Vonitsa - Ionians mainland

Off the ferry at the Greek mainland to rent our 7th rental car - Avis this time.... and drive down to Vonitsa, adjacent to the Ionian Islands, where Hilary and Alan keep their boat.  This is another one of the beautiful sailing areas of Greece.

Years back, Mark Anthony had a canal dug from the mainland to a large inland lake so that CleoPatra's ship could enter and anchor in nice flat fresh water. We passed this on our drive down to the island of Lefkos, which is a big base for charter boats, sailing around the many islands in the Ionian Sea.

We took a boat day trip out of Nidri and saw many sights. It  reminded us of the Virgin Islands with many islands all situated in a large protected bay area, great for sailing, evident by the large number of charter companies based here.

The boat we were on managed to drive into, and beach, in a large cave - they say the German's hid 2 submarines in there during WW2.

A couple of other nice "beach"stops (beach is a relative term coming from Bermuda, as here it means shingles and pebbles) where the water was so clear

and then a nice stop for a Greek salad and a beer.

After lunch we stopped at the island of Skorpios, the private island of the Onassis family with the infamous beach where Jackie Kennedy was photographed naked - I swam (but kept my bikini on!!).  This island is now leased to a Russian billionaire.

We visited a nice waterfall just outside of Nidri - no Niagra but very beautiful and no doubt enhanced by the recent storm last weekend - as usually it is very dry in the summer.

And of course dinner out each night, sampling the Greek specialities (in Nidri and Prevesa).