Small harbor with a huge format

38° 50′ 17.3472” N 24° 33′ 12.6972” E
October 11th 2021
Have you tried to call at Linaria on the Greek island of Skyros? You should try.

Every evening at 20.30 a large ferry slides into its berth and announces with a roar from its ship’s horn, that it has arrived. Immediately afterwards, the tones of Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra, is heard with as loud a sound as the ferry, answered from shore from loudspeakers placed on a mountainside.

This is how it has sounded every night for 20 years. The ferry is honking, the city is welcoming. With pompous, loud music. Like it was a lunar landing directed by Stanley Kubrick.

The citizens of Skyros are proud of their ferry. “We bought it ourselves,” says one Greek. “We all pay for it. Without a daily connection to the mainland, our island cannot function.”

Linaria is a very small port with room for just 12 guest boats, but we feel more welcome than usual. The harbor master sails to meet us, attaches his rubber boat to our bow and drags us safely to the quay, where he gives us a Danish-language guide to the harbor, tells about the harbor’s book exchange scheme and about washing machine, dryer and “disco shower”, where you can listen to Greek pop music around the clock while showering in cold water.

A port does not have to be large to have format.