After the beautiful Poros, we decided to sail further south. To Ermioni – not an island, but a town on the Peloponnese. We had read great reviews about it on the sailors’ app Navily, and after four hours of sailing from Poros, we arrived in Ermioni.
Ermioni is built on a narrow peninsula that juts into the sea, so the town is surrounded by water on both sides: the active harbor side (north) and the quiet Mandrakia side (south).
Local secret
Islands in the Saronic Gulf like Aegina, Poros and Hydra are well known to tourists, but I had never heard of Ermioni before. It turns out to be a local ‘secret’: it’s a popular weekend destination for Athenians. So, although it’s lively, it doesn’t suffer from mass tourism.
We moored at a concrete pier, between the fishing boats, and immediately noticed that there weren’t any other sailing yachts like ours around. We stayed for two days, and no one came to collect harbor fees. In Poros, there was a harbor master at our side right away – they’re much more used to tourists there, but not in Ermioni!
Alexander the Great
Hermione (now Ermioni) was an important polis (city-state) in ancient times and participated in the Persian Wars. Remnants of the old city walls and a temple can still be found.
In antiquity, Ermioni was famous for the production of porphyra, a deep purple dye made from sea snails – extremely valuable and used for royal garments, including those worn by Alexander the Great.
Picturesque fishing village
When we went cycling, we stopped every 100 meters to take another photo.
It felt like all the perfect Greek postcard scenes were taken here. Such beautiful spots!
We also had dinner in the village, as it was such a fun and well-organized place.
Green pine forest
Further inland, the area was also very green, with beautiful views.
And in the distance, we could already see Hydra, the famous island in the Saronic Gulf – so that became our next destination!
