Fiskardo is the northernmost port on Kefalonia, a short distance from Ithaca. The village was once called Panormos, but it was later renamed after Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria and founder of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilys who died at the Atheras beach in 1085, during the time of Frankish (Norman) dominion in Greece. Apparently he loved this place but died shortly after arriving.
Fiskardo and the dense forest in the surrounding area have been declared areas of great natural beauty and are protected under Greek law. However, that said, they don’t exactly look after things that well.
In 2005, when building a shopping complex close to the harbour in Fiskardo, workers discovered a plaque dating back to ancient Greece which gave thanks to the people of Panormos from the people of Athens for allowing them to hunt in the area. The 5th century Greek historian Herodotus had mentioned a port named Panormos and it is thought that Panormos and Fiskardo are one and the same. In 2006 construction workers building a new hotel near the centre of town stumbled on a perfectly preserved Roman-era grave complex filled with artefacts. Inside, five burial sites were found including a large vaulted grave and a stone coffin, as well as gold jewellery, pottery and bronze offerings. On a nearby plot, archaeologists also discovered a remarkably well-preserved theatre with their stone back rests still in place. Other excavations have uncovered remains of houses, a bath complex and a cemetery, all dating to Roman times – between 146 B.C. and 330 A.D. The find is unique and they haven’t found anything like it elsewhere in the Ionian. The site was missed by grave robbers and was untouched when opened. It is so perfectly preserved that the 2000 year old ancient door still swings open smoothly on stone pivots.
So you would think there would be some interesting sites to visit. Not so. According to the volunteer run museum we visited, one of the sarcophogi is now used as a rubbish bin at some school nearby and the other is at some restaurant used to house lobster and crab for patrons prior to cooking them. The sites were left open and have only recently been covered with some metal sheeting. And nothing at all has been placed around for signage etc. The guidebooks don’t mention anything either. There seems to be an ambivalence to the history of the area which is saddening. But it’s not just here, it’s everywhere we’ve been. If anything this place is better since there is at least a group of volunteers trying to bring some information to people on the dangers the waters face.
Kirk took the dinghy out for a quick look before we tried to pull off, our anchor was free and clear so we pulled without issue. When we cleared Ormos Fiskardo we pulled the main in a light breeze and as we motor-sailed the wind rose enough that we could justify the jib and finally cut the motors. A short time later we saw a ferry approaching. It was on an intersecting path. We watched the catamaran that was a short distance ahead of us and the one or two other boats coming the other way and tried to decide what the ferry was going to do and what we were going to do. Eventually we decided to stay on course but start the engine in case we needed a quick maneuver. The ferry adjusted its course and cut a path straight down the centre between us and the catamaran. Cosy, and it got a bit bumpy there, but we are still glad to not be dodging the fast ferries the way we were in the Aegean. Three military jets scream past twice, the second time barely higher than the masts of the sailboats out here.
We got about an hour of decent sailing in before the winds died on us and we pulled everything in. Not much, but it was nice. As we rounded the bottom of Levkas we were confronted with many, many boats. We counted not less than 30 heading towards us, many of them Sailing Holidays. As usual, we seem to have managed to be going against the flow…although there is always that niggling little feeling of…”What do they know that we don’t know…???” One of the boats we passed started cheering and clapping and waving and pointing at our flag. They ran down below and brought up theirs (Finland), not yet up the halyard. We’re not sure if they just really like Canadians, think we sailed here from Canada, or just think it’s cool we are flying our own flag. Regardless, we wave back!
We round into Syvota harbour and are pleased to see that it is virtually empty, hard to think it wouldn’t have been with all those boats going the other way! Lots of choices, we decide on the West part of the quay thinking it will be the last place to fill. We were wrong, people really are sheep aren’t they? A small catamaran we saw in Preveza comes in beside us and there is about a half a boat width on our other side. We think if Kanula comes in they might be able to squeeze if we pull our stern line over. But before they arrive we see a large, fat boat backing into what we think really can’t accommodate it….so we scramble to loosen the line on one side…but I only have about an inch of play on that side…it’s the best we can do so we hand walk them in and squeeze every fender we can in between. It’s super tight…but thats OK because at least we know if it blows or bounces there won’t be any banging because there simply isn’t enough room between us.
It is stinking hot here (at least 36 degrees) and we wilt under the bimini for the rest of the afternoon just reading. There is water here, finally. We haven’t been able to find water for about a week or more and we know we are low. Syvota has water on meters, 2 Euros for who knows how much. It doesn’t quite fill so Kirk plugs it again…but it fills almost instantly so we grab the brush and wash the boat.
The two couples from the boat that thought they crossed our anchor in Fiskardo arrive and say hello, Northern Fantasy (the only other Canadians we’ve met, their boat is out of Ireland) stop by to say hello. The longer we are here the more often we see recurring faces. The Germans next to us with their big black (hot) dog we also saw in Fiskardo.
Kanula arrives and we wait for the sun to go behind the hills while we sip a beer with Dave and Sandra at a taverna. Back to the boat for two long cool showers. At least we know we can refill for a pittance. In Fiskardo they wanted 5 Euros for a shower! No free wireless here…I can “see” a hotspot signal but I can’t connect from the boat.
We join up with Dave and Sandra from Kanula and find a taverna for dinner. We stop to look at a couple of menus on the way and are thoroughly accosted by the restauranteurs. I’ve never had an entire menu read to me outside a restaurant before…LOL! Eventually we settle on one, swordfish souvlaki for dinner. Very good.
And all around a lovely and relatively relaxing day.
We seem to have settled into a bit of a lazy pattern in this past week….and you find yourself doing odd things when you get lazy…..like talking about old commercials. How that old Sea Galley commercial came up in conversation one night is beyond me, but we had an internet connection that day and ended up finding it on YouTube. You know you are having a strange and lazy night when you are sitting in a foreign port, watching a TV commercial from 1988 on “We’ve got crab legs, crab legs….” and laughing your head off…. people on other boats must really have wondered…
Back to reality all to soon.
1 comment
Interesting about the lack of cre of a historic site. I saw a lot of that in 1968 but on my last trip 2 years ago, in a lot of places on the mainland I saw restoration underway, actually rebuilding the old ruins as they originally were with new marble grafted onto the old.