Athens By Night

 You don't have to drink expensive cocktails at the rooftop bar of a 5 Star Hotel to enjoy the lights and sights of an Athens night

These are photos taken by grandson Jamie from the cafeteria at the Athens Metro Mall and the streets below

City lights

The Parthenon atop the Acropolis

It never fails to take my breath away

You turn a corner, lift your eyes

And there is the Parthenon

Towering above city apartments and the noisy bustle of Athens streets

Another view of the city and there, standing out as it has done for centuries, the Acropolis and Parthenon

Even a busy avenue leading into Athens centre has a certain beauty

Clean Up

 This ia a tale about rubbish dumping, fly tipping, which happens all over the 'civilised' world.  

Up here in the wop-wops we have 2 lots of big bins in a Central position for general rubbish and recycling. 

The bins have a  'clear' space beside them and despite the big sign advising us not to leave general waste there are always piles of old furniture, toilet bowls, bags of hardened cement, recently a dog house, lumber, rubble and loads of garden rubbish.  When the pile gets too high locals start complaining and there's a big campaign by the council to remove it all. 

The last pile of rubbish

The Council is conducting a major clean-up operation.  Big trucks are brought in to carry away waste from all over the island

This was the result

Clear and clean

The general rubbish is collected daily, the recycling (blue bin) a couple of times a week

Photos were posted all over Facebook, congratulations given from residents, close by and far-flung 

24 hours later

Another load had been dumped

Council members say they know who it is but can't prove it. There are rumours of cameras to be placed on trees nearby

There is a problem

How do you get rid of this rubbish?  We have been guilty of leaving things next to the bins and hoping someone will take a shine to our old chair, cabinet and take it home.  K is always on the lookout for 'treasures' 

Old white appliances are collected by several people who recycle them for money. Other household items will be taken away if they can be closed up neatly in big black bags. What about an old mattress, that broken dog house or toilet bowl.  The council tells us to phone them and they'll arrange removal. That can take months and a series of increasingly angry phone calls. No one wants this stuff hanging around their yards

For years there was a place on the far side of the island, miles away from 'civilisation', where council trucks and local carriers took all this junk. The EU didn't like this solution and the council was forced to close it down

Our rubbish and recycling trucks take their loads to Athens to empty them

Everyone will return to dumping stuff around the bins again. Once there's a nice pile maybe I'll even leave a few things, just in case someone else wants them. There's no other solution. 

Bettany

 For those of you who don't know her, Bettany Hughes is an English  broadcaster and author who specialises in classical history. She has presented more than 50 television series on ancient history and archeology at sites all over the world . She's enthusiastic, knowledgeable, decidedly luscious and a few days ago she was on Poros

The always elegant  Bettany and her film crew are recording a new History and Adventure series. Poros will be part of it. 

And that's about all I know

When I find out more then so will you

There she is posing on the waterfront

And with our friends Meleti and Nektaria who run the popular Monastery Café 

A plug for this cafeteria underneath the Monastery. They serve homemade sweets and cakes under the shade of a huge Plane tree

A Bit Shaky

 Time to start the procedure to get our new ID, one of those newfangled digital cards.    Lucky dear daughter Elli is an accountant. She arranged online payment and filled in online details. Accountants now have a lot of extra work dealing with government red tape.  

I was quite nervous about the whole procedure. You know, Police, Authority.  Ridiculous really.  The young man took my old ID card, we had already paid the 10,50 euros next door at the accountants. He took my fingerprints, digitally, no ink involved, took my photo. There was a slight problem with the English translation of my name. On my old ID I was Linta Chrisi instead of Linda Creasy. He asked me if I wanted to correct it on the new card. We chewed over it for a minute or 2, he told me it would need more paperwork. I decided I hadn't had any problems in the last 45 years so I might as well remain Linta. 

He was very friendly and efficient but I was still a little rattled. He asked me a 'security question'. What was the name of my 2nd child. Got that!  Birth date? I froze. Sorry Danae. 

K was sitting outside and yelled out the answer. Phew. A bit embarrassing but I blamed it on my jitters. 

New IDs will be ready in  a week. I don't like Police Stations. They're like Doctors' offices, stress me out and make my blood pressure rise. I'll have to go and sign for it and then I'll be done with them, buckle my seat belt, give way at pedestrian crossings and be a law abiding citizen. Spit spit spit and turn me all around. 

I felt myself relax as we walked out and negotiated the steep steps, very carefully. I'm OK going up steps, it's the coming down that needs care so I don't come down suddenly in a rush and a heap. 

Elli's office is next door so we went in to see her and laugh at my collywobbles. 

On the wall of her office

This monstrosity 

WHERE IS NEW ZEALAND??? 

The world ends at Australia 

And this curiosity 

They have a huge clay pot in their office, a container for olive oil. It looks as though it would hold 500 litres, maybe more 

The office was once a residence. The olive oil jar is empty

The narrow back street on the way up to the Police Station

Butchers shop on the left

The Police Station

I needed a glass of wine after all that! 

Our favourite café 

Mattie, Me and Jan

Adieu

Kosta's little fishing boat is sold and gone.  

Goodbye my love goodbye 

The engine purrs, son in law Kyriakos unties the lines, for the last short trip across the strait from Poros to the Greek mainland. 

The boat is now on the island of Chios.  Chios is the 5th largest Greek island, way over to the east, very close to Turkey.  It's a long way from Poros

The new owner is an engineer in the merchant navy, spends most of the year at sea.  He saw the boat advertised on the web, saw the photos and made up his mind immediately that he wanted it.  He sent a deposit and arrived on Poros a few weeks later, paid the rest and he still hadn't seen the boat.  

We took him round the offices, Harbour Police and Accountants, and the deal was sealed and signed before he stepped foot on deck.

K and he conducted many long telephone conversations before the transaction was finalised, established goodwill, trust.    While he was still away on the high seas his wife made transfers, arranged for official papers.  When we all finally met we became good friends

Chios is a long journey which our little boat couldn't make on its own.  A big lorry picked up the boat and loaded it on board.  The truck went to Piraeus where the new owner was waiting and they all sailed on the overnight ferry to Chios.

It was off loaded there at a ship yard for inspection, repainting and cleaning.  The owner didn't get to actually sail it and go fishing before he was off again on another overseas trip.   He will return.  This is his dream he says to retire and spend his days fishing.  Just like K

 Bye Danae

Now renamed Tamara

The boat will not be staying on Chios.  It's final home will be the small island of Oinousses, about an hours sailing from Chios.

Oinousses is described on Wiki as a serene cluster of small islets off the coast of Chios, famed as the 'Island of shipowners'.  It is popular for its quiet beaches and low key holidays.

Visitors!!

 Extended family from the Netherlands arrived for a few days holiday.  Europeans are still travelling, by air or car or train and boat.  The yacht harbour is filling up and groups of pink foreigners roam in shorts and Tshirts, quickly turning red as beets. 

Jesca, and her husband with the difficult dutch name, hired e-bikes and toured the island, 

Going swimming along the way

Jesca was another local alien back in the 80s, married to a cousin of Ks back then

On their bike tour she took a couple of photos which I thought I'd post here. They're much sharper than mine

Looking back towards the main town

The hill on the left, covered with houses, is Poros island.  The bare hills on the right are the mainland 

Teachers island (Daskalio) with the mainland mountains on the far side of the strait

The small church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It's a popular place for weddings

The photos below have just appeared on Facebook, posted by the owner of the water taxi John Nakis. He does trips to the island in the summer and has cleared, strimmed and whitewashed the church and surrounds for the summer season

Water taxi Socrates, and Captain Kyriakos, ferry wedding guests to the island and take visitors out for a swim in the tranquil blue waters.

I remember going with him on one trip when he had a group of English tourists, frequent visitors, who had brought back their father's ashes to scatter in the sea around the island. 

It was all very low key  and the wind was blowing in the right direction LoL 

                                            Baptism on the island   

Hear All About It

It's all Greek to you, but I'll explain

Caution   Cats on Road

There are certain places on Poros where you'll see bowls of water and containers for cat food.  We have a few up here and dozens of cats appear from the forest and fields when they hear the engine noise of the volunteer who comes up every day to leave food and water .

They're a danger, to themselves and to approaching cars and especially motorbikes ridden by a tourist who doesn't know what's just round the corner. 

One of the feeding places is on a sharp corner. I've seen people fall off bikes trying to avoid them and now and again there's a fatality. A feline left in the middle of the road.

Now caution signs are going up. Apparently. I haven't noticed any yet.

Big news

One of the water taxi owners had 5  passengers above his limit and he was cautioned by the Harbour Police.  He made everyone get off his boat  and then took off for heaven knows where to avoid a fine.

Honestly.  This is our crime of the day.  And laugh of the day. The Harbour Police know exactly who he is. The fine will be coming anyway

Let there be light

Our mountain road after many many months has new street lights.  They're really good and the Municipality needs a 'Bravo'

The lights are close together so there's no dark spot between lamp posts and they're bright.

Years ago I used to grind up here on my quad bike and the lights were few and far between. I felt I was in the middle of a dark forest on alert for bears and wolves

The Mayor has arranged for residents of Poros to get a 50% reduction on the High Speed Catamarans which sail from Piraeus (port of Athens) to Poros and return.  The ticket is usually 36 euros which means 72 euro return. That would be over 140 for K and I to go into Athens and back.  It's only a 1 hour trip.  The discount makes a huge difference

Free x-rays for residents at the Poros Navy Base medical centre, from 2-5 June

Two fires in 24 hours 

Both quickly put out but not a good start to the season

And not a coincidence 

We have an island fire brigade and 2 engines and everyone rushes to the scene to help.  Firefighting planes can be sent in from Athens and also fire engines from villages on the mainland.

The first to arrive at the scene of the fire yesterday were my 2 sons-in-law Kyriakos and Yiannis.

I've seen a video of the fire, it was a roaring inferno and spreading quickly.   Our house is only a few kilometres away up the mountain.

Thanks boys for helping to save our lives and property