Swimming in Poros

We took the local bus, seen here at night, to get to Kanali beach. The bus is free and runs from the morning  (with a break during siesta hours) until after midnight.

It runs every 20 minutes and is used extensively by the locals.

A five minute walk would take us to the narrow strait that divides the two islands, Sphairia and Kalaureaia that make up the island of Poros. The locals call it the Canal. On the left of the end of the canal in this photograph is Kanali beach. 

Poros beaches are not spectacularly good as in some other islands, but we did have some nice swims here. Not really sandy, just pebbles and we would have found it very difficult without our swimming shoes which we use when we go to beaches like these.

Nice views from our loungers.

In the afternoons it would get a bit rough and that was fun

A good-sized bay but not too big

It's an organised beach, so that one can get adequate shade, and the prices were not too steep as in some other islands.

The taverna on the beach is good - nice views of the sea, and fairly good food.

One thing I liked about it is that it never got too busy so that we were able to get an umbrella in the first row - I like having uninterrupted views of the sea

It's a family beach - lots of kids having fun with their canoes








I like swimming fairly long distances, so, endless expanses of water get a bit boring.  So, I like swimming around rocks and caves, or, in our own beach getting to the net and back, which gives me a purpose. But, the best are rocks and caves, and this is why I loved swimming in Therma in Ikaria and Sarakiniko in Milos . 

What I did in Kanali was I swam up to the rocks in the picture, explored all around the rocks, went inside the shallow caves - it was such fun. Exploring, no one else around, just wonderful.

I also saw something I have not seen before. Hanging from a rock was what looked like the root of a tree. But, I am not sure, it's just I don't know what else it could have been. It is very long.  It looked like the lower part of a white giant: the hips were embedded in the rock at the top of the cliff and the two long white legs were reaching to the bottom rocks, like roots or feet.  One of them looked like it had a bent knee. I find it difficult to explain, it was such an odd thing that I had never seen before. 

On two occasions, we went to the taverna that's on the beach for lunch after our swim.

The place I really wanted to go and swim, which I had been looking forward to, and which had been my favourite place during our last trip, was this bay, the Russian bay.

It was spectacular due to the backdrop ruin of a 19th century Russian naval base. 

When Greece was occupied by the Ottoman Empire, Russia secured free shipping for its navy and this bay was one of their bases. When Russian activity declined so did the base and the abandoned buildings were left to decay.



So we went again, on our second full day. but did not stay.

They have replaced the umbrellas and the beds, and unfortunately with the new ones you hardly get any shade. The umbrellas aren't that good, but it's the beds that are the problem. They are so heavy that it's hard to move them - on the other beaches, we constantly move the beds following where the shade goes as the sun moves.  We do not like sitting in the sun and it's not good for you, so we had no choice but to call another taxi (there is no other way of getting there unless one has a car) and went to Kanali again.

It's a lovely bay, and I remember loving swimming there, but we cannot sit on a beach without shade. On the way to Kanali, we looked at the other beaches on the way, but they were all very busy, so we decided to stick to Kanali for the rest of our stay.

Poros, the Old Town

By the seafront,

half-way up these steps is the front door of the place where we were staying in Poros. If one went on ascending, one would get to the old town,

and the first building one would see is the public library.

Turning left from there, one enters the quiet part of town - narrow lanes

steps going up on my right

sea views on my left

Nice houses all along

An imposing neo-classical house

A plaque tells me that John Leigh Craxton and Lucien Freud lived and worked here from 1946 until 1947. 

They were apparently inseparable friends and colleagues during the 1940s. They met at art college in 1941 and lived together, painting and drinking together. Their friendship was marked by intense collaboration, mutual inspiration and playful communication. Despite their close bond, they never became lovers, and their friendshihp lasted until the end of the decade.

 

If you want to see Craxton's work you can go here and here

To see some of Freud's work you can go here

Narrow lanes to protect from the sun

We came across this taverna with tables on the steps 

and a nice terrace for outdoor eating. It looked good as did the food, and we were tempted to say 'let's come here sometime', but the sea has such a pull!

And all the way, steps going up

and more steps

and more....

Some of these houses are quite majestic

a small church

An incredibly small door - Ken volunteered to demonstrate

A cat - this is Greece after all!

We could not work out what this is - is it for the rain water to run down?

Another kitty.

At this point we retraced our steps to explore the other side

I like this double staircase

Just gorgeous, the way the path just winds round

Another tiny door, but in a tiny house this time

So much to look at here, so complex

I like the terrace extension on the right - it must be nice and cool sitting there

Quite often you see a house at the end of the lane, and you think 'it's a dead end', but invariably there is a turn to the right or the left

Turning left here, in this narrow lane, the seating of a bar, a bicycle on the wall

at night, and the bicycle all lit up

Turn round the corner, and there's the entrance to the bar

We'd arrived at a stretch that we walked at least six times a day, in an attempt to avoid the scorching sun by the waterfront, but also, it was nice looking at the shops

On the left is the sweetshop where I bought lots of 'spoon sweets' last time we were here. I wanted to get at least another jar this time, just for old times' sake, but they did not do those anymore.

A lovely bit of the town

I wanted us to come and eat here at some point, because it's a traditional taverna and it looked really good. But, we always ended up eating by the sea, it's just so much more enticing. This place is called The Little Alleyway

and you can see why.

All the 'cooked' food (as opposed to salads, or grilled) is on display, in the traditional way, so that you can see what there is and it helps to choose

The meat and fish market on our right

All the stuff for sale here they weave  themselves

they have two looms in the shop

Next door, a cat trying to stay cool on top of a fridge - you can see the ice creams under the glass

bourgainvillea everywhere

One evening we decided to go and investigate the blue light

and there it is, the small church with its lit up cross

walking away from the church, everything is still blue

a different view of the church during the day

We did laugh about the ingenuity of this: this small window/gap in this house has been blocked by a box of OMO - I can't remember the last time I saw OMO. Apparently, I just checked it on Google, it's still around.

Eventually we would turn right to get to the sea front, either to go for lunch, or our pre-dinner drinks, or for some other reason. There were so many paths leading down, so, this is one

Or this one,

Or this one, the side of the Archaeological Museum

Or this one,

and we would end up at the seafront.