Thursday 18 July 2019

Big Dirty Smoke

We drove into the big city for a few days, doctors appointments and such.  I got quite excited.  A huge change from the very quiet island life, a chance to enjoy people watching on another scale.  And I love the night sounds of sirens and traffic, for a few days.

 We booked in at the Savoy Hotel in Piraeus.  Not only is it the only hotel we could find with parking facilities but it is also in our old neighbourhood so we knew the area well.




The Savoy Hotel right smack bang on the end of main street Piraeus, the huge dirty port of Athens

This is how it looked in the 70s when it first opened.  It was a luxury hotel with darkened windows and heavy curtains so you couldn't ogle the guests who, it seemed, were mostly rich Arabs.  Most of the hotel's clients now seem to be school groups of american teenagers  touring  Greece.  All they need is somewhere to plonk their packs and gather for the morning bus trip.

I didn't bother taking a photo this time.  It is a slightly downrun 3* star hotel on a noisy main road, surrounded by grimy pavements, empty shops, small coffee bars and the constant flow of city people on their way to and from somewhere to someplace.  

The parking is chained off and I had to run around to the front desk to get the key to the padlock while K tried to scrunch into the edge of a narrow street with an unbelievably narrow strip of roadway in the middle, cars parked on either side leaving just enough space for our car to pass through with side mirrors pushed in.  Heaven knows where we would have parked otherwise.  Every tiny space had a car in it, inches away from those before and behind.

Key obtained we manoeuvred gingerly from the edge of the road into the parking area which at least had plenty of free spaces.  

30 years ago we lived in a top floor apartment right behind the hotel.  It was built by a ship owner whose family lived on the two first floors.  In its day it was the latest in construction, anti-seismic we were told after surviving the 6.6 richter earthquake in 1981.  We lived on the top floor and the building swayed backwards and forwards.  Tins fell out of cupboards and our 6 month old baby girl was not hurt thank goodness by books which fell from a shelf above into her cot but not on top of her.

Now the building is desicrated with graffiti and trash blowing round the stoop .  The street is shaded by trees which have been planted on the footpath.  It is green and leafy with shade from the sun but still not a place you want to linger.

On the main road above the same unkempt elderly woman, it seems to me, sits on a step and feeds the pigeons, surrounded by bowls of food and water for the street dogs and cats. 

Gone are the drycleaners, the little grocery store, the toy shop and even the police station has moved elsewhere.

There is a national hospital at the end of the next road down, so plenty of chemist shops, quick coffee shops and buses which will take you wherever you need to go.  





22 comments:

  1. We stayed in a dinky little hotel there in 2014....more like a hole in the wall. Hotel Lilia. Built in what seemed like an almost perpendicular tiny street - had the strangest lift....walk in one way, turn 45° and walk out in a different direction. Loads of marine paintings and memorabilia.. Walked round the 'harbour' people watching enjoying seeing people buying fish straight from tiny little boats.....a fun overnight stay before a cruise.
    I 'hate' it when my good memories are soured. Here's hoping your good ones weren't tainted too much

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    1. I looked up the hotel. At least you were in a good part of town and it is probably still much the same. It's the port and the area around it that is rundown and downright dirty. Some of the hotels there are very dodgy. I've stayed in a few on my way to and fro from the airport, when I was younger and braver. Wouldn't stay there now!!!
      As we got out of our old neighborhood things were slightly brighter. Wouldn't want to live there now though

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  2. How sad to see such a downward slide in an area that used to be so good to live in. It is much the same in the town where I grew up. Deprivation and a rise in teenage knife crime.

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    1. A bit of a disappointment. I did enjoy living there once.

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  3. Oh how sad....

    Makes you more appreciate, your island home!!!

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    1. I think this time it has even put me off my enjoyment of short city breaks. Not worth the dirt and disruption though there are still nice parts of the city so I shouldn't judge it all by this district

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  4. Very different from your quiet life on the island.

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    1. Very very different but I like a little hustle and bustle now and again...just not for long

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  5. It’s sad to see buildings get run down. But when people are struggling to put food on the table. Spending money on buildings just isn’t possible. And as for going away, even for a night, no way

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    1. It shows the state of the economy. The run down business areas, especially where you knew there was once lines of up class shops, now closed. And the long time all the road construction is taking....years!

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  6. Glad you managed to get a park. The Savoy sounds very grand.

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    1. I know , you hear the name 'Savoy' and expect something grand....which it was a long time ago

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  7. This, sadly, sounds like most hotels in most towns and cities. It's not the state of the hotel itself that worries me, but all the surrounding signs of decay and deprivation. I can't see things getting better too soon.

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    1. It's going to take a long time before anything changes here. The economy needs a boost first of all to encourage all those shops to reopen and just cheap clothes shops and 1 euro shops which seem to be most popular.
      At least it seems to be only around the harbour and main Street but that's only what any visitor sees

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  8. I have often heard it said that you should never go back. Its good to have a city break for shopping, watching a rock band or visiting the local attractions then going back to the sanctuary of your lovely island. I miss the facilities and amenities living in the countryside but I couldn't live in a town or city again. Maybe a nice village with a pub, public transport and shops, library and a community centre.

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    1. I always wanted a flat 'in town' so I could go in for shopping, theatre and the again. Alas 'verge of bankruptcy and grexit' occured.
      I think I'm over that. I won't be going back to Athens or Piraeus I hope unless passing on the outskirts on the way to the airport

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    2. That was supposed to be 'arts'. But you probably guessed that!

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  9. That's kinda sad the hotel isn't what it use to be. No doubt competition from other establishments probably didn't help either.

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    1. You'd think they could have uplifted the place floor by floor...it has 7 of them. But the surroundings, well, not much they can there, though the parking lot was a bit of a rubbish tip. They could clean around their own area, plant some shrubs...or something

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  10. Are you ok in Poros? No earthquake?

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    1. Thank goodness we were back home. I do not like sudden shakes!!! We felt it quite strongly on Poros but not enough to do any damage. Thanks Sol

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    2. Good to hear you are all safe!

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