SAGHIADA
The trip across
to Sagdiada was everything you could ask for. The boat behaved perfectly, catching
the light winds and slight swell with ease. Although the information we had
suggested the small marina could be too shallow, we had no problems. It was
surprisingly empty, making it a pleasure to be in.
The restaurants
had a good range of seafood on offer and after an excellent meal we settled in
for a comfortable night in the marina.
Next morning we
set off south for Sivota, just past the ports of Igoumenitsa and Plataria.
SIVOTA
Sivota is one of
our favourite places to stop at on the mainland. The local authority has made an enormous effort to improve
the facilities and environment for visiting boats. There is power and water
available for an incredibly low charge (8E) and every effort has been made to
welcome visitors to the port. Shops are just starting to gear up for the summer
crowds so although it was still a little quiet, the atmosphere felt amazing. It
seemed as though the shops and houses had all had a new coat of paint, flowers
were everywhere and the locals were happily getting everything ready.
A large flotilla
of charter boats came into port as we did making the wharf fairly crowded with
novice sailors from all over. Thank goodness the night was relatively quiet
with most of the music and merriment finishing by about midnight.
We needed to pick
up our Transit Log and register our entrance to Greek waters in Igoumenitsa so
we decided to hire a car and do some touring around the countryside as well.
Last year we’d heard about an amazing café called Katies Cakes some 20 kms
inland. This worked out perfectly as we would also be picking up our hire car
there, so after a short bus trip the three of us arrived in Perdika.
Sadly the café was not yet open for the
season but we found an equally brilliant restaurant on the square and as usual
struck up an interesting conversation with the young owner regarding every
aspect of Greek politics and the sad state of the economy.
 |
| Mega Amos Bay |
Our drive back
included a stop at Mega Amos, a most idyllic beach cove just north of Sivota.
 |
| Overlooking the beach |
The beach at Mega Amos is surrounded by a couple of family restaurants that run the beach chairs and provide great service. During the height of summer there are usually plenty of German and northern European scantily clad tourists sunbaking the shallows.
In May it's fairly empty but beautiful.
 |
| Petri enjoying the sun at Mega Amos |
It was hard to leave the peacefulness of the bay but we needed to fill up with provisions so back we drove to Sivota.
Our next stop was Igoumenitsa where we needed to lodge our boat papers with the Port Police and the Customs office.
