45 kms away from Mytilini is the attractive village of Polichnitos.

It was founded by uniting all the small villages located in the area. There are numerous 19^th century buildings harking back to a more prosperous time and the old communal olive press chimney now sports a stork’s nest. It was bigger than I expected and the houses are all quite close together despite loads of surrounding land, perhaps reserved for olive and animals though ?

  

Polichnitos

The Scots people on the boat next to us in the marina have settled here. It is a nice spot, though I personally preferred Skala Polichnitou .

Scala, close to the village , is a settlement with salt pans on the gulf of Kalloni. The salt produced is believed to be the whitest and finest produced in the Mediterranean basin.

    

Skala Polichnitou

On the return I discovered some hot spring thermal baths next to a pretty wee church, bit niffy though. I should get used to it methinks – for when I eventually go to “Auld Nick’s Fire”

 

Well the day trips have been put on hold.

Wee Lily’s eyes are getting no better.

  

Uve, our German neighbour, said this was normal in cats, but it was showing no signs of passing so I took her to the local vet as Myrsini was not open. He gave her a look over, sounded her chest and gave her eye drops and me a bill for 30 euros.

The drops did no good so off to Myrsini, who firstly tried her white witch homeopathy followed eventually by an antibiotic injection. She was not worried but I was.

I haven’t told Louise who is at home and currently at Mr. Gibson’s 50^th. There was no point as she couldn’t do anything and would only worry.

Good news that after a few days I could see improvement and soon she was back to normal.

The other cats meantime were enjoying themselves back in Scotland.

      

The replacement bike has arrived and having read about the village of Papados and the historical Vrana Olive Press Museum there. I decided to visit it before heading south to Plomari and returning via Polichnitos. This last leg was not to be however, see later.

The route in part retraced the journey of a few days before down the west side of Gera but on a higher up road skirting Mount Olympus.

Perama in the distance , the trip from a few days before

I had left with little cash and after fuelling the bike needed to find a cash machine to get some money out. I had presumed to do this in Papados, but unfortunately Papados is not the financial centre of Lesvos and bereft of ATM machines.

However I did find the fabled olive press museum which was open. There didn’t seem to be anyone about or signs re entrance fees – so in I go, thinking it’s gratis, to have a look. It was interesting, but only about 10 minutes interesting in my book, so I took some pics and left.

As I exited, off to my right I heard a “Helloo, good morning” and I knew I was rumbled ……… it was sure to be someone looking for money! and having none, I bustled away to my left in a different direction, muttering good morning to an old lady coming that way, as a means of cover, lol.

I explored the little streets of the village wondering how I was going to pick up the bike sitting outside the museum without getting nabbed.

After a wee while  wandering I snuck back, keys in hand , lept on the bike and shot off without looking back.

An exciting but embarrassing start to the day.

    

Inside the olive press

  

and the outside, bottom right just before my 1st “getaway”

One of the things that apparently makes the olive press special was  Odysseus Elytis, the Greek Poet Nobel Prize winner (1979) for literature, was the grandson of the founder .

If I am not careful it may become famous for my arrest!

This was one of his poems

Catchy eh ?

The alleways where the fugitive planned his 2nd getaway

The cat just knows I’m up to no good…….. look at his face !

 

The  125 cc dream machine ! and great bikers roads

The next stop was Plomari with the scent of aniseed in the air from the famous Barbayiannis ouzo distillery. I stopped here for a souvlaki lunch in a  Kantina overlooking the harbour.

The reason we never came in here on our passages is because we heard the swell was pretty uncomfortable in anything other than dead calm. Didn’t look too bad today, however that’s the perspective from dry land.

Olive nets spread ready for the harvest on the way to Plomari

 

Plomari and my lunch stop

If you look at the map at the top, my return journey was to be via Melinta, Palioxori, Arkrasi, Ampeliko etc until the turn off to the left to Polichnitos.

However Plomari is a fair distance from Mytilini and when I arrived at the foot of the mountainous roads heading up to the oldest village in Lesvos, Palioxori, the fuel warning light came on. I was in the middle of nowhere and not sure where the next petrol station would be.

Eventually in Akrasi after a long climb up I was told the nearest fuel stop was 15km away in Agiasos. So my trip to Polichnitos would have to be postponed. I was now on fumes and I think the only reason I made it was due to the 5 km freewheel down the other side of Olympos !

Heading out of Plomari to Melinta

Palioxori

Me in the middle of deliverence country and no fuel, you can almost hear the banjo’s

Well the day started with excitement and finished with it too

This afternoon I was heading to Lidl on the bike and on the spur of the moment decided to go to visit Perama which is in the Gulf of Gera. The route took me up past Moria where the refugee camp is, past Therma, where there are hot spring baths. Perhaps when Louise is back we can visit them.

Then a brief detour to Ippeios, a small traditional village where they were starting the olive harvest before returning to the coast road and down through Evriaki, which looked would be a busy tourist resort in season, but now closed for winter, to eventually arrive at my destination.

It is a landscape of extensive olive groves and quite beautiful.

  

The head of the Gulf , Sykounta in the distance and the small harbour

   

Heading south through Evriaki, Perama in the distance

Perama itself is not very pretty but is the industrial port of the region and houses the old, now derelict, tannery and a large army base. The landmark of Perama is a windmill dating back to the beginning of the 20^th century.

  

Perama

 

Scala Loutra across the bay (our anchorage a few times) and views on way back

Lily having decided to bunk with me in Louise’s absence wants to get up at dawn and noisily makes her feelings known. There’s just no option but to get up and let her out, which is what I now do. The plus side is that she does come back quite readily when you go to get her and before sunset she usually has made her own way back to crash out on the sleeping bag.

Out for the count

It also means I’m first to the washing machines for my laundry days.

Dawn at the marina

A couple of times, while she’s kipping I have taken a wander in on foot to the harbour for a beer before returning for my tea, sometimes cooked on board and sometimes pizza ! I have made a brave attempt at minced beef chilli and I am currently eating last nights leftovers cold for lunch as I do this blog, lol.

Early evening views Mytilini harbourside

Kalloni & Scala Kalloni

Having completed most of the end of season jobs on the boat, removing sails, solar panels, guard wire netting etc. there is little to be done until the engineer visits to repair and replace the engine mounts.

A temporary hire bike was delivered on the 1^st of November. Thanasis had forgotten and brought me a wee 50cc scooter until the full blooded 125cc (wow!) arrives in a couple of weeks. I can’t really complain the guy has done a brilliant price for the winter.

I dropped Louise off at the airport on the 4^th November for her trip home to Scotland for 3 weeks.

So while the weather was reasonable I decided to go a wee run to Kalloni just for fun and a coffee. It was a blustery old day, but just one up the wee bike was OK.

 

Built into the largest and most fertile plain of Lesvos, Kalloni, 40 kms away from Mytilini, is the main crossroads to the northern and western parts of the island and Scala Kalloni is the tourist beach resort. We have blogged about here before so I won’t go into any more detail just some pics of the day