It was time to leave Kalymnos, visiting Kos and continue to Leros.

Kalymnos

Before we left Kalymnos we had a short walk through town to take some photos, and to do the last shopping for some days. The town is not that beautiful, it is to much old buildings in a bad shape. But we have had some very nice days on the islands and will definately come back if Kalymnos is on our route.

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The town quay for smaller boats and sightseeingboats. In the mountain you can see the monastery we visited.

Many boats stayed here waiting for a weather window, and when the weather became better almost everyone left.

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We had a plan to sail to Vathy, on the east side, but there were a couple of sightseeingboats, so we turned around and sailed to Vlychada, they bay where we had icecream and lunch earlier this week.

When we saw this cusiouns on the beach, in front of the restaurants, we decided to have lunch here. The food is really good and the place is stunning!

We had “light” lunch with meze, dolmades, cheese ball, tzatziki and bread.

Kos town

After two nights here we sailed further on to Kos town, on the west coast of Kos. We anchored in front of the town. We thought it would be nice because of the north westerly wind, but it was not. The sea was really rough and the wind was too much. But we stayed here for three nights.

This was the first day with a lot of tourist, so now we are not alone anymore!

A lot of boats in the town harbour. A nice place, but it was windy also here.

Kos town, a lot of shops, restaurants and hotels.

Many nice narrow streets behind the harbour.

Many nice details.

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It was very windy theese days and it was hard to take the dinghy ashore. When we came back from town the wind had turned the dinghy up side down on the beach, encluding the engine, so we had to row back to the boat. Luckily Astor fixed the engine!

And here is the reason why we went back to Kos; Thor Harald! We knew that he was coming to Kos for holiday so I asked if he could bring some brown cheese, and one another important thing I will tell more about later.

We also met Thor Harald in Albania in august, so where will me meet next time?? It is always a pleasure to spend time with you Thor Harald! And thanks for helping us!

If you like to read more about our meeting in Albania:

Checking out of Montenegro – in to Albania

It was time for Eurovision song contest! The winner this year was Sweden. On the photo Norway is singing.

After leaving Kos, we sailed to Pserimos and stayed one night in the same bay, Vathy, as we anchored a couple of weeks ago. It was really quiet, but we (Astor) woke up very early in the morning and felt we were touching the bottom on the beach. The wind had turned around and sent us to the beach. Instead of reanchoring we started to sail to Leros.

Leros

It was a beautiful sail to Leros, and I could relax on deck most of the trip. We arrived before noon in Leros, since we started so early. We anchored in Lakka bay, the biggest natural harbour in Greece. Frits and Liza were also anchoring there so we had lunch together before they left next morning. And I guess that was finally goodbye 🙂

We knew that Harald was here. He is the admin for the facebook group Middelhavsseilerne. He is in the middle of the photo. When we anchored we saw another Norwegian boat, that was Stein, in the red t-shirt. And they knew Jan, in black t-shirt, from before, so suddenly we were 5 Norwegians for dinner. This place had really good food!

We also met Parallell again here, we met them in Marmaris in January. Charlotte, Daniel and Jessica are from New Zealand. In Marmaris we had waffels together so we decided to make waffels for breakfast on their boat.

Making soap bubbles

I learned Jessica about Norwegian songs for kids.

The next day it was 17. of May, our national day. We haven`t seen Norwegian people since october so we were lucky to meet so many Norwegians to celebrate with here on Leros. But before dinner we had to take a hike up in the hill.

The view to Lakka

We made a loop and came back to the marina.

Some snacks in our boat before dinner on the restaurant: Harald, Gunnar (lives on Leros), Stein, Eirik and Thea, Jan, and me.

Stein took a photo from the other direction with Astor in the background.

Stein, Eirik and Thea, Gunnar, Bjørn (a swedish guy living on Leros, has been working in Norway for many years), Jan, Astor and me, and Harald. We had a really nice evening together.

The next day was lazy… Too much alcohol the evening before and a lot of swell through the night. Not comfy at all! But the day after we were ready for a walk again to Agia Marina.

Hiking to Agia Marina

This photo is from Lakki. Lakki is not a small town, and most of the buildings is in italian style after the Italian period on the island from 1912 to 1943. The Italian build a italianispired town called Portolago, which the Greek people changed to Lakki later.

Vromolithos beach. From Lakki you have to walk along the main road and it can be a lot of traffic. But at the top of the hill you can go to the right and walk down to this bay, which is quiet and not much traffic. It is a nice place to anchor.

Not correct colours on this house, in real it was pritty pink!

Panteli with the windmills on the mountain.

It is six windmills in a very good conditions, and in the last one to the right you will find a restaurant with a beautiful view down to Panteli.

On the way down to Panteli. Narrow streets and stairs.

On the beach in Panteli

On the beach in Panteli

Panteli has a very nice beach, so bring your swimming clothes here!

Where Agia Marina starts I am not sure, because it is houses all the way from Panteli and over the hill to Agia Marina. On the top of the hill is this beautiful church.

The stairs up to the church

On the top of the mountain you will find Leros Castle.

It was really windy in Agia Marina so we went to the post office and then we took some photos before returning.

Agia Marina bay

We wanted to visit the castle and it was a lot of stairs to come up there.

Some kittens on our way.

It was a bit hard to find the correct way from Agia Marina, but when you arrive at this church you are on the right way!

It is hard to walk up there, but when you arrive on the top the view is amazing! We had a small snack break at the Profiti Ilias church.

We saw a lot of people coming out of the castle saw we thought it was open, but when we came up there it was closed. It is open only specific days and times during the “winter”. When the winter stops nobody knows! We had a plan to go there together with our Swedish friends next week…. but plans is to be changed!

From the castle we went down to the windmills.

The windmills with the castle in the background.

On the way down from the windmills, the view of Panteli.

We had a pizzalunch at the beach in Panteli.

Panteli, the windmills and the castle

Cactus flower

A video from todays hike:

Hike to Skoumpardos 346 masl.

The next day we were ready for another hike. We took the bikes over to Xirokampos.

In Xirokampos it is also nice to anchor and when we came back from the hike there was a lot of boats.

The trail starts on a gravel road.

And it is uphill all the way. But it is not steep, and everyone can go up there.

You can find this trail here:

https://www.alltrails.com/nb-no/explore/trail/greece/leros/xirokampos-skoumbardos

You will see the top of Skoumpardos for a while, but you have to pass it and turn around the hill and go back to the summit.

It is a nice road all the way to the top so you can`t go wrong.

A lot of old buildings from the Italians, but most of them is a ruin.

On the top! It was a really nice and calm day and it was nice to have a break on the top. That day we were waiting for our Swedish friends and if it was better weather we could have seen their boat on the right side of Kalymnos.

Ruins from the Italians.

Me on the top with the view to Lakka in the background.

One of the tunnels

From here they could see the whole bay and control who was coming in!

The road back and around the hill!

Sometimes it is good to be curious, like this… I had to take a look inside, and it was actually a church!!

It was a small church but with windows, we haven`t seen that before. Amazing view for the priest!

Nice painting!

Outside the church we continue exploring the ruins after the war. In the 2WW when the Britains came here it was a lot of bombing, the second most bombed island after Crete. The Italians was at that point allied with the Germans. In 1943 Italian could not continue on German side and then the Germans started to bomb Leros and Leros became under German occupation until the end of the war.

A small building with the view to the south. I guess this is not easy to see from the sea.

Kalymnos in front!

The hill was bombed a lot and you could see big craters from the bomb. (not this one)

Fundation for an old anti-aircraft cannon.

A video from todays hike:

Now it was time to walk back to Lakki to meet Ingela and Lars. Looking forward to a week together with them!