Υαμας (yammas) ! Today I am writing a blog about my families trip to the Sendoukia Pirate Graves when we went on holiday. In medieval times, the island of Skopelos was invaded by pirates, the head pirate being Hayreddin Barbarossa. Barbarossa and his crew were Turkish, belonging to the Ottoman Navy. Unfortunately for him, the locals in Skopelos were able to defend themselves and some of his crew died. A few dead pirates were buried in graves on Mount Karia in Sendoukia. However, Barbarossa lived until 1546 (67-68 years old) dying in Istanbul. According to the legend, along with the pirates, 12 chests of gold were buried and the pirate ghosts protect them.
To get there we drove on a road until there was a turning with a sign for Sendoukia which we pulled into. Then we drove down that road, past some sort of construction/quarry area, onto a dirt road, until we came to a house. At that point, there was some confusion on whether to a) go through the gates of the house (not a wise idea, there was a guard dog) b) go past the house or c) back up down the road. We chose option c.
Now, before I go on, I will tell you that the entrance was supposed to be marked with red blobs. So, like I said, we backed up down the road. But then, halfway down the road just before the quarry thing, Jo (my sister) saw a tiny red blob on a rock. So we drove forward a bit and parked on the beginning of the dirt track. We then saw a big white arrow spray painted on a tree, pointing towards a dirt path. So we decided to walk down it. We followed the path for quite some time until there was a turning through some leaves on our right. We went through the leaves and onto a rocky surface littered with sheep/lamb droppings. We turned right and walked on. Again, we walked on the rocks for quite some time until there, right in front of our eyes, were the pirate graves.
The graves were fascinating, and pretty cool. There were these three perfectly carved holes in the ground with giant boulders on top with about a half a metre opening into the holes themselves. We stayed there for a bit, taking photos and whatnot, until we walked back to the car. P.S. that’s my dad in the grave, not a pirate! The view from the top was pretty amazing too…
