Now it’s time to move on – conditions look good for the next few days and I’m thinking about heading to Crotone in Italy, the former home of Milon of Croton (Milon lived in the sixth century BC and was the outstanding athlete – and military leader – of his time and multiple Olympic champion). To do this, I’m trying to trace the route from Olympia to Crotone, assuming they sailed directly across back then! So I choose Argostoli on the island of Kefalonia as my last stop in Greece, clear customs here and prepare for the relatively long crossing on a sea that will be different from the Aegean and which I also don’t know yet…
Late in the evening at the harbour, I meet Dimitris and Maria’s family with their son Nicky and daughter-in-law Gemy – Dimitris and Maria are originally from here, but have made their careers in the USA and return regularly to their home island. They are extremely well-educated, recognised the name of my boat (!) and actively looked for me on the quay to find out more about this Swiss-flagged vessel and its skipper … It is encounters like these that I value so much. And they remain in my memory precisely because we are able to look beyond the local and the contemporary together.