Earlier this year way back in July on our northward passage we paid our first visit to Moudhros and I said “I could spend the whole summer here”

Well who would’ve thought that was almost what happened!

I had made mention in a previous blog of a few chores that needed taking care of before we could move on.

Now that all is OK I can reveal the actual reason was medical. A small lesion I discovered turned out malignant and had to be removed. Luckily there was an excellent Urologist Surgeon on Lemnos. Simultaneously I contracted a virus that put me on my back for 14 days; upside was I lost a stone in weight, lol.

In effect including the couple of weeks or so Louise went back to Scotland. We / I have spent a total of 88 days on Lemnos, 78 of them in Moudhros. I still love it !

During our time here we have met some wonderful people.

I have already mentioned Pakkis and Litza.

If I had needed to return to Scotland for treatment Pakkis had offered to return from his home Chios, an island 90 miles south, on the ferry and sail our boat back down to Chios and arrange for it to be safely lifted out for the winter next to his. A similar offer made by Marcus, a German guy & his wife Issabelle, who are now in Lesvos Marina. Sophia the car hire lady who reduced her charges and gave us some free days car rental into the bargain for my trips into Myrina / Doctor.

Happily none of those kind offers were needed and on 28^th September we headed for a day out in the car to visit Plaka & Kontias in the north and a final dinner before setting off south to our eventual winter billet on Samos just under 200 miles south.

There was now no one left on the quay, Silvain & Sandrine our new French pals having set off a couple of days earlier.

The view from Lemnos northward to Samothraki ( of fragrant concubine fame, mentioned earlier)

Plaka harbour

Kontias for a coffee stop

Sunset & dinner at Giannakaros’ taverna run by three brothers & very good it was too

Ah well that’s it from Lemnos for this year. One of my favourite Greek Islands

It’s becoming a bit of a Lemnos fest this year !

Sat 13^th August. We are back in Myrina on anchor.

George , Barbara, Peter & Fiona and us heading back in the stealth dinghy after a night out with them.

Coffee and Bougatsa in the square on the way to do the laundry.

One of our favourites in Myrina “The Gramophone”

Ultimately we will be heading back down to Lesvos & then a possible meet up with Nikolas in Xios after hopefully visiting Psara but there are a few chores that may keep us in Lemnos for a wee while yet.

We also want to let Lily have a bit of time ashore – hopefully here. If that’s not possible then  back around in Moudhros. Her last paw ashore was 22nd July. Nearly a month stuck on the boat!

It is now blisteringly hot and she took the opportunity to cool off in the defrosting fridge.

It’s cool for cats !

Having hiked to Lidl & AB supermarkets one evening we went directly for dinner with our shopping bags. Now apparently this is a no-no! as it embarrassingly reminds Louise of her girl’s holiday with Karen & Carol some time back when they got sloshed and only got the afternoon’s shopping home in the early hours of the following morning. Hence the photo below.

Ouzo meze at the corner of the harbour – well you really have to No?

After 5 days in Myrina and with no vavancy on the busy quay looking likely we headed back around to Moudhros. It’s now the 18^th August.

Unfortunately our premium inside berth was gone and we were even lucky to get the last available space on the quay. We are berthed across from a lovely Greek couple from Xios, Pakkis & Litsa.

Lily’s new pals

They love Lily and it’s reciprocated. Pakkis has introduced her to raw calamari that he fishes for each day and she now goes mad for it.

He had given us some as well that Louise cooked up with chilli tomatoes and garlic – just had it for lunch washed down with ice cold retsina.

On Sat 20th Aug there was a free concert laid on by a local boy made good “Stelios Rokkos”. For those of you who would know Moudhros is about the size of Millport with only 2 tavernas and a scattering of smaller cafe bars. They were expecting an influx of 6,000.

Luckily we had booked a table at To Kyma, one of the local harbourside tavernas. The dinner that evening was unsurprisingly a limited choice affair given the volumes expected. Nevertheless it was still very good, as was the concert a sort of Greek Rock & Pop affair.

Stelios Rokkos after dinner in To Kyma

Now you may have been confused by the title of this particular blog.

The small day yacht at the back of us was called Ὑψιπύλη pronounced “Hypsipyle”.

I was quite impressed that I had managed to work it out almost correctly unaided, whooohoo!

Hypsipyle

George the owner, thought so too & he brought me a bottle of Limnos wine with the same name as a gift. He explained that she had been an ancient Princess of Limnos & I should research the story online, which I did.

This is my potted explanation:

“Having neglected her shrines Aphrodite took the hump with the women of Limnos. Placing a curse on them she caused them to “emit a foul odour”.

Not unsurprisingly the men of Limnos looked elsewhere for some less smelly birds, namely the Island of Samothrace, a wee bit north of Limnos.

Having brought the “fresh girls” back with them to Limnos as concubines, the “smellies” were less than impressed and killed off all the menfolk on the island.

Hypsipyle however secretly saved her father (King) Thoas.

She ruled Limnos and when the Argonauts visited the island, she had “Ugandan” relations with Jason and had two sons with him.

Later the women of Limnos discovered that Thoas had been saved by Hypsipyle and she was punted off as a slave to Lycurgus, King of Nemea (Another nice wine by the way).

There she became the nurse to the king’s son but let him get killed by a snake while in her care and she was chucked in jail. (What a girl !)

She is eventually freed from servitude by her two sons.”

I’m convinced the Greeks must’ve had wacky backy back in the day.

My Greek is obviously far better than my art! but what else is there to do on a blustery Sunday, lol.

Off roading again in a hire car totally unsuited to the terrrain – this was the easy bit !

It’s now the 26th September and in total we have spent 87 days in Moudhros and probably about another couple of weeks in Myrina. Its time to move on south to our winter berth on Samos. We are hoping to leave in about a week (possibly next Sunday) when the strong southerlies have passed and will try to meet up with Nikolas on Lesvos on our way down.

Thats all for now