Wind and Water
Our last day in Athens was a long one. Well, no longer than any other day, of course, and half of it didn’t take place in Athens, but you know what I mean. I had booked a taxi to take us to Piraeus at 13:00, again via Welcome Pickups. Before then, however, there was time for breakfast, and another wander around, where this time we headed to the Roman Forum and the Tower of the Winds. Here’s another tip for you: go early to these places if you can. We more or less had the place to ourselves, including the exhibition of WWII photographs currently being shown in the old mosque on the site. As usual for Greek archaeological sites, there is plenty of information on boards in Greek and English, and entry wasn’t expensive. €6.00 each including the exhibition, the tower and the ruins of the old forum which is just below the Acropolis. Here are a few photos:
Back at the hotel, bags packed and bill paid, the taxi arrived ten minutes ahead of schedule. With this company, you receive an email to your phone when the car has arrived, but in this case, I could see it. You are also given a photo of your driver and her/his name, and vice versa, so there’s no confusion. Glykeria greeted us, put the bags in the boot and we set off. The drivers speak English so we had a good old chat on the way to the port and were delivered at my request to the ticket office so I could collect our tickets. We said our goodbyes, and off she went, only to return immediately and put Mother back in the car to wait, telling me off because it was too hot to be standing about in the sun. She then took us the 20 yards across to the boat where we checked in and decided to have lunch in the a la carte restaurant. I’m not usually a fan of food photos as they tend to come out looking like a science experiment, and my lamb roll does look rather dodgy here, but I wanted to share part of the menu with you.
And here’s another tip. Get yourself a Sea Smiles card from Blue Star Ferries. You need to have a ticket first, so a short trip from Symi to Rhodes will do it. Then you head to the Sea Smiles website and set up an account for free, using the ticket number as proof that you’re serious. That done, you print your own card and from then on, benefit from reward points and discounts. Our lunch of two courses, a bottle of wine, water and so on, came to less than €60.00 because of my card, and I also earned points.
The rest of the day was spent watching the islands go by until an early night was attempted. I had booked us a cabin each and paid a little extra to have what was usually a shared cabin as a solo one. If you book shared, you can find yourself sharing with a stranger which, although often the plot twist of romantic novels and thrillers, is not always a pleasant experience, and the cabins are not huge, so tend to be over-intimate. On this route, Piraeus to Symi, the boat docks at the islands from around 23:00 (Patmos, on a Tuesday) until arriving at Symi at 05.00 on Wednesday, so I was up most of the night watching the action.
Finally, we arrived back at Symi where we were met by the Village Hotel where mother is currently staying, and that’s another tip: make sure you have arranged transport. I have walked up to home with my rucksack and laptop bag, when I came back from Tills earlier in the year, but if you can pre-book someone with a car, it’s a much better experience.
