Leros

As we were waiting at Nisyros for our ferry to Leros, we were thoroughly entertained by the little three-wheeler vans that had to quickly unload produce from another smaller ferry. The ferry was bobbing up and down a lot and the drivers had to time their drive over the ramp or risk ending up in the sea. This guy made it ok but another one lost part of his load as the boat rocked just as he crossed the ramp.

We said goodbye to Spiros and boarded our ferry. Soon afterwards, we found out that the ferry wouldn't be docking at our expected port but at another one on the other side of Leros as the sea was too rough. This was not good news for someone who gets seasick. Sure enough, after half an hour or so, the waves picked up and soon we were being tossed up and down. It was too late to take any seasick tablets so I put on my wristbands that are supposed to help, stared at the horizon and prayed we'd stop soon. I made it, but only just. Weirdly, I felt sick for the rest of the day.

John rode his bike across the narrow part of Leros to our accommodation while I caught a taxi with the bags. We found our accommodation and I immediately liked it. Our simple apartment looked directly out over the beautiful bay. Fishing boats were moored in front of us and the sun sparkled on the crystal clear water. It was beautiful!

The view from our balcony:

Nearby were a handful of restaurants. Some of these had tables set up right on the narrow pebbly beach. We ate dinner at one a couple of times and had gorgeous views across the still water to the lit up castle on the other side of the bay.

There was a lot to see on this island. Leros has an interesting relatively recent history. From 1912 it was occupied by Italy. They recognised the significance of the huge, deep harbour at Lakki and they built a naval base there. Subsequently, Lakki is dotted with grand Italianate buildings.

Sadly, during WW2, the Germans also realised how important the harbour was, and they attacked in September 1943. For nearly two months they pummelled the island. Amazingly, there were no civilian casualties as the locals hid in caves and tunnels. The Germans finally overran the English and Italians in November and captured the island.

There is now a war museum inside some of the tunnels.

At the end of one of the tunnels were these guns. When I first noticed them they were pointing straight at me. It was a very uncomfortable feeling.

There were all sorts of old things here from English, Italian and German troops but some big sea mines looked particularly nasty.

This is an old German notebook. Remember this image. I'll come back to it later.

I had bumped into an English couple of one of my walks and they told me about a site that I wanted to see. It was an old radio transmission station from the war. I assume (I can't find much info on it) that it was set up by the allies then taken over by the Germans. The three towers were still there and the huge old building was in ruins but there was nothing to stop people from entering. (No, the tower isn't crooked - it's just the warping in the photo.)

We entered carefully as the ceiling was caving in and much of the roofing material was on the floor. It was really cool exploring a ruined building with such an interesting history.

The black and white chequered tiles that decorated the floor were still in great condition in the parts that weren't covered in roofing material. But we weren't there to see the floor. We hunted around and, in one of the last rooms, we found it. It stretched a couple of metres across a wall. It was faint but it was still there....

The eagle stands on a swastika, just like the picture on the front of the book in my earlier photo. Kind of gives you the creeps, doesn't it?

There were more amazing war relics scattered around the island. We drove up a very rough road (in a rented Hyundai i30!) to the top of a hill where there's a parabolic acoustic 'mirror' from WW2. This remarkable structure was built by the Italians. It consisted of three curved concrete walls with a trench in front of each wall. People would stand in the trenches and any sound of an approaching aircraft or ship would be reflected back to the listeners in the trench below. This gave the Italians advance warning and they would then be prepared for surprise attacks.

Not only was the structure really interesting but a herd of goats hung around it, creating awesome photo opportunities!

Nearby was some sort of a gunnery or maybe a bunker. There were bunkers and tunnels all over the island.

Inside, a steel ladder ran a long way down a deep shaft. There were flies coming up from the depths so I assume maybe a goat took one step too far and fell. I wasn't looking down into it to find out!

Another much older relic that was also involved in the war was the castle that dominated the landscape around the main port town and could be clearly seen from our side of the bay. One day I walked up there and John rode his bike. The gorgeous track I took was made of 500 steps but they were painted prettily and the views on the way up were amazing,

The castle was fun to explore with interesting nooks and crannies.

There was an important church inside the castle walls and these bells stood impressively on one wall.

I thought this notice was wonderful.

There were expansive views in all directions.

Beneath the castle, a row of restored windmills sat scenically on a low saddle where the wind was strongest.

Like most Greek islands, there were numerous idyllic beaches. Even though it's getting late in the season, most were still dotted with umbrellas. Older Italian tourists seemed to be the main holiday makers at this time of year. For the five days we were in Leros, the maximum temperature was 24 degrees and the minimum was 21. I only swam once and the water felt cool. I'm missing my swimming already!

Many harbours were picture-perfect with gorgeous fishing boats adding splashes of colour to the blue sea.

A couple of churches were standouts here. This one was perched on a rocky outcrop and only a narrow, very slippery path lead out to it.

This tiny church is known as "The Crab Church"! The story is that a crab fisherman found an icon (icons are the images of Jesus, Mary etc that they love so much here) wedged between some rocks when he was looking for crabs. Icons seem to get 'found' a lot in this country. He built a church and the icon inside was apparently painted on a crab! We found the church but sadly, the icon wasn't there. Oh well. It was a lovely spot anyway.

A rough cave formed the roof of the tiny church.

Near the castle was a church spectacularly located on a ridge with huge views.

Wait - what's that on the left of the photo? Is that a bomb???

Weirdly, there were lots of ducks on this island. They were normal domestic ducks but they lived freely on and near the sea! I did see people feeding them though, just like they feed the endless array of cats. These ones lived in a vacant block of land next to the beach where people fed the cats.

There are a lot of horses here too. I think I could count on one hand the number of horses we've seen on the islands but there are plenty of them here. I saw a photo in the war museum of a soldier on a horse and I wonder if these horses are the descendants of war horses? 

They often have these cute tassels on their browbands.

They were generally lovely looking horses.

There's a huge refugee camp on Leros. The refugees make it to Turkey where they are moved on to Greece by people smugglers. We saw a lot of people walking near the camp. There were people from the Middle East, Africa and a few from Asia. They were just walking around freely and we have no idea what's stopping them from jumping on a ferry and leaving. 

On the other hand, we met an Aussie couple one night who said they shared their ferry trip with a group of refugees. They were cordoned off from the rest of the passengers and were handcuffed to each other! There were babies there too. They said it was awful. 

The camp looked very clinical from a distance.

I've seen this so many times in Greece. That's a no parking sign above the scooter.

The food on Leros was exceptionally good. There seemed to be more outside influences here and the food has adapted accordingly. There were even vegan options, something we haven't seen anywhere else. 

One night John ordered shrimps. He only got one - look at the size of it!

There's a well-known seafood restaurant on the water with a scenic windmill in front. Unusually, the windmill sat so low it was lapped by the sea!

One night we had dinner at an ouzeria at another village. Ouzerias traditionally serve meze-style food to go with your ouzo but this one had larger meals as well. It was beautifully located right on the water's edge. John ordered scallops. We watched as the owner took a large bucket out onto the jetty that ran from the restaurant into the sea. He reached down and filled the bucket with sea water. Then he reached down again and grabbed a rope that was tied to the jetty and hung over the edge into the water. As he pulled, up came a plastic container. He opened it and pulled out John's scallops. They were being kept alive in the sea!

Ten minutes later, John's huge scallops were served. They were still in the shell and were just warmed through. They didn't smell like shellfish - they smelled like the sea. I'm not a seafood lover at all but you seriously can't get much fresher than that!

Later in the evening, another couple ordered a whole fish. The owner brought out a fish and the couple agreed to have that one. He then wandered out onto the jetty again, sat down on a milk crate and proceeded to scale and clean the fish, tossing the innards into the sea. 

We hired a scooter (of the motorbike variety) for a couple of days. It was fun getting around so easily and feeling so free. Scooters are used everywhere in the Greek islands - they're easy to use and they're small enough to squeeze down narrow laneways. Kids get taken to school on them and people carry their groceries on them, even if the shop is 200 metres down the road. Greeks don't generally walk much.

Something I noticed on Leros was the amazing things that people can do on scooters without needing to even get off. I saw a woman pull up at a water refilling station (you can't drink the tap water here - it's very salty) and, without getting off, she put her 10-litre plastic container under the tap, filled it up, put it back under her feet on her scooter and drove off. I watched as a man carrying a bag of domestic rubbish pulled up at exactly the right spot beside the skip bins where people put their rubbish. He pressed his foot onto the bin lever to open the bin, the lid opened, he threw his rubbish in then drove off. The whole process took less that five seconds. Another guy finished his drink off as he rode his scooter then expertly tossed the empty bottle into a bin without even needing to slow down or stop, let alone get off!

Leros was far more modern and westernised than all the other smaller islands we've visited. It has a population of around 6,000 people, far more than most other islands we've been on. There were many trendy, modern Greek houses, some owned by expats. You don't see a lot of 'For Sale' signs on properties on other islands but there were plenty on Leros so I think real estate is a bit of a thing, probably influenced by foreigners. 

There were quite a few villages and towns to explore and there was plenty to do and see. It was a very livable place. Having said that though, the number of locals we made friends with is zero. Maybe they're just more used to having non-Greeks around as we think quite a few foreigners live here. Or maybe the opportunities to meet locals just didn't arise. They weren't unfriendly, they were just not as engaging.  

As I was writing this in our apartment, there was a huge commotion outside. We rushed to the balcony in time to see a long line of cars driving along the main road along the bay. The lead car had a bouquet of flowers tied to the bonnet. It was a wedding! The cars were tooting and some had ribbons tied to them. We could have a lot of noisy people driving home very late tonight!

See you soon.
Heather and John