Nafpaktos

We left Loutraki Greece at 08:15 on May 26th under sun and cloud. It took the day to motor-sail across the Gulf of Corinth past a greener part of Greece. On the west end of the Gulf, we anchored at 19:15 (N38°23.489' E021°49.858') along the castellated wall of the town of Nafpaktos with 2 other sailboats as we took in the lush vegetation, coloured homes, and the castle high up.

Port of Nafpaktos

There was very little information about the town of Nafpaktos in mainland Greece in our guidebooks but we found it to be very charming and pristine.

We dinghied into the tight fortified harbour lined with historic buildings that now serve as cafes and restaurants to the many tourists. We picked a quiet one where our table was in the open window of the ancient wall and right outside was Sea Turtle.

Sea Turtle at anchor

The next morning, we hiked through the town and through remnants of the 5 levels of the Castle of Nafpaktos.

Ancient Castle door

At the 3rd level, we paid a couple of Euros to continue up to the top. The man gave us a bamboo stick to ward off any viper snakes hiding in the rocks, but we thankfully saw none! The views were magnificent as was the structure of the castle/fortress.

Castle levels

Port below

Apparently few tourists, compared to other Greek towns, come here as it hasn't yet received the publicity of other places. These are the little places that we like to find.

Leaving Nafpaktos at 13:00 we exited the Gulf under the modern bridge and into the Ionian Sea on a clear calm day.

The old and the new

Late that afternoon, we tried to anchor at Oxia Island but the entire bay was taken up by a fish farm, so we crossed a kilometre across and anchored next to mainland Greece at 20:00 on May 27th (N38°20.112' E021°06.957'). Naughty Chanty climbing the headsail kept us entertained.

Get down!!