Tonight a mooring buoy, the fee for which is having to eat in one of the two tavernas, depending on whether you choose a red or a white buoy.
Once the day had cooled down a bit we went for a walk ashore, climbing up the main road into the village, almost to the summit enjoying the spectacular view towards Leros with goats and bee hives everywhere. We spotted a small Taverna on the way up so promised ourselves a drink there on the way back. The owner, Nikolas, turned out to be a retired sponge diver, capable of 30 metre dives with no equipment. He told us that since Chernobyl the sponges have all but disappeared. The dark brown elephant ones are the best and softest. His wife dunked some in the water and squeezed them out for us to compare. The yellow ones you see are bleached and don’t last the many years the dark ones do. All this time Paul had been bitten by many mosquitoes and was hopping around. We did eventually manage to make a dignified and polite escape.
And of course we had to eat in Illias Taverna, a lovely starter, on the house, of a sort of soft dough mix with rich cheese on top with a garlic sauce and chopped beetroot. Ann enjoying goat stew, and me, a mediocre beef in tomato sauce.
Once the day had cooled down a bit we went for a walk ashore, climbing up the main road into the village, almost to the summit enjoying the spectacular view towards Leros with goats and bee hives everywhere. We spotted a small Taverna on the way up so promised ourselves a drink there on the way back. The owner, Nikolas, turned out to be a retired sponge diver, capable of 30 metre dives with no equipment. He told us that since Chernobyl the sponges have all but disappeared. The dark brown elephant ones are the best and softest. His wife dunked some in the water and squeezed them out for us to compare. The yellow ones you see are bleached and don’t last the many years the dark ones do. All this time Paul had been bitten by many mosquitoes and was hopping around. We did eventually manage to make a dignified and polite escape.
And of course we had to eat in Illias Taverna, a lovely starter, on the house, of a sort of soft dough mix with rich cheese on top with a garlic sauce and chopped beetroot. Ann enjoying goat stew, and me, a mediocre beef in tomato sauce.
