Ieraka

The blog entries for our visit to Meteora in mid-June have now, finally, been finished. The entries for our more recent visit to ancient Epidavros, ancient Mycenae and Navplion and are, however, still being worked on but will hopefully be published shortly.

Leaving Monemvasía   

We had spent the morning of Thursday 14 July climbing the rock to see the ruins of the upper town and the citadel on the top. Once down at sea level again, a quick trip to the butchers to get some meat and a plastic bottle of local white wine [Ed: reported to be quite quaffable, we’ll let you know] plus a stock up at the very good fruit & veg shop, saw us ready to leave Monemvasía at 1240.

Monemvasía   

The route out gave us one last look at the fabulous walled lower town before we turned north. There wasn’t much wind forecast for the next 2 days and so our plan was to just go a short distance to the north visiting a couple of anchorages before sailing 120 miles east to meet Charlotte at Naxos.

Approaching Ieraka   

The first anchorage which had caught our eye was Ieraka, just 7 miles north of Monemvasía. It has a narrow winding entrance and high ground on each side.

Mycenaean ruins   

Ancient quarry   

Up on the high ground to the right as we entered are the ruins of an ancient Mycenaean village. Also to the right but at sea level is an old quarry.













As we worked our way in, the small village of Ieraka started to appear around the corner. Beyond the village is a shallow lagoon so we couldn’t go too far in.

The old ferry quay

The town quay is also a bit shallow for BV with underwater rocks close to the shore. Our options were to moor alongside the old ferry quay or anchor off in the bay. Three yachts had already filled the ferry quay and the front edge seemed to be in a buoyed off swimming area so we went for the anchoring option.


Anchoring would have actually been our preferred option if there had been any wind because we had read about winds and waves being funnelled into the harbour and yachts being thrown about by the surge enough to rip out mooring cleats from their decks.

Fortunately for us, the conditions were very benign. Anchored off in about 10m, I snorkelled and looked for fish whilst Nicky had a go at scrubbing BV’s bottom (far too diligent!). In the evening Nicky cooked a baked Greek omelette using the fresh wild greens we had bought from the fruit and veg shop that morning. Crammed with the green leaves, onion, feta, parmesan and dill it tasted very authentic. Definitely one to cook again.

Ieraka by night   

Somehow the afternoon and evening disappeared and we just showered and turned in rather than inflating the dinghy and going ashore. Probably the effect of the morning yomp up to the top of Monemvasía.

Morning views   

In the morning Ieraka was very peaceful and we ate our breakfast plotting our next move. With the forecast continuing to show virtually no wind until Saturday we decided to make another short hop north to visit another lovely looking anchorage.

Ieraka, Greece