Préveza

We waited in Vónitsa until the wind had started to build on Sunday 10 August. Once clear of the harbour we hoisted the sails and headed north to work our way through the Ambracian Gulf back towards  Préveza. With all the sails set and the wind gradually building BV was soon zipping along at 7 knots. It was then that we met Spiros and his young family. Passing between a headland and the tiny island of Kefalos, we saw a small speedboat drifting. As we got closer it was clear that all was not well and the engine cover was off with Spiros trying to get it going again. Dropping our sails we motored back and took them under tow. They were trying to get back to Préveza and so we were not going out of our way. Popcorn, fizzy drinks and steering BV kept the 3 young children entertained for the much slower journey back to Préveza than they had been expecting in their speedboat but eventually we anchored off the north eastern side the town, close to the slipway where Spiros wanted to get his boat back onto its road trailer. We used BV’s inflatable dinghy, tied alongside the speedboat, to get Spiros and his family to the slipway and then said our farewells. The sad thing is that I didn’t take a picture of them all enjoying steering BV. However, they were very relieved to get back to Préveza so that they could drive the 100 or so kilometres back home; a much better outcome than drifting northeast towards the opposite end of the Ambracian Gulf. Spiros kindly gave us the fish that they had caught as a small thank you present and we enjoyed eating them for dinner.

We had planned to move BV onto the town quay for the night but the bay where we were anchored was sheltered; we took the lazy option and stayed where we were for the night. By sunset there were around 20 other yachts anchored in the bay.

On Monday morning we took the dinghy ashore and went shopping for food and a new cafetière. We have been looking for a replacement one since we were in Corfu and have found it surprisingly difficult to find a large enough one. In a small hardware store we eventually managed to find one which will fill a couple of mugs so we can now get our morning caffeine fix again. The town itself is vibrant and the shops are busy. The castle was little to get excited about but the place has a nice buzz and lots of good cafés and restarants to stop at to watch the world go by.

Mac?

At one stage when we were walking through the town I had to do a double-take as we passed a statue. It was a very similar likeness to a good friend of ours, Mac, who has both a large moustache and a penchant for wearing a fez to fancy dress parties. Not quite a fez but the statue is a close enough resemblance.

One of the main reasons for returning to Préveza was to pick up my mobile phone. The chap certainly knew his stuff and had repaired the phone without having to change the screen; a pleasant surprise and at very reasonable cost. I doubt I would have found such a great repair service back in England.

Another nice surprise was the turtles. We saw more turtles whilst we were looking out from Préveza’s town quay than we had during our whole time around the turtle breeding beaches at Zákinthos. One of the ones we saw off Préveza had a shell at least a metre long. There were large shoals of small fish to see as well and Spiros’ wife had told us that the area was famous for excellent sardines. I guess the turtles are attracted into the Ambracian Gulf by this abundance of food but it was still a surprise to see them surfacing just a few feet off the quay.

Our final planned visit whilst we were in Préveza was supposed to be to the ruined city of Nikopolis built by Octavian to commemorate his victory over Anthony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31BC. Anthony’s fleet of ships was destroyed by the Octavian’s more manoeuvrable galleys at the entrance to the Ambracian Gulf which prompted Cleopatra to flee back to Egypt. The smitten Anthony abandoned what was left of his fleet and fled after her.

Octavian, who subsequently became Roman Emperor Augustus, built Nikopolis (Victory City) on the spot where he had camped prior to the battle. It was perhaps not the best location to build a city because water had to be transported there by aqueduct and the population forcibly imported. However, the victory had ended the civil war which had run on since the death of Julius Caesar in 44BC and so it was deemed that it needed to be marked. Nikopolis became the capital of the area and stretched over a large site The city was destroyed at the end of the 4^th century AD by the Goths, partially rebuilt but then abandoned it shortly after several Bulgar (Slavic) raids from the north.

What is left of the ruins now is scattered over a very large area and we would have needed to hire a car to visit them. Not a problem but our travel guide is pretty cold about the place suggesting that, whilst it looks good from the road, the promise of the site remains unfulfilled. We decided to give it a miss this time around and instead head south to visit a few islands that look to be worth stopping off at.