What, No More Beer or Wine?

We had spent 5 days at anchor without any shops nearby, we had nearly run out of food apart from pasta and beans, and we were getting very low on water, neither of these were too much of a problem until we realised that we had a real crisis on board – we had no beer or wine!!

Immediate action was required, we lifted the anchor and headed to the bright lights of Little Vathi on Meganisi Island.

The port of Vathi, known as ‘Little’ Vathi to distinguish it from ‘Big’ Vathi on the neighbouring island of Ithaca, is a charming village on the north coast of the island with pretty chapels/churches, a few old houses, traditional tavernas, cafes, bars and shops around the harbour, surrounded by forest and olive groves on the high ground behind.

Fishing boats go out daily and the fishermen come back selling their ‘fresh fish’ along the quay, you see local men sitting in the cafes drinking ouzo and children play excitedly in the playground on the small square until late at night.

We moored on the town quay and went ashore. Luckily we managed to find a shop here that was able to help us. 10 Euros later and our problem was solved, 8 tins of beer and 1.5 litres of top quality local wine served in a plastic bottle!

There does appear to be a lot more motor boats here this year, we walked around the marina in the evening and it was completely full of millionaires toys with their under water lights lighting up the sea.

Not always too impressed by these big power boats but the helicopter could come in useful!

We stayed here a few days, checked out a couple of the bars and restaurants but spent most of our time working on the battery upgrade.

We did allow ourselves one day off and took a walk around the island. Walked up the hill from Little Vathi to the old main town of Katomeri which is now a quiet place, rarely visited by tourists.

From here we crossed through fields and olive groves with views of the sea on all sides of the island before arriving at another hill top town of Spartahori. This is a picturesque quite typical Greek town with white washed buildings, fruit trees and bougainvillea flowers lining the small alleyways.

There was plenty of wildlife along the way.

Wonderful views north from the island across the inland sea to Scorpios island and onwards towards Nidri and Lefkas.

From here we descended the zigzag path down to the beach at Spartahori …

then followed the coastal road back to Little Vathi.