After a very pleasant week on Leros, we headed off to little Lipsi on the ferry called Dodekanisos Pride.
It only took 40 minutes. The islands are very close. The ferry can take about 4 cars and and about 8 motorcycles as well as lots of walk-on passengers. It is a daily ferry service between Kalymnos, Leros, Lipsi and Patras so it carries a lot of small freight for local businesses.
The crew are very quick, the drawbridge hits the ground even before the ropes are tied off.
We've learnt that foot passengers think they have right of way (they probably do) so despite the ferry staff instructing us to drive forward, turn around, back up, go, go, go, go ........ they won't get out of your way and they pay absolutely no attention to the ferry staff. Really weird!
Welcome to little Lipsi, an island with practically no natural resources, little tourism but a pretty harbour and village with a few restaurants and some nice beaches.
Some of the restaurants are called ouzorias. They chiefly sell ouzo and boiled, dried octopus, the staples of this community that has to import everything else - water, electricity, food!
Everything has had a coat of paint for the summer tourist season.
But some haven't made it as far as the water yet.
This is the bakery, by far the most successful, enterprising and cashed-up business in town. The locals refer to it as "The New Bakery", but it is 8 years old. The old bakery is up the hill and round the back of the tiny village. This one is front and centre in the port.
The people of Lipsi seem to have decided to have a go at tourism and there is a lot of new accommodation. Our studio was one of three new units built atop an older building that is currently a restaurant, but a singularly unpopular one. The agent through whom we booked this studio, double booked us and instead of 6 days here, we had to move to another building across the road for our second 3 days.
Unfortunately the second apartment was in a building that was continually buffetted by the wind, making it somewhat unpleasant. In fact, escaping the wind was our primary occupation in Lipsi and determined which beach you would go to and the hours you could use it.
We found that there were only two beaches we could enjoy and that this one, with the tavern Dalaila, was our preference. But there is not much beach area and it was very popular, so I was happy to sit in the taverna and read.
It was a gay, multicoloured place and we got better WiFi access here than anywhere else.
The second beach also had a taverna, but the chairs were incredibly uncomfortable and their was very little shade on the beach. And no WiFi which was important because we had no internet at either of our apartments.
People would arrive at this beach on foot (6 km from town), by motor cycle or car very early to secure a place for the day, under the trees. Others would arrive by bus at about 9.30 to find all of the best, shady spots gone. The colour of the water was that glorious azure blue with a sandy bottom.
Meet Giovanni and Ivan from Italy. They were our neighbours at our first apartment and we met most nights to eat together. Giovanni has been coming to Lipsi for many years and had great stories for us , about the islands. There are many Italian tourists here and Italian is the second language of the locals, with English being the third.
On our last day, Ivan and Giovanni came with us to the beach of the colourful taverna Dalaila.
Next stop, Patmos.
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