Poros - the sea front

Last week we spent 5 days on the island of Poros. I say island, but in fact, Poros consists of two islands: Sphairia, the southern part, which is of volcanic origin and where today's town is located. And Kalaureia, the northern and much larger part. 

A bridge connects the two islands over an extremely narrow strait.

We stayed in the main town, Poros. The town is pretty but in a quiet way, without the drama and flamboyance of some of the other Greek islands. There were quite a lot of foreign tourists but it's a place where predominantly, Greek people go on holiday.

The clocktower dominates the sea front.

The island is separated from the Peloponnese by a 100m wide sea channel, with the town of Galatas on the mainland across the water. 

The small boats that continually journey to and fro, get across in five minutes.

Galatas, across the water, looks wonderful at night.

There are so many boats, small, large, yachts, all around the very long waterfront.

One day as we were looking out of hotel window we saw this yacht, Bilmar, leaving the harbour. Bilmar is moored in the marina near our apartment in Athens. Quite a coincidence.

I was talking to someone the other day, who has just got her sailing certificate. She was saying that at the sailing school they were told that Poros is a heaven for sailing, partly because there is hardly any wind there. 

It's wonderful sitting on the waterfront looking at all the boats

There is constant traffic of boats going up and down and sometimes the boats are so big that they seem to be part of the land.

and sometimes they're huge

There are some magnificent neo-classical buildings in the town

and some are beautifully lit up at night.

There is a number of churches 

we went inside this one

The writing explaining who each saint is, is in Byzantine writing, and some of it I could not understand

There was a fire in this one, and we could not go inside

I noticed that all the churches here have the blue lit up cross

One day we saw this cross outside a building and went to investigate

The forecourt of a church that has been transformed into the interior of a church (the church door was locked)

Along the sea front, there are a number of squares that are full of cafeterias and restaurants where you can sit and look out at the sea  - this is my favourite, loved sitting here, both in the square itself, which is in the distance in this photograph, and on the waterfront bit

and here's another one. 

The town is fairly quiet during the day. There are obviously people around, going around their business, shopping, wandering around or sitting in the many cafes. But, most of the people on holiday are on the beaches and then they quite often have lunch at the tavernas by the sea.

But, it's in the evenings that it all comes to life with people coming out, wandering along the sea front

and the boats look so pretty, and the Peloponnese across the water is all lit up

Too many photos of the boats, I know. I just can't get enough of them.

And I love when they sometimes have a blue light in the water and the way it reflects all around the boat, turning the sea blue

People sit in bars and cafeterias

and the town is beautifully lit up

Finally, this is the free bus that runs every 20 minutes  and takes you all around the town. It runs all day until past midnight.