Living my dream
By Helen Grubner. Filed in Uncategorized |
Harbour, Hydra town
After four nights in Athens, exploring the nicer side of the city which many choose not to see, I was ready early – up, up and away – my first mission to walk to Monastiraki Metro Station and catch the train to the port of Piraeus. Cost 1 Euro – Green Line. Sounds simple enough – train arrives at the platform – in spite of the early hour (not yet 0700 hours) hop on to find standing room only. Oh well, leave the pack on back and make the most of it. Then, you won’t believe it (or maybe you will if you read about how we were all ordered off the bus on the way into Athens because the driver was apparently going on strike). Two or three stations on when we arrived at the suburb of Kallithea, an announcement in Greek only, all off the train, it’s going no further!
Asked a woman how should I expect to make my way to Piraeus? One word answer “bus”! And yes, there was a connecting bus, however, no one seemed able to tell me I needed to climb some stairs, walk over the railway lines and on another two blocks to find the bus! A bus which transported us to Paleo Faliro where it stopped and suddenly I came to the realization that all other persons had gotten off the bus and so I followed. On to another train which fortunately, this time did take us all to Piraeus and a much needed coffee.
Gone are the days of the bigger, slower ferries to islands like Hydra. The Flyingcat 1 is a catamaran, taking just two hours sitting in aeroplane style seats to reach our destination, with only a quick stop on the way for passengers disembarking at the island of Poros.
Met on arrival by Yiorgos (George) from Pension Erofili and guided there to my room. Spacious and clean and with a small fridge and television. This island is beautiful, peaceful (only service vehicles allowed) and a walker’s paradise. Explored only part of the town before deciding on a lunch venue then walked some more, this time up higher to get a good view of the harbour. Met Eugenie and her 14 month old son Alexandros. Eugenie and her husband/partner have lived here for 18 months and own three houses side by side. Eugenie showed me through their home and offered me my own place there for 25 Euro per day. I would have taken up the offer, had it not been for the fact their WiFi is broken and I’m able to connect to the Pension’s here.
Opportunities for taking photographs are all around me. Unfortunately, portrait don’t always convert well into thumbnail for my More Photos Page and all photos suffer a degree of cropping. However, by clicking on any photo, you will see more of the subject and I will not apologise for the number of cats warranting inclusion on my website.
This morning (Thursday 29 April) I went for a two hour stroll around the coastline and yes, I’ve said it before but will say it again, the ocean is truly as blue as it appears in photographs. In a small cove by a little church which I photographed, there was living a person I can only best describe as a hermit. Whether by choice or circumstance he finds himself there, I’ll never know. I wanted to go down and chat with him, however, did not as we all deserve our privacy. Who knows, maybe he is living his dream as I am mine.