Days 10-12 - Return to Lefkas, then Athens and home Today is a fairly short transit back to Lefkada, where we get checked in and can spend one final night on the boat. On departure the winds are nonexistent and we expect to motor the entire way. A bit disappointing but the trip has provided us with some great sailing so all is good.
Getting out of the bay the wind picks up a bit and we raise the sails to see if we can make some progress.
And then suddenly we're in 24kt wind and whitecaps! Having to reef in the sails under tension. A bit of a challenge but so much fun. A perfect parting gift from Poseidon. We get to try beam reach, close reach, and close haul hitting over 8kts even with reefed sails.
This takes us all the way to the entrance of the Lefkada channel. Then the wind subsides just in time for us to drop sails and motor in. Perfect. There is an old shipwreck on the side as another reminder.
It's a slow line of boats through the channel. We have to top up fuel so we find the fuel dock and get that done. Another useful experience.
Once in the marina, the harbor master directs us to the slip but we have trouble tying up due to the wind, so we are directed to an alternative and tie up successfully. Lots learned, lots experienced.
Checkout is uneventful and everyone else chooses to sleep onshore but I stay on the boat by myself. It is peaceful.
I walk around the harbor and the town a bit. One goal was to get some gyro meat in Greece, so I did that at one of the many restaurants.
Being an essentialist I asked for just the meat, with no bread or sides. Huge portion even with that, I ended up taking half of it to go and had it for breakfast. Long way through town on the way back, then a final goodbye to Bellatrix beore taking the 8:30 AM bus back to Athens.
Bus ride is long an uneventful.
My final hotel is in a suburb called Spata near the airport. It is an apartment that is spacious and clean, but better suited for those with a rental car. Using public transport to get to it was a bit of a pain taking almost an hour and a half from the bus terminal. Despite its physical proximity to the airport, by bus and metro would wake over an hour to get to it but a taxi ride is just ten minutes and EU20 with tip, so I opted for that. The town is unremarkable so after checkin I take a shower and finally recharge the laptop to catch up on emails and other business stuff. And start the blog.
Seeing how I only have six Zone bars left and will need them for the flights tomorrow (airline food in economy is not an experience I look forward to), I ventured out to do some food shopping. Setting aside a twenty for the taxi, I have 30 Euros in cash to spend. The grocery list: two bottles of prosecco (1.5 for today and the rest for breakfast). two nectarines. and a package of cheese that looked like Feta but isn't. Came out to EU27. Had to ask GPT about the cheese. Its description of the flavor is spot on.
Now the long trip home. I feel privileged to be able to hop continents in mere hours. It is a very brief window in human history in which this is possible. So cheers to that.
|
