Millionaires’ idyllic island

We are making our way south through the Eastern Aegean Sea, more or less in a straight line down from Lesbos, via Chios, Patmos, and some smaller islands in between, to Kos.

At the end of one sailing day, the anchorage we planned to stay at on Chios was not as sheltered as we were hoping. So we headed over to a small island nearby – Oinoussa. As we came closer to the main town Mandraki we saw a few super yachts in the bay. We read in the guidebook that the island is home to some of Greece’s wealthiest shipping magnates. They sort of own and run the island themselves.

We had a lovely couple of days there, tied to the town quay. The town is small and friendly and clearly well maintained. Max had a great chat with the port authority official, who insisted that we did not pay any mooring fees. He asked us to see it as a gift from him because he was expecting his first baby to be born any minute. He asked us to spend our money on sweets for our kids instead. So we did and off course we had ice creams too!

Bianca Kindler