London Greek Film Festival

We’re onto Sunday now and the evening of the awards ceremony in Athens for The London Greek Film Festival. They also hold a ceremony in London but have the one in Athens for those who can’t make it to London. The festival accepts and honours films and scripts that are either written by Greek people or that are about some aspect of Greece. That’s why ‘Girl Gone Greek’ could be entered. It was written by an English author, Rebecca Hall, and scripted by me, currently a very reluctant English person. [Rebecca’s blog, Life Beyond Borders is here.]

It was a hot evening, but thanks to the excellent metro in Athens I didn’t have to walk far and arrived at the cinema just as Rebecca was getting out of a taxi with a friend who was accompanying her. The ceremony was held at the Cinema Alkyonis in the Victoria area of Athens, not far from the metros station. We arrived early, so the shot of the cinema interior is before the 100 or so people arrived.

We watched trailers and some shorts from the winning entries for 40 minutes and then there was a succession of awards for various categories. I have no idea what I said when we came to ours. I babbled in Greek for a while, only realising later that I was using the wrong tense in my verbs, and all the time I had in my head, ‘Must not call Rebecca ‘Rachel.” That’s the name of the main character in the script, you see. I didn’t, but trying not to kept interrupting my concentration, so when I got as far as I could in Greek, I mumbled ‘gamoto’ (which is a bit naughty) and switched to English, even then I can’t remember what I said, but I did manage to thank the festival, Rachel… Rebecca! for asking me to write the script, and then thanked Greece for, basically, not being the yUK.

That done, a bit of networking later and we headed off to Monastiraki for a glass of wine in a prison, as you do. Fascinating building, still with the cells intact around a central courtyard, so it looks run down. It isn’t though, the bar and courtyard are modern, and the music wasn’t too loud, the people there very friendly, mainly a young crowd, and the prices not bad at all. One drink there and I wandered back to where I was staying and home. Monday was a shopping and chilling day with a trip to the Acropolis (where I found €10.00 on the ground which I gave to the homeless Moroccan guy near my apartment the next day) and another visit to the restaurant I’d used before. This time it was a piece of salmon the size of a boxing glove (but much more edible). I wasn’t allowed to leave the restaurant until I’d had another glass of wine and then an ouzo from the management. This Greek philoxenia can really give you a headache – it was the ouzo – but it’s good to see it happens even in the swanky parts of Athens.

I’ll bung up some extra photos, and next week, I’ll tell you about the journey back, and then we will be back to the usual Symi Dream kind of blogging. Have a good weekend.

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Thiseio, Athens

I’ve arrived at my accommodation in Athens, in an area called Thiseio (θησειο). This is last Saturday we’re talking about. Having unpacked and had a nose around my apartment, I found it more than satisfactory. A large entrance hall/sitting room, a kitchen with wooden cabinets, probably the originals from the 70s or 80s, but with all the mod cons, a bathroom though small, functional, and a bedroom. A quick iron of a clean shirt and I was out for a walkabout, some photos from which were up on the blog yesterday.

According to Wikipedia: “Thiseio or Thissio (Greek: Θησείο, pronounced [θiˈsio]) is the name of a traditional neighbourhood in downtown Athens, Greece, northwest of the Acropolis, 1.5 km southwest of downtown. Long ago, the name was derived from the Temple of Hephaestus which was mistakenly known as Thiseion in reference to Theseus, the mythical king of Athens, which gave rise to the neighbourhood being named Thiseio.

The area has many cafés and cultural meeting points. Thiseio is served by the nearby Thissio ISAP station or Thiseio metro station.”

After a wander about there, I headed for Ermou Street. “Ermou Street (Greek: Οδός Ερμού, Odos Ermou, “Hermes Street”), is a one and a half kilometer-long road in central Athens, Greece, connecting Kerameikos archaeological site with the Syntagma Square through Monastiraki, Psiri and Thiseio.” This street started with second-hand shops, street markets, the old flea market at Monastiraki, and then later gave way to stylish shops and even more cafes. I was looking for a new pair of shorts but not being the greatest of shoppers, I gave up after one quick tour around Marks & Spencer which I found to be smaller in the menswear department than the one in Rhodes, and thought I’d just keep my eye out as I walked. I didn’t go as far as Syntagma as we’d been there only a couple of months ago, and so walked back to Thisieo where, after another shower (the temperature was nudging 35 +) I took myself out for the late afternoon/evening, staying in the neighbourhood.

The paved street, with craft stalls either side, led me up the hill and around the base of the Acropolis to the Parthenon museum (also visited a few months ago) and I noticed that there was a festival taking place at the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus. “…a major theatre in Athens, considered to be the world’s first theatre, built at the foot of the Athenian Acropolis.” Glancing at the banner advertising what was on, I discovered that there was a production of Sondheim’s ‘Company’ and so rushed to find the box office. Closed (only open 10.00 to 14.00) and asked at the other ticket office, the one for the Acropolis/Parthenon. I got a bit of a grumbled response there from the young chap who was clearly miffed at having to work all day in a small cabin in that heat, and so decided to check the banner again in case there was a phone number. It was then I noticed that the show wasn’t due until July 9^th, so that was out of the question anyway.

In the evening, I hung out at one of the cafes with an orange juice before deciding where to eat. Having had two baguettes on the boat that morning, one for breakfast and one for lunch, I was in dire need of something wholesome and so settled at ‘Lontos’, a restaurant/café with outside and inside seating and a roof terrace (I discovered later). A few restaurants on that street have roof terraces, and wonderful views of the Acropolis lit up at night, but their prices reflected that, so I stayed downstairs and watched the world go by. A massive salad and a glass of wine later and I was starting to feel the effects of the journey and so headed home. It had been a long day of walking, sweating and sightseeing (though I didn’t take many photos) and an early night was called for. I wanted to be refreshed for the awards ceremony the next day, which will be the topic of conversation on the blog tomorrow.

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Symi To Athens

There’s lots to talk about, and several images to show you, some of which you might have seen on Facebook if you follow Symi Dream there. Not everyone does, so that’s why I’m going to show you several photos from my Symi to Athens trip over the next few days. I didn’t take that many on the camera, I took that mainly for the awards ceremony, but there are others I snapped on my tablet so they are not wonderful quality. They’ll all be interspersed around whatever I ramble on about over the next few days as I settle back into my routine.

The journey up was very pleasant, but I had paid extra for a cabin on my own. It’s a good idea as the cheapest cabins, the internal ones, are pretty small and if you opt for the cheapest option, which is to share, you can end up with a random stranger, squeezing past each other to negotiate the bathroom or the way out. Paying the extra was worth it to know I had exclusive use of the tiny space. It has everything you need though, but I do wonder if the outside cabins are quieter. It’s not the sound of other people that wakes you, and when you’re on the open sea it’s practically silent, but when you turn to come into a port, to slide up the bunk and then everything starts to shake rattle and roll. You can hear the distant announcement out in the corridor telling you where you are, even through earplugs. On the way back, I was woken by Lipsi. I’d only had two hours’ sleep by then so resisted the urge to go and take a look at one in the morning, and drifted off to sleep again. Later, I think it was Kalymnos that briefly woke me up, and at 5.50 it was reception telling me we would arrive in Symi in half an hour.

There’s no point in me telling you too much detail about the boat (the Patmos) as it’s changing this week, but if the new one is anything like this one, it’s a treat. Self-service, a la carte, several cafes and bars, I even found on the very top deck that I’d never visited before. I’d always known it had been up there, just not gone and taken a look. I travelled up and down to Athens with one of our postmen (separately, you understand) and only saw a couple of Symi folk on the way back, and the boat wasn’t crowded. It was busier on the way up where it took me 45 minutes to buy wifi credit (€5.00 for 24 hours) because three ladies were haggling about accommodation at reception. They were there every time I went back, so it was a very lengthy discussion.

Arriving at Piraeus half an hour early, despite leaving Symi about half an hour late, was an easy thing too. Off the boat, straight onto a courtesy bus to take you to the gates of the port, across the road to the train station, a ticket from the machine and onto a Womble train into town. (A Womble train is one that goes over ground and underground.) Don’t be put off by the colourful graffiti on the outside of the trains, everything is covered in it, and I rather like it as it’s usually decent artwork. Inside was cool and clean, and there’s no painting over the windows. I was only six stops up the green line and then a two-minute walk to where I was staying. It took me less than an hour from boat to bedroom, if you like.

That was last Friday/Saturday, and I won’t go on about it now, I’ll leave more of the story for the rest of the week. Here are a few other photos taken just after I arrived.

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I’m still scurrying about, and this will be my last blog for a few days. I should be back with you next Thursday or Friday. See you then.

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Symi Sunrise

Off to Athens in a couple of days and I suddenly realised how much I have to do before Friday afternoon. Hence, a short blog today but with a few photos of the sunrise on Wednesday morning as seen from the road up and out of the village. The Blue Star was coming in as I set off, and seeing it reminded me that I will be getting off the same boat next week. On which note, thank you, Melanie and Paul, for the offer of a lift. I’m saved! But I am also running late, so here are the photos.

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