Day 5 - Ag. Eufimia (Αγ. Ευφημια) to Nafpaktos (Ναυπακτος), Under the Rion Bridge

Thursday, September 30
Travel time: 9 hrs, Distance: 62.1 nm

We departed Ag Eufimia at 8:30 a.m. after showers and a bakery run. The weather was warm and mostly sunny. Our British mooring neighbors, a nice couple on their second Med charter, moved their boat forward to uncross our anchors.

We motor-sailed across the Ekhinadon Sea to the Gulf of Patras averaging 8.5 knots, in 10-12 kt of wind.

Along this leg, we listened to other Tradewinds boats checking in, learned what their plans were, and decided to skip Messalonghi and push on to Nafpaktos. We noticed that, like the Ionian Islands, the land on either side of the gulf is mostly rock. Growing anything here must be difficult.

The Greeks completed a new bridge in the Gulf of Patras this year that connects the mainland to Peloponnese The bridge is at the narrow strait (Strait of Rion) between the towns of Andirrion and Patras. Therefore, the bridge is called the Rion Andirrion bridge. The Strait of Rion is also the entrance into the Gulf of Corinth. Rion is sometimes spelled Rhion.

The strait was originally protected by forts on either side of the water.

Patras is the largest city in Peloponnese and the third largest city in Greece.

The Rion suspension bridge was started in 1999 and is a five span, cable column suspension structure with a total length of 2,290 meters.

We had to call the bridge traffic controller five miles west of the bridge and then two miles west. He directed us to sail under the span between the two southernmost towers. ("Please keep three towers to your portside and one tower to starboard! Do you understand?!")

We then had a great downwind run to Nafpaktos, going 9 knots with 16-22 kt of wind. We heard one of the Tradewinds boats check in. They said that they had checked out Nafpaktos and the harbor was small, soft bottom for anchoring, and windy. They were going to skip this harbor and go further east.

But Team Sivota really wanted to go to Nafpaktos. The harbor was within old fort walls, there was a Crusade fort above town, and the city had a lot of history. We dropped sails outside the walls and motored into the harbor at 5:30 p.m. It was SO cool going into the harbor through the narrow opening between the stone walls of the fort.

Yes, the harbor was small, filled with a lot of little fishing boats. But there was space for three boats our size along the south quay. As for the winds, they were not as bad as Eufimia -- only 90 degrees at 15 kt. So our mooring was pretty good. The bottom is mud and sand and we made sure that we set our anchor well.

The harbor and village are GREAT. This is such a cool place to be. We were inside a fortified harbor that had seen boats of all kinds over the last several centuries. We were in a place of real history. The harbor was built by the Normans.

As you can see in the next set of pictures, we moored up against the fort wall. There are steps up to the top of the wall and openings in the walls for canons.

After relaxing with some Mythos, we wandered around the quay and town. Another Tradewinds boat, Bob Mayberry's Arimia, came in and moored next to us.

Nafpaktos is a very busy little village. We noticed right away that there are a LOT of young people here. All the tavernas, bars, and shops are very upscale and trendy Italian.

This is my cool picture of the day. Notice the flags.

Another sailboat came in as we were walking around town.

Kevin and Sue at the bell tower.

Pictures from the top of the village and the fort at the top of the hill. The fort is fascinating -- a great example of how people of different eras built on top of preexisting structures. The walls of the fort started in ancient times with very large stones and little or no mortar. A few courses up from the ground, the construction changes to a rubble style of rock with mortar, and that changes again further up. On top of the ancient walls, the Crusaders built their fortifications, and added the secured harbor inside the walls. The Turks of the Ottoman empire built on top of the Norman walls.

From the top fortification on the hill, there are five sets of walls that provide successive points of defense. This location is a key spot for monitoring traffic in the straits, and with a fortified harbor, it is a stronghold for controlling access in or out of the Gulf of Corinth. One can just imagine the sight from here of the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 when the Christian fleet defeated the Turkish fleet.

Laverne and Mark scoped out a small "locals" restaurant for dinner. Another late night, to bed at 12:45 a.m.