Límnos (Part 3) The War Cemeteries

Our picnic spot with Samothráki in the distance   

Lunch was in order and we drove to what we hoped would be a nice beach. Far out on Cape Pláka there is little tourism and sadly what looked to be a nice beach from a distance was rather unkempt close up. Instead we drove on as far as we could towards Cape Pláka until a km or so short there was a large rock in the road. With tummies already rumbling that became our picnic spot; it was rather nice with beehives in the gorse and the island of Samothráki visible in the distance.

East Mudros war cemetery   

After lunch our objective was to visit the war cemeteries. Royal Marines had captured the island on 23 February 1915 and thereafter it became the principal base for the Gallipoli campaign. The British occupied the island throughout the war and used it as a staging post for supplies to the Salonika front in Greece. On 30 Oct 1918 the Armistic between the Allied Powers and Turkey was signed on board HMS Agamemnon in Mudros Bay. Our first stop was the East Mudros cemetary which was close to one of the 2 field hospitals set up to cope with the evacuated battle casualties. Between them there were over 18,000 beds and at times more than 1,000 casualties a day were evacuated here by the hospital ships.

East Mudros war cemetery   

Eight hundred and seventy seven British, Australian, Newfoundland and Indian casualties from the campaign are buried at East Mudros. Like all of the Commonwealth war grave sites we have visited it is beautifully kept and a very sobering place to walk around remembering the sacrifice so many very young men have made in the past for our current freedom.

On the way to East Mudros we had seen some signs for an archaeological site at Poliochni. We drove there next and seeing a man in the ticket office and an open gate we though that our luck was in. Unfortunately wandering in to buy a ticket prompted a grumpy response from ticket office man, “we are closed”. Well in my book a manned ticket office, an open gate, no sign showing opening times nor a closed sign is not the best way to demonstrate that. There was nothing to see for the outside so we moved.

Modern day Moúdhros harbour    

Next stop was modern day Moúdhros (Mudros) harbour. We originally had expected to moor up here and to use it as a base from which to see the cemeteries. In hindsight working from Mirina with a hire car was the better method. There is an interesting bronze plaque explaining the strategic significance of the harbour and the Australian involvement in the Gallipoli campaign but little else to see in this sleepy hollow.

Portianos military cemetery   

All the way round on the western side of the bay, close to where we were anchored when we were last in Limnos, is the Portianos military cemetery. This cemetery was close to the second large field hospital sites and here 348 British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand casualties from Gallipoli have been buried. As at East Mudros cemetery, most were under 22 years old.

Portianos military cemetery   

West Mudros Muslim cemetery   

At the western side of the bay there is a third cemetery. Driving out of Portianos village for 2 km on a dirt track we came to the Muslim cemetery. The remains of men from the Egyptian Labour Corps (ELC) are buried around this monument. A plaque explained how the ELC supported the Royal Engineers to create the infrastructure and also to move supplies both here and later on the Gallipoli peninsula.

View over Órmos Moúdhros from the Muslim cemetery
and B&W photo of how it looked during the campaign    

The location gives a commanding view across the Órmos Moúdhros. On the plaque there was a black and white picture (shown above) showing the bay as it was during the campaign with war ships at anchor and tented camp on the sloping coastline below us.

From here we made our way back to Mirina following the more mountainous south western coastline of the island; very much in contrast in the type of  terrain further east and a lot more hairpin bends to negotiate.

Back at BV we saw that there had been several arrival and departures of yachts. We had a new neighbour, Flica, who we had last seen when she was moored next to us in the harbour at Samothráki.

The hire car came in hand for a big shop for heavy goods at the supermarket but we had a fruitless attempt to get a gas bottle exchanged. We found the right shop but it was always closed.

A check on the weather forecast showed that Tuesday’s weather still had a good southerly wind for our move west to the Khalkidhiki peninsula. This would be another 55 mile passage but with the forecast wind we expected a fast passage and so planned to leave at a civilised 0930 in the morning after one last attempt to get a gas bottle refill.

Limnos Mirina, Greece