Nisís Palaio Tríkeri

Nisís Palaio Tríkeri

Our sail from Ormiskos Pigádhi on 2 July started with a lovely 15 knot wind and we sailed further into the bay to look at Ahilio. It has a much larger quay than the one at Ormiskos Pigádhi and the town is a little larger. We didn’t stop though because we were heading further into the Gulf of Volos to the island of Nisís Palaio Tríkeri. This was hardly a long distance so as the wind faltered and died away we kept sailing, ghosting along at just 2 knots, kept going by the odd puff or two of wind every now and then. It was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

As we got into the lee of the island we dropped the sails and switched on the engine. I forgot to take any photos of the port so the ones above we took a couple of days later. The island itself is very pretty with a small collection of houses around the port and a monastery on the northen side. We learned that there are 70,000 olive trees on the island and that the monastery has just one priest and a cleaning lady living in it.

This top information was gleaned from the waiter at the restaurant just behind BV’s mooring spot on the quay. Staff there had come out to indicate where we could moor and to help us with our lines when we arrived, so we felt duty-bound to eat at the restaurant. Perhaps we picked poorly but the food was a little disappointing. Conversely, the island was delightful to walk around.

We followed the coastal path which gave us lovely views across the bays before taking a turning in towards the centre of the island. Meandering through the olive groves the track (or perhaps major communications artery) brought us to the high ground above the village/port. Here hand daubed signs pointed to the island’s major attractions – the monastery, Ag Sophia (a church?) and the harbour.

Back at the village/harbour we diligently read the information noticeboards which describe how olives are pressed and explained that a boatyard was building boats on the island until the late 1970s. After such enlightenment we settled down to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the evening and a very pleasant backgammon match (well it was very pleasant until Nicky beat me 10:7 and pushed me off my Backgammon Champion pedestal.)

The following morning we slipped our lines and headed a little further into the Gulf of As we left the island we spotted a good bay to anchor in on the south side of Nisís Palaio Tríkeri, just to the east of the port, and made a mental note because we know that we will be back this way.

Nisís Palaio Tríkeri, Greece