LA NEGRA

9. April 2013

This morning I woke up from a giant honking outside my window.. I surely did wake up quick. Axel was already awake and had just loosened the lines to leave Psara behind and set sails towards Chios and Nisos Oinoussa. We had a lovely sail with a nice wind and a rather flat sea. And we did good speed, so pretty much just how sailing should be. We passed the north tip of Chios and continued towards Oinoussa, a tiny little island between Chios and Turkey. When I first saw the village from the sea it made me wanna be an painter in the 20ies, sitting on the opposite peninsula, painting the village with broad strokes in pastel colors.

As beautiful as it is, it is a really sad little island. 1974 when the turks invaded Cyprus the better part of the people living here fled to other islands, farther away from Turkey. Since Oinoussa is so close to Turkey people where worried they would invade their island as well. The town is totally dilapidated and most hoses are just slowly turning into sand and dust. Back in the days this used to be a an important island for the greek shipping companies, and the richest greek shipping magnate of them all was born and raised here. As a matter of fact, the island is sometimes called "The Island of Captains" and it has a small marine museum that unfortunately was closed today. The last years some people have moved back and are renovating some houses, but it seems like very expensive, complicated and sometimes impossible projects. But, it is nice to see some well painted, well taken care of houses in between the ruins of the others. It really creates an interesting contrast.
Supposedly the population is around 500 persons in low season but grows to about 3000 during summer. And I can really understand why people want to come here for their vacation. There is nothing touristy what so ever about the place, and as run down as it is, it still has a lovely colonial flair with its cubic houses, stacked on top of each other along the steep slopes, painted in ice cream colours. If you cant find peace and quiet here, I don't know where to go.

If the population is around 500 persons, I am sure there are 5000 cats here. Where ever you go and where ever you look, there is pair of green, light blue or turquoise cat eyes looking at you. And I can fully understand that this is cat paradise. Narrow alleys, houses falling apart, and plenty of sunny spots with beautiful views over the sea.

K.