Week 23 - Time to have a holiday

Well I'm bike-less in Greece and have done the tourist sights of Athens and Pireaus so what to do next? Easy take an island ferry trip, a great way to have a mini cruise. Eight hours from Piraeus to Santorini, passing almost continuously between islands and on a bright blue and very calm sea. Stops at four islands on the way, break any monotony and at each you look down on the archetypical Greek village, all white buildings and blue shutters, dazzlingly bright in the sunlight,  with crowds milling around the wharf and adjacent street. A marvelous tableau everyone of them.

I chose Santorini as my destination for a couple of days because it was lauded in the guide book as being the most spectacular of the islands in the Aegean as it forms part of the rim of a (currently) inactive volcano. It was probably because no dead volcano is ever going to impress me again after staring into the lava at Erta Ali, Ethiopia that I found that part part of the review was massive hype,  a cliff edge dropping to the sea is a cliff edge, irrespective as to whether it was ever part of a volcano. That aside the rest of the island was incredibly scenic and tourist focussed; I could see what draws the visitors to these islands.

Old man at the roadside selling coffee. We talked for awhile and he asked me"Are you rich?" - given all I've seen and done, and that I'm healthy and happy, there's only one possible answer to that "Very". It's easy to forget sometimes. 

With the lack of my own bike I hired this for a few days - good fun and prefect on the island roads.

Those who talk of Greek inefficiency have never seen one of these inter-island ferries dock. We come into the harbor at speed,  and at the last minute swing through 180 degrees, ship vibrating with thrusters at full power, to come round stern first to the quay. As we back  in the last few metres the ramps are coming down and hit the concrete simultaneously with the mooring lines being thrown. Within a minute people are being hustled off as are the vehicles. First vehicle off is the post office van which hastens away to grab the island mail and is back within a few moments. In those few moments all the new passengers and cars are boarded. Less than 5 minutes after we first arrived we are underway again. Repeated island after island. Impressive.

Those who do talk of inefficiency are probably more thinking of the public service. The only experience I've had of them had been the staff at the monuments and here they appear to deserve the reputation. Lots standing around nominally "guarding" whilst in reality chatting doing virtually nothing -  where everywhere there's jobs obviously needing to be done,  mainly cutting the grass which was threatening to engulf some sights. I only hope the Customs service is better organised when it comes to collecting the bike or I could be in for a long day.

I had hopes the bike would arrive Friday morning and be able to clear customs that day, as it was the ship was delayed to the evening and customs don't work the weekend, so the earliest I'll now see it is Monday. Facing another weekend in Piraeus I did the sensible thing jumped another ferry and went out to another island. Life is tough.

On the way back from the island I spotted a Liberty Ship! (I suggest non boat enthusiasts stop reading now,  I'm going to get boring). Turns out Piraeus hosts one of only three left in the world. For those who don't know what they are, they were the ship that in many ways saved Europe during WWII. Nearly three thousand were built to a standard design using mass production techniques by eighteen  companies in the USA as quick replacements for losses to the U-boats in the Atlantic. Designed to have a life of only a few trips many survived the war and became the backbone of the post war merchant navy - most were scraped by the seventies (I can just remember one coming into Swansea about then - probably pointed out by Dad who I believe did some of his early sea time on one). The most amazing thing about them was, because of strict standardisation and application of mass production thinking,  the speed at which they were built; the record was a shade under 5 days and the one in the photos below apparently took a comparatively long 12 days from start of assembly to delivery! There's lots of info on the net if you want to know more.

Having seen it I of course had to go and have a closer look. Turns out its a museum. Restored in 2008 its open to the public in a very low key way,  no signage other than a piece of paper at the bottom of the accommodation ladder, and when you walk up your greeted by the friendly guard dog, eventually someone appears who you have to convince your a genuine interested visitor, then he simply turns on the lights and let's you walk around. Very Greek but a wonderful experience.

Leaving the ship I unfortunately saw the result of a more modern conflict, this refugee camp full of Syrians escaping from that conflict. A sharp reminder of the how quickly ones comfortable life could change.

Hopefully next week normal service will be resumed and I'll be able to report from on the road again.