🧭The Breath of Archipelagos: Explorer's companion
Our catamaran at Keros Bay. Surf Club Keros at the back.
Explorer’s Companion is a full collection of adaptable narratives and useful information of the best nautical, historical, cultural and natural attractions in the area.
Developed with the help of travel journalists, historians and environmentalists, it will give all the necessary information for the crew to build the narrative and connect the dots. Both our sailing crew and our local guides will base their guiding tours on this same narrative. Our aim is not to just walk our visitors through a nice lighthouse or some ancient ruins. We want to tell a fascinating story and engage with the local community.
This document will serve as a manual of our crews and tourist guides. Think of it as our“sur measure” extensive travel guide of what to see, where to eat, where to shop etc.
Nautical Routes
The purpose of the current document is to suggest alternative itineraries for the Nautical Routes tourism product that is being developed in the framework of the Meltemi Project.
As our field trips across the Aegean Sea have come to an end we have amassed enormous knowledge and experience to create a unique tourism product. In the following pages we present the 4 + 2 itineraries that were researched in detail. Nevertheless, we have collected and organised information that can be combined in multiple ways.
A three-day cruise to the islands of the Cabeirian Mysteries.
In this nautical route, we follow the breeze of Meltemi and we sail to the Mystery Islands of the Northeastern Aegean. These four islands–Samothraki(Greece),Gökçeada/Imbros(Turkey),Bozcaada/Tenedos(Turkey) and Lemnos(Greece) - formed the religious core of the most obscure mysteries of antiquity, the Cabeirian Mysteries.
Three-day cruise to the Battlefields, Cemeteries and Memorials of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli
More than a century ago, a terrible battle, one of the bloodiest of the Great War, shook the northeastern Aegean. A sea that was connecting people, cultures, ideas and religions became the theater of conflicting armies, battleships, airplanes and submarines. Thousands of young men from England to Asia and from Africa to the Ottoman Empire lost their lives and youth in the rocky shores of the Dardanelles.
We sail for a three-day cruise to the Battlefields, Cemeteries and Memorials of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli.
A five-day cruise to Myrina, Agios Efstratios, Mithymna, Assos and Babakale.
We sail from the capital of Lemnos, Myrina located in the western part of the island. As we are being disconnected from the world we are exploring the most isolated island of the Aegean, Agios Efstratios. A place once housed political prisoners nowadays became one of the“greenest” islands of Greece. We are meeting Arion, an ancient poet who was kidnapped by pirates… while following his footsteps we are approaching Mithymna. We are leaving behind Lesbos and we discover one of the most beautiful archaeological sites in Turkey, Assos. On our way back to Keros Surf Club we are passing by one of the most symbolic places of the world, Cape Baba near the village of Babakale, the westernmost point of vast Asia, the locus where one continent ends and Europe is beginning.
Five-day cruise to Sigri, Eresos, Kalloni, Mytilene, Ayvalık and Alibey/Cunda Adası
In this trip we have the chance to explore the third largest island of Greece, Lesbos. Starting from Sigri we are wandering between ottoman castles, romantic lighthouses and we are visiting the unique in the broader area museum dedicated to the petrified forest of Lesbos. We are meeting Sappho, a woman who became a symbol of independence and feminism in the past decades and continues to inspire millions of women worldwide. Local cuisine and gastronomy have a prominent place during our visit to Kalloni, where we taste the delicious sardines which are the best of Greece. In the capital of Lesbos, Mytilene we are visiting the museums and galleries of the island and we are discovering its multicultural past. Heading for Turkey and the coast of Asia Minor we are getting lost in the narrow streets of Ayvalik, one of the most picturesque towns of Turkey and we are sailing among the twenty two islands of the its nearby archipelago.
Seven-day cruise to Antipsara, Psara, Kardamyla, Oinousses, Pasas and the islets of the Karaburun Peninsula.
Tiny islands full of great stories, shelters of pirates and sailors shining like precious stones under the Aegean Sun. This route offers a unique experience…disconnection from the world. We are leaving behind the world as we know it and we sail to unexplored destinations. Some of the islands are uninhabited, some other managed to maintain a peaceful and serene way of living in our shifting time. Forget your internet connection and turn off your mobile phones for some days. This trip is about euphoria and exploration, reconciliation with nature and admiration of unspoiled landscapes. Let our quest for tranquility begin…
In this quest, we are exploring unchanged by time medieval villages and modern big cities that dominate the Aegean coast from both sides. From an idyllic valley covered with mastic trees, we are being transferred to a busy metropolis with a population of millions. It seems contradictory but this unique feeling of shifting, perpetual movement and continuous change is the main characteristic of our permanent companion and guide, the Meltemi wind.
Nautical Routes
Route 1: Sailing the Mystery Islands
Route 2: Sailing with the Ghosts of the Great War
Route 3: Surfing among poets, pirates, amazons and philosophers
Route 4: An olive branch connecting the two sides of the Aegean
Route 5: Disconnected from the World…Exploring the tiny islets of the NE Aegean Archipelago
Route 6: Across medieval villages and big cities. Linking the two sides of the Aegean
Project Outputs