City was built around fishing and shipping trade from all points in the east. Like Santorini it has been conquered by many empires all the way back to the Venetians.
Our guide Nektarios ( a truly Greek name) had us walk from the pier to our bus. The bus ride took us to a farm winery. Impressive since it sits on only 10 acres. The tasting was well done describing the process of making wine and the science behind it. We tried a white, a rose and a red and to our surprise we both liked the rose the best!
Back on the bus to go back thru the narrow roads into the old city. The narrow streets, according to Nektarios, were built intentionally to thwart attackers mainly pirates. The locals could escape easily because they knew the layout and any battles were fought in bottle necks.
Our guide also described the construction of the houses which all were white (to reflect the heat) and had rounded corners to allow wind to pass without whistling and to stop wind damage.
We now had free time to wander about shopping and stopping for lunch. Elkes lunch was a mountain of fried anchovies with Greek salad. They were wonderfully crisp, not salty and did not have the fishy taste that we had expected.
Returning on the tender (life boat) was an exciting trip. Very rocky (Elke was not happy) 3 foot waves and a very strong wind.
Dinner was at Giovannis Italian restaurant. Elke had sauteed Octopus and I had Gnocchi in Gorgonzola sauce.
