Saturday afternoon, September 30, we arrived in Lakki on Leros Island in the Greek Dodecanese Islands. We had traveled 127 miles since Mykonos and had spent the majority of our time motorsailing. Most of our transit we had had little wind, and it often came from just off our nose. These islands, the Dodecanese, were located off the coastline of Turkey, and they derived their name from the time of the Ottoman Empire when 12 of the 18 islands (dodeka means 12 in Greek) were granted special privileges for having willingly submitted to the Ottomans. In 1912, the Italians ousted the Turks, and in 1948 these islands were finally united with Greece.
We spent two weeks in the Dodecanese Islands before arriving in Marmaris, Turkey. We spent our first week enjoying the islands of Leros, Lipsi, and Arki. These islands had been recommended to us as �off the beaten tourist islands� where we could enjoy traditional Greek life; they definitely met our criteria, especially Leros and Lipsi. Leros was a medium-sized island with many bays and coves. We anchored in Lakki Bay, a huge protected natural harbor. This harbor had been the principal naval base for the Italians in the eastern Mediterranean and therefore the scene of much fighting and bombing during World War II. Mussolini had built the town of Lakki into a Fascist showpiece with wide boulevards and Art Deco architecture. The islands of Lipsi and Arki, just north of Leros, were much smaller in size than Leros. Lepsi was charming with a fair amount of cultivation. Arki was rocky consisting of only a very small settlement with a couple of tavernas. |
