longest day. The breeze was a pretty constant 10-14 knots so it was also the day with the most sailing of our week. We sailed past Agios Ioannis Kastri – the church made famous by the Mamma Mia movie (you just have to imagine the fairy lights snaking up the pathway)..

We sheltered for the night just outside of Skopelos town (to avoid overnight mooring fees) and swam until nearly 10pm. The seawater is warm and very salty so floating beside the yacht was a very relaxing way to pass the time.

Tuesday 13th August

Mediterranean mooring, also known as med mooring, is the art of dropping anchor and backing into a parking spot with the stern to the wharf. Not the easiest manoeuvre and impossible without great teamwork. Keryn on the anchor, Zara managing the fenders, and Lucas leaping ashore to secure the stern lines, and I just had to drive. Pulling ashore at Skopelos town, we selected a possie and slotted into place on the first try. 

The next few hours were spent wandering the narrow winding streets and alleys that climbed up the hillside. The souvenir shops were filled with so many knick knacks that would need dusting if we brought them all home – Keryn selected one little ceramic yacht to remind us of our adventure. The kids had an ice cream to help beat the heat of the day and a play at the beach.

We stocked up on ice for our fridge (later nicknamed the SSS (stinky storage space) as it was pretty useless as keeping stuff cold and smelled terrible from whatever chemical they use to clean it) and set off towards our next spot – a place recommended by the charter company. It was so pretty along the coast of Skopelos – steep cliffs, little bays, and sparking blue water.

In all we travelled 16.8nm to a stunning cove full of friendly sailors, flat water and amazing boats (including the Wet Panther, a 31 metre motor yacht that fascinated Lucas).

Wednesday 14th August

The cove we were in was delightful so we decided to spend the entire day in the same place. It meant we would have a longer day at sea tomorrow but it was worth it for such a great spot. Both kids had a go at driving the inflatable tender with a little outboard motor and we motored ashore to a beach in the next bay for some bottled water and an ice cream.

Many hours were spent swimming and snorkelling, playing on the beach, reading, and just chilling out in the gentle sea breeze.

Thursday 15th August

Heading back towards the port at Volos, we had a long day covering 39.5nm. Carl had recommended a bay at the mouth of the Pagasetic Gulf, which was beautiful so it was surprising that no one else was there. Knowing there was a church in the next bay, we swam ashore and tried in vain to find a track connecting an old stone ruin in our bay and the church. Back at the water’s edge, the kids found a jump rock and spent hours in the water before bed.

Friday 16th August

In the morning, after our now ritual ‘before-breakfast swim’ and ‘after-breakfast swim’, we motored a short distance to the picturesque fishing hamlet of Kottes. Med mooring was successful but we got a little cocky and had to make a couple of corrections before tying up outside the waterfront taverna.

While we were supposed to be back in port Friday evening so that we were ready to disembark Sophia on Saturday morning, I had a chat with the charter manager and explained that the kids were constantly in the water and they couldn’t do that in Volos harbour (because the water is gronk). He agreed we could stay out for the night as long as we were tied up at the port by 9am on Saturday morning, so we cruised 7.96nm to our final charming mooring at Donkey Island.

Saturday 17th August

We left Donkey Island at 6:30am and headed for Volos about 12nm away. Unfortunately the 3.8 metre depth on the chart turned out to be 1 metre and we found ourselves touching the bottom. A kind yachtsman Roger, aboard the only other yacht in the bay, motored over in his tender to assist us. With some great teamwork by Lucas in the tender with Roger heeling us over on one of our masthead halyards, Keryn on the anchor, Zara on comms and me on the helm, we were soon free from the bottom and on our way back to port. After the incident in the sand in South Africa, we’re hoping that’s the final chapter of “getting stuck at the end of an adventure”!

Altogether we travelled 155 nautical miles (about 280km) over the week and found some great little spots to enjoy together as a family. We tied up with our last seamless med mooring and packed all of our belongings ashore. After a quick refuel and inspection of the undamaged keel, we were free to resume our land based travels. We had had a beautiful week aboard Sophia. It tested our teamwork in many ways (“PULL the rope”…“I AM pulling the rope!”) but it was wonderful. It took everyone a day to get our land legs back but Keryn and the kids were amazing crew, deckhands and part-time captains!!

We spent the next 5 nights in Volos – we had a cheap, large apartment so it was a great chance for everyone to have some space and chill out. We find it so funny that we are like goldfish and fill whatever size space we have – live in campervan for 7 weeks in the winter…sure thing, what about a truck for 65 days in Africa…no problem, a week on a 10 metre yacht…easy, a two-bedroom apartment with a big kitchen and lots of living space…boof, our stuff explodes! We filled our days reading, playing, drawing, doing puzzles, watching movies, and walking around the town (whilst lots of cruise ships come into the port and many people charter yachts from Volos, the town is surprisingly very un-touristy).

One day we took a taxi way up high in the hills to a village called Portaria. In September 2023, Volos was hit by Storm Elias, which caused devastating flooding all over the city. Almost every local we spoke to mentioned the storm as the impacts were far-reaching and the clean up ongoing nearly a year later. Villages like Portaria became completely isolated as huge sections of the hill roads were washed away, power was cut, and communications were nigh on impossible. The roads have now been repaired and we were told that it is a beautiful place to visit. Our taxi dropped us off at the base of Centaur’s Path, a trail up through a bushy ravine following the footsteps of the legendary Centaur Chiron. We knew that much of the pathway and all of the bridges had been destroyed in the flood, but with a bit of rock-hopping we were able to follow a more rugged path to the top. Two local doggos befriended us and, much to the kids’ delight, followed us for the entire walk.

The return journey took us down a meandering pathway amongst the houses perched on the hillside. Once we were back at the trailhead, Google maps told us we were just over 8 kilometres from home (almost entirely downhill – we were up really high!) so we decided to continue down the hillside amongst the olive trees, veggie patches and pretty houses.

Unfortunately Google maps appears to be unaware of Storm Elias and instead of taking us down the recently recreated walkway, it took us down the original and highly damaged walkway (unfortunately encouraged by the incorrect signage still in place). We persevered for a couple of hours climbing through piles of tree debris and across overgrown paths (and Zara even spotted this tortoise chilling out in the shade), but the day (and us!) was getting hotter and hotter and in the end we came to an impasse and were forced to backtrack up the hill. The water fountains that had been a bit of a fresh water treat on the way down became a life-giving font of delight for our very hot bodies on the way back up!

A friendly local told us to walk 1 kilometre “that way” and a bus would come every 15 minutes. We’ve come to expect that bus scheduling isn’t something to rely on in Greece, and 3 hours later (via the supermarket) we were finally home again. It’d been a lovely day out, a real eye-opener for how damaging Storm Elias had been, and a new level of respect for how much clean up and rebuilding must have been completed over the past 11 months.

Our time in Volos was up so we caught an early bus for the 4 hour journey back to Athens, and we had just one more afternoon in Athens before our flight to London the next morning. I’d heard about a long-standing yoghurt store, well away from the touristy areas, so we made a visit for a treat – a slab of thick yoghurt drizzled in honey and walnuts for me, loukoumades (Greek donuts) for Zara, a chocolate mouse mousse for for Logan and a chocolate cake for Lucas. Yum!

It’d been a fabulous 18 days in Greece filled with hours of swimming in gloriously warm water, stunning scenery, a little Greek history, delicious food and friendly people.