Graptolite - Athens, Edinburgh of the South
Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Wed 5 Aug 2009 16:07
'The sea, autumn mildness, islands bathed in light, fine rain spreading a
diaphanous veil over the immortal nakedness of Greece. Happy is the man, I
thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean Sea'.
Nikos Kazantzakis, 'Zorba the Greek'
I met up with Heike for a wild time in Athens last weekend leaving Grapto to
look after herself on the pontoon at Chalki. Jessica did some rubbish
navigating from the airport and got us completely lost in a suburb for a
while. Silly girl! Jessica is the voice on the in-car navigation system.
It's the third time for me in Athens. The city has unfortunately become
tacky by endless walls of graffiti but the air seems to be more breathable
than I remember. The Acropolis was an anthill of scaffolding and tourists
and the entrance to the new museum was too plugged with bodies to get in.
Due to carelessness with ferry timetables I spent most of Monday wandering
the streets of Rhodes Old Town doing tourist stuff while waiting for the
late night ferry back to Chalki. There are worse places to be.
M