Ástrous

Departing Porto Kheli   

After a week loitering around in Porto Kheli varnishing, we had ‘itchy feet’ and wanted to get moving again. Sunday morning was spent very successfully, refitting the cabin sole and restocking the fridge, which meant that we could leave Porto Kheli a day earlier than we’d anticipated. So we did just that and slipped out of the natural harbour with our sights set on Ástrous, a convenient 20 miles away on the west side of the Argolic gulf.

Approaching Ástrous   

The only issue was the lack of wind. Fortunately, we only needed to motor for an hour which was actually very good for the batteries after our extended time at anchor. Thereafter, the afternoon Bouka Doura wind built and we had a very civilised sail for the rest of the way to Ástrous. Despite the disappointment of having to drop the sails, there was enough of Ástrous visible on the headland to intrigue us: the high ground is capped by a mediaeval fortress, with attractive villas stepped up on the rising ground and a modern open air amphitheatre on the shoreline.

Ástrous quay and harbour

The harbour was equally modern with a new concrete, protective wall and quay. Sadly, the Port Police who collected our harbour dues informed us that the shore power was not working and so BV’s batteries would have to wait a little longer for a rejuvenating deep charge.

The old lighthouse   

Ástrous is a small town of 2 halves. On the lower ground around the harbour the buildings are modern and concrete; higher up there are much older villas and the castle. Despite our best intentions, we didn’t actually get up to see the castle until the 13^th. What with writing a couple of blog entries, helping other visiting yachts to moor, catching up on admin and visiting a café or two, Monday seemed to disappear.

Views across the Argolic Gulf

That actually worked out for the better because Tuesday morning was very still with beautifully clear weather. We walked through the modern theatre, past the old lighthouse, and up the hill towards the castle. The views out to the, east across the Argolic Gulf, were magical.

Clambering up past the old villas the castle became more visible.

The castle was originally built in 1256 by Gillaume de Villardhuin. During 1236 he had sided with the Latin Empire, a feudal state established by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on land captured from the Byzantine Empire. His reward was lordship of several Venetian territories in the Aegean. From this regional foothold, he went on to conquer all of the Peloponnese. His dominance of the region was, however, short-lived after losing and being imprisoned at the Battle of Pelagonia against the Niceans in 1259. Much later, in the 18^th century, the castle was taken over by 3 brothers from the Zafeiropoulos family. They had become rich abroad but returned to their hometown to support the fight for Greek independence. The brothers built 3 houses in the castle and it was the remains of these buildings which dominated what we saw at the site.

Whilst there wasn’t a great deal to see within the castle walls the views down from the ruins were fabulous in the fine weather.

Wandering back down to the town we definitely sensed that it was the end of the season. Restaurants and cafés were quiet and, other than the few yachties, there seemed to be few visitors. We too were turning our thoughts to end of season chores and planning how many days we would need to prepare BV to be lifted out for winter. Optimistically we felt that we still had a day or two before we had to head for the boatyard and an anchorage just east of us had caught our eye. Perfect for a short afternoon sail!

Ástrous, Greece