first is fine, you just sail or motor under it, into a large protected
bay. The next one is a road bridge, and the pilot book told us to tie up
or anchor and visit the port police as soon as possible to pay your dues
and find out what time the bridge will open. We anchored and picked our
way ashore through the railway station with no trains. It can't have
trains because it has no tracks ! It does have a large waiting room, a
timetable and a manned ticket office!
We headed for the port police office nearby, but it was clearly being
renovated and was empty. We found some local fishermen to ask, and they
directed us over the bridge and into the town. We found the new shiny
building, but it was locked and no-one was home. Port police with no
police! Back to the boat, we called Chalkis bridge on the radio, no
reply. A couple of hours later six large motor yachts in convoy anchored
in the bay and they raised the police on the radio, so we called in too.
We were told to present our documents to the office, so back we went
over the bridge. All 7 boats paid their bridge dues €18 for us, €50 for
the others, and all documents were scrutinised (but not stamped). The
bridge would open just before midnight and we would be called up one by
one to go through.
The bridge is about the same size as Poole bridge, but the tide worse -
and you thought there was no tide in the Med. It was still running at
about 5 knots against us at 10pm.
At midnight we were called up by name, one boat at a time, and told to
get ready, then told to go through. The streets are by now packed with
people in bars and from cars waiting to get across. As we went through
they all waved, cheered and clapped like we'd just done something really
clever !!! Can you imagine this at Poole bridge, with boats called one
by one to go through - it would take all day.
They do send rather large ships through too, so its just as well that
its regulated. The tide by this time had turned to run with us, so no
problems there.
You can tie up to the quay on either side of the bridge, with free water
(and electricity on the south side). Once through the bridge on the
north side, we tied up alongside outside a bar, providing some
entertainment as we underestimated the tidal eddy. We seem to have lost
the knack - thank goodness we don't sail in the Solent any more, we'd be
a disaster....
We stayed here for a couple of days enjoying the novelty of being in a
small city, but hearing beaches calling further north we've moved on
again to Nea Artaki. We're just about to go ashore. The tavernas lining
the bay would probably seat a minimum of 500 people, but despite it
being 8pm on a Friday evening in peak holiday time, there's barely a
soul to be seen.
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