last Greek islands - and arrived in Turkey

The last couple of weeks we’ve been exploring more Greek islands: Amorgos, Astipalya, Nisyros and Symi, each with something different to offer.   Our favorite has always been the family hikes:  a surreal hike through dense fog where stone walls and goats materialized out of the fog in Amorgos,  the steaming stinking sulfur crater of Nisyros, and the sun-drenched rock mountaintops with ruins and cypress forests in Symi.
 

Having left our days of ancient Greek temple ruins behind, we’ve been spending more time visiting monasteries and Greek orthodox churches.  In Symi, we enjoyed the festival of St. Michael, patron saint of the island and sailors, where we joined the procession around town, following the Greek orthodox priests, band and military unit, as they carried the icon and banners through town, complete with incense, holy water sprinklings and chanting.  Our favorite churches however are the tiny little ones way up in the mountains. 

The weather is still amazingly warm and sunny, and our sea dog of a girl Maggie still swims whenever we find a beach.   But despite the good weather and lack of rain, we decided to call it quits in the Greek islands and head to our winter marina in Marmaris, Turkey.  After five months of covering a lot of ground (over 5,000 miles as the crow flies), John and I were ready to stay in one place for some boat work, and the kids were dying to get to the marina, as they had heard there were a few other kids here.  Hard to believe, but despite all our attempts to find other cruising families, this is the first time we’ve met other cruising kids since Spain (and the first boy since Bermuda). 




Cliff-side monastery on Amorgos

 

 









Lighting a candle in a miniscule

mountain church on Symi

 








Goats in the fog on Amorgos

Volcanic crater on Nisyros, very impressive
despite the huge "Jane and Mark, USA"
stamped out in footprints in the mud in the
bottom

 

Maggie never misses a chance to swim





Hugo's favorite is scrambing to the top of the peak



Approaching the coast of Turkey