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Published: July 21st 2023
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When we look at the calendar, we realized that we were not in the town of Kalamata, Greece that long, but we definitely enjoyed this stop and were glad to give 2 full days to enjoying where we were. When you first arrive at a marina you have to check in with your passports, boat documents and boat insurance (and of course a credit card is handy too!) After that as we are not citizens of the EU as well as have a boat that is foreign flagged, we have to check into each port in Greece. When we first arrived in the country in Symi, we had to get a document called a Constituto. This we are to present in each port that we arrive in and have it stamped. Some of the smaller villages do not have a Coast Guard, but those that do require you to do so. We were told at the marina office that we could wait until the next day to check in with the Coast Guard so things are somewhat laid back which is nice.
We had arrived about 4:30pm so after a few hours of rest and settling in we
Our Next Stop - Lunch!
this means we don't need to cook tonight took our evening wander into town when it is the cooler part of the day. The direction we walked after leaving the marina did not give us the best impression. It seemed that many of the buildings had not seen any maintenance in a while and were looking “tired”. We know that the marina here in Kalamata is one that is quite popular with “live-aboard” cruisers and we were somewhat surprised by our first impression as it didn’t look like it was much of a town. We decided we were quite tired from the crossing from our last anchorage as it had been 12 hours, so we are hoping that tomorrow things would look better.
In the evening I did some research to find out what there was to see here in Kalamata and one of the places I wanted to check out was a park nearby that was built where an old railroad line had been. It sounded interesting and was not too far from where we first had to go, the Coast Guard. Everyone there was very pleasant and we have found that so far at every station we have stopped at in Greece. The only down
side is that you have to check both in and out of a port. Fortunately, they do allow you to do it within a 24-hour period so will have to come back in the evening before we make an early departure.
The first full day in Kalamata turned out to be a full one. Bob wanted to check on a couple of things before it got too hot in the morning so he got into the boat lazarette (and as he says he does boat yoga in there) so he could check the autopilot which was good as a few things needed to be tightened. He also checked on the fan for the engine compartment as it was making a lot of noise so he made a couple of adjustments and it was better. As Bob says, if you aren’t moving, things don’t break, but when you move, you need to keep checking things over to be sure all is well.
After getting our official paperwork done, we decided to stop for lunch and found a lovely place near the Coast Guard which was still on the way to the park. On hot days we like to have
a meal out so we don’t have to cook in the evening which makes the boat hotter than it already is.
We enjoyed our walk through the park with the trains and were impressed that many were open so kids (of all ages) could climb up into them. A few of the cars we saw were being used by kids’ groups (we surmised that from the kid’s artwork on the windows) and one that had kids’ projects about the environment. It was nice to see it well used by walkers, joggers and bicycle riders. At one end of the park there was a large area that had what looked like a stage and seating for shows. It is nice to see when towns provide green space for their residents and seeing them well used.
We had asked at the marina office about getting diesel and found you have to order it to be delivered to the marina. We tried to book it for the first full day, but they couldn’t deliver until the 2
nd day. Here they do not have a fuel dock in the marina so a tanker truck comes to the marina. It seems to work
out well and they were very timely with their arrival so it worked out great.
We did see that there were numerous historic sites near Kalamata, but with the diesel not being delivered until 10AM we decided it wasn’t worth trying to rent a car for just the later part of the day. It worked out fine as we decided to catch a local bus to the castle as it is located at the far end of the town. We figured we’d take a bus one way and walk back. By using the bus, it also takes us to different areas of the town that we would not walk to so gives us a little more of an overview of an area.
When we got off the bus, we quickly found that the castle was almost non-existent now and was told it really wasn’t worth going up to it. As the weather is still quite hot, we took that advice and decided to just meander through the streets turning wherever it looked interesting (and if there was shade that made our decision of which way to turn!) While doing this we found numerous roads that have been now
blocked off and made into pedestrian ways. Many lovely shops and restaurants lined these streets as well as numerous buildings that we could see were still being revitalized. There was one area where it was very obvious to see the improvements that were being made while still trying to keep some of the character and charm of the old. In these places were numerous businesses of professionals that will help to keep the area alive. We hope this project works well – it appears they are off to a good start. We also were able to visit two lovely churches that were open to see.
We typically need to run to the grocery store even though it seems that we are have plenty of food on the boat. Fruits and vegetables are a stable that we always are looking for as well as the basics of yogurt and eggs. One thing that was definitely added to the list here was kalamata olives! Bob found a place to get them so he made sure he got some to enjoy on the boat. Many times Bob speed eats olives, but this time I did notice that he was careful to dole
them out slowly so he could enjoy them over more days.
The night before leaving we had to make it back to the Coast Guard again to officially check out of the port as we were leaving in the morning before their office opened. That was completed as well as turning in our key to the showers/toilets in order to get our deposit back so we were ready to head off early tomorrow to get closer to our goal this year of getting to Cartagena, Spain.
An enjoyable couple of days in Kalamata was just the ticket as we find that by stopping for a couple of days some place makes it feel more like the type of travel we enjoy When we push each day to move farther toward our goal each day, we feel more like delivery captains that move as quickly as they can between their beginning and ending point. We know that we still have until mid-August before our 90 days is up but with throwing in the unpredictability of weather, we figure we need to keep pushing westward with hopefully a few breaks such as this one in Kalamata.
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