August 20
We woke up to a beautiful harbor. Argostoli is an old town, but there is virtually nothing old left in the town. The town was bombed by the Germans in WWII and what was left was completely destroyed in an earthquake in 1953. The population is somewhat more than 10,000. Because of its beauty and its beaches, it is a tourist attraction.
We hired a local cab driver to give us a few hours tour of the sites. He drove us on the coast road to an iconic lighthouse. The water was clear and inviting, so Caroline wandered in to test the temperature (which was quite pleasant). The water is up over her ankles, but is so clear that is hard to see in the picture.
There are many nice hotels and beautiful beaches on the coast. It was bout 11:00 and the beach was crowded. The temperature was in the high 80s and it was humid so the water probably felt really good.
He drove us up the mountain side through some pretty villages to the top where there was old castle.
The castle walls. The view from the top was stunning.
Lord Byron spent time on the island and we drove by his house and snapped a couple of pictures.
Then it was back to Argostoli where we had a nice lunch based on our driver’s recommendations. The local white wine was very good. The food was excellent, albeit enough for a small army.
After lunch we walked around town visiting some shops and enjoying the ambience.
Because we had anchored in the sea, we had to take tenders to the port. The tenders are the lifeboats that we would use in an emergency. These boats are not designed for comfort. The picture gives you some idea. In each seating area, there are 2 benches that face each other with almost no room. You have to arranges knees to avoid touching the person across from you. There are 6 of those seating areas. On a tender ride they would put about 12 people in each one. In a true emergency I imagine their might be more. Suffice to say, it would not be comfortable, but I suppose you would not really be interested in comfort.
It was a good day.