Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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Athens – Burst Tyre on the Motorway and Other Excitement

One handy thing about travelling with Richard anywhere is that there’s always drama. And I was delivered drama once again on this trip, which was all rather exciting. As we were driving along the motorway, or more specifically as Richard was driving, there was a little bangy noise which I correctly identified as something was broken. We were just before a toll booth and so we stopped off to investigate the matter, with the timing being quite fortunate.

The rather helpful guy at the reception desk at the toll station, which I don’t think is a generally onerous role and so needs extra excitement, came over to help. He we are with two experts looking at the tyre, which I had already identified as broken so I didn’t see what more work needed doing on the investigation.

Richard remembered that there was a spare tyre in the boot. It seemed that we might be able to put this on and manage the situation ourselves. Richard is a man of action and his engineering background, specialising in keyboards, would inevitably come in handy.

And here he is athletically putting the tyre into the right place, rolling it like a professional. This plan didn’t work as we couldn’t get the existing tyre off (I say we, but I was basically just the photographer) and so Richard phoned the car hire company. The lady spoke English, but the toll guy (as I’m now calling him) dealt with the entire conversation in rapid-fire Greek and we had no clue what was going on. Richard had been hoping to speak to the lady at the end of the call to gain a better understanding of the situation, but I imagine that the toll guy was trying to make life easier. I wanted to sit in the car, but Richard reminded me it was jacked up and he hadn’t remembered to bring any chairs to sit on which I thought was poor planning on his part. If he is to be a true traveller, he needs to bring a mobile lounge with him.

I think this next photo tells something of a story, as it’s now dark. The toll gates looked rather lovely as the sun set over the broken car. The toll guy, who really was doing a marvellous job at helping us, came over to say that the repair man was around fifteen minutes away. At least we had a solution coming now.

There was some thinking about the situation whilst we waited. The toll guy spoke sufficient English to let us know what was going on and helpfully queried if I was cold as I didn’t have a coat on. He also asked Richard why we’d come to Greece when it was cold, although I think the toll guy and I have a different understanding of what the word hot means.

Then the repair man turned up with a proper jack. No selection of canapes or anything though for us to nibble on. I had expected Richard to have some sort of lounge option for car hire so that we received some treats, but it transpired that he hadn’t. But, here is the car all successfully repaired and we were ready to roll with the temporary tyre in place, with the whole arrangement taking 90 minutes to have got sorted out.

Thanks mostly to me for recording the incident for posterity, the toll man for being so helpful, the repair guy for fixing it and to Richard for the excitement. After investigating the broken tyre, it seems that there had been a nail in it which must have fallen out, hence the quick deflation. Richard noted, after the event, that he did think there was the sound of something as we had been driving around all day, but as it was a hire car a random noise would have been hard to investigate. And with Richard at the helm, what could possibly go wrong? He remains very fortunate that I’m often around to take photos and be the voice of calm reason. As for the good news, Richard had taken out insurance to cover this sort of incident, so the €400 he would have been charged was reduced to €0.

March 7, 2025
Athens – Barco in Porto Rafti

Whilst in the Porto Rafti area, the rather lovely bay which Richard found, we popped in Barco for a nutritious drink. It was well reviewed on-line and, perhaps most importantly, it was actually open which is always handy. There is a large indoor section, but I suspect most people prefer to sit outside because of the views.

The views over the water. As with all these places, there’s the downside that smoking is allowed in the outside areas, which gives that rather unpleasant (to me at least) smell to the whole arrangement. Fortunately, only one table was smoking here and it was quite airy. One day I rather hope that smoking is banned everywhere, but I suspect that might be some time away.

The menu.

The Mamos beer from Athenian Brewery, which was average, but the view and the free crisps made up for it. I’m easily sold. I blurred the glass as best as I could as it’s a Stella one and I have a sort of reputation to keep. Richard went for an orange juice, but he’s a very healthy person and gravitates towards fruit.

I thought about keeping the cat, but Richard refused to pop it in his car and offer it a better life in Dereham. Actually, on reflection, it probably would be better off staying on the Greek coastline in the warm with fish to catch.

Anyway, the venue didn’t feel like a tourist trap, the prices were reasonable and it was clean and welcoming. They did have the challenge of a dove that decided to go to the food collection area and merrily eat the things it fancied whilst chucking the rest onto the floor which I thought showed some determination.

March 7, 2025
200 Years Ago in Norwich : Packet Boat Trip to Rotterdam

I rather liked this advertisement from the Norwich Mercury 200 years ago this month.

“It having been intimated that a Trip over to the Dutch Coast, the ensuing Summer, would be very desirable, the Directors beg leave to inform the Friends to this Establishment, that on Saturday, the 18th of June, at Six o’clock in the Evening, the LOWTHER will leave Yarmouth for Rotterdam, where she will arrive early the following Morning, and will return on the 25th, at the same hour. The Packet will be solely fitted up for Passengers. The After-Cabins will be entirely appropriated for Ladies, and the Fore-Cabin and Holds will be fitted up for Gentlemen, and every arrangement will be made to secure a pleasant passage

Fare to Rotterdam and back …. £2. 2s.

As a limited number can only be accommodated, all desirous of going will apply for Births as soon as possible to Messrs. Boardman and Harmer, Norwich; Mr. William Borrett, Yarmouth; or to Mr. Richard Clay, at the Company’s Office, Selby.”

Although this packet ship most likely usually carried cargo, I liked that there was an element of this being entirely a passenger trip where people could see Rotterdam. In today’s money that’s about £150 return so not unreasonable, although it’s somewhat cheaper and quicker to fly 200 years later. I’d rather like to know who went on this trip, was it tourists wanting to see the Netherlands, was it business people or was it the idle rich?

March 6, 2025
Athens – Porto Rafti Visit

Just photos from our visit to Porto Rafti which is a seaside resort situated on the east coast of the Attica peninsula, along the Rafti Bay of the Aegean Sea. We stopped off there on the way back to Athens and it was a suggestion of Richard and a very good one. Tourism is the major income generator in the area, but there’s also a wine-making industry here.

March 6, 2025
Athens – Protests, Riots and Repairs

As it was likely much would be closed in Athens given the commemoration of the second anniversary of the Tempi train disaster, we headed down the coast to Lavrion.

There was a protest going on there, but it was all amicable and friendly with families taking part.

I think this is talking about putting profit over people. Incidentally, I hope that isn’t a baby snake at the base of the photo.

As an aside, there was a lot of littering of these leaflets.

It meant that everything was closed for three hours in the town. A helpful local stopped their car to check if we needed any help given that everything was closed. It did mean that the restaurants, shops and the like were all closed, so we watched some of the protests and then walked down to the marina. It was impressive how well attended the protests were and how nothing remained open during this time.

57 people died on 28 February 2023 when two trains crashed into each other head-on, with another 81 heavily injured and 99 lightly injured. The infra-structure of the rail network is highly problematic in Greece and it’s argued by many that little is being done to improve it. That was the base for the protests and demonstrations.

Back in Athens later on, we saw this graffiti written on the National University.

It was repainted within hours and I was quite impressed with their efficiency. It’s visible through the first coat of paint, but I’m sure that the second coat went down so after and all remnants of the graffiti are gone.

The damage from firebombs thrown towards the Parliament building was being cleared up. There’s more coverage of the rioting at the Guardian web-site.

There were numerous burnt out bins near the Parliament building.

But they were swiftly removed within a few hours and I’m sure the new replacements are already in situ.

There’s more about the rail accident at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempi_train_crash, the more I read about it the more horrendous the situation evidently is, so the reason for the demonstrations has become ever clearer to me.

March 6, 2025
Athens – Driving About in the City Part One

I found driving in Athens quite cathartic, but I was a passenger and I suppose that this does impact matters somewhat.

Richard might have found it less relaxing and peaceful.

March 6, 2025
Athens – Athens at Night

And just some photos of Athens at night from last week….

March 6, 2025
Lavrion – Former Rail Line to Greece (and perhaps coming back)

The first train in Lavrion, in southern Greece, which is dated on the image as 1880. The main line to Lavrion officially opened on June 20, 1885, although the Keratea–Lavrion section had already been in limited use before that date. It was one of the earlier lines to open in the country and was constructed primarily to link the mines in the area with the port of Lavrion, with the line being constructed by the French company Compagnie Française des Mines du Laurium.

An old rail carriage in near pristine condition…. I like that this carriage is here, but it feels like it’s an sub-optimal condition with that graffiti on it.

Evidence of the old track, although not much is left. The line was damaged during the Second World War and it took them until 1952 to get it fully re-opened.

The line finally closed to passengers in 1957, apparently with the bus lobby being important in that, although it’s a shame that the line has been lost as it would have perhaps offered quite an economic boost for Lavrion. Some of the section nearer to Athens was turned into Athens Metro Line 1, but most of the route has been entirely lost and it’s quite hard to even track it on the map.

The route of the former line and I like rail heritage, so this was all quite intriguing. On the bright side, it looks like work is underway with an expected end date of 2033, to rebuild the line and reconnect Lavrion to the rail network. This would be a connection to the country’s main airport and would be enormously useful for the town’s cruise port. There’s details of that expansion in this pdf file.

March 5, 2025
Norwich – Coach and Horses on Union Street (Two Julians)

And my now usual apology that the photos are from the dying days of my last phone, sorry for the low quality of them. I have to confess that I didn’t know that there was a third Coach and Horses pub in Norwich, the other two get more attention and we will visit them in due course on our travels. Julian, who has spent time in every pub in the city, was of course aware of the existence of this venue although it was my first time there. This one, located on Union Street where it meets Coach and Horses Street, although the number of pubs with this name makes it harder to discover more about its history. Slightly surprisingly, there have only been four pubs with this name in the history of the city (according to the excellent https://www.norfolkpubs.co.uk/) and three of them are still open. The venue became a pub in the 1830s and it has been operated by John Hardy, Lacons, Whitbread and is now owned by Admiral Taverns. George Plunkett has a rather lovely photo of it from its time as a Lacons pub when a lovely new shiny housing estate was built around it. The Norfolk Pubs web-site mentions that it was a French restaurant for a period, but I can’t find out anything about that, but will add it to this page if anyone lets me know. Actually, I should add, if anyone has anything interesting to tell me about any pub which we visit, then do let me know.

On that Nick Stone (https://www.invisibleworks.co.uk/) helpfully adds:

“What’s interesting about it from a urban geography perspective is it doesn’t actually align with Walpole Street which is the corner it sits on, that’s at an entirely different angle to the building so the eastern face of the building actually lines up with Coach and Horses Street which ran at right angles to Union Street but no longer exists. Bear in mind this whole area was extensively damaged several times from 1941 to 1943, especially on the Vauxhall Street, Essex Street and Rupert Street side of the area which was possibly blast from an aerial mine, the redevelopment was inevitable post-war as so little was left of what now forms the park and Suffolk Square. It’s quite rare that it still retains it’s form when so much was knocked down. The Vauxhall Tavern which used to be on the corner of Walpole and Vauxhall was interesting, a proper post-war kinda-prefab estate-pub job from what I can remember of it, think it was demolished in the late nineties or early noughties. That had replaced the original building which was destroyed by the raid on 18th Feb 1941, killing the landlord Fred Murrell and his family. Shame it’s gone really.”

Here it is in the 1880s and it feels a slight shame that its address is usually given as Union Street, rather than the Coach and Horses Street which is named after it. I’m sure that there’s a story behind Jeremiah Scales, the landlord between 1879 and 1884, who put an advert in the local paper when he left saying that “I won’t be responsible for any debts contracted by my wife Harriet Scales”, it all sounds most intriguing.

There’s no real ale available and I was struggling to find anything interesting, although Guinness is available as a fall back. I’ve never had it before, but I went for the Mann’s Brown Ale which is brewed by Marston’s. I’ll likely never have it again, it was OK in so much as there was a slight taste of toffee but I’d say that there was more taste of cupboard than anything else. The Quavers were delicious though. Julian liked it more, but I think he likes beers that taste of cupboard. I more look for some sour which tastes of decadent tart fruit or an imperial stout laden with cherries and coconut.

The photo quality doesn’t make this evident, but the Guinness pump has chargers coming out of it, which seems a marvellous idea to me.

The bar arrangement and the staff member was merrily taking photos of their collection of board games. There is a community feel to this pub and there are events such as karaoke that take place here. During our visit, there was a customer who was quite vibrant and excitable in his demeanour, but that’s not a criticism of the pub as the staff dealt with him perfectly well and it felt like a pub that the local community are happy with. We were made welcome and I felt comfortable during the visit and it’s important to support venues like this as it’s easy to overlook them given how close they are to the huge number of options in Norwich city centre. It’s an interesting venue and although it was relatively quiet when we visited, it has been seemingly doing well for several years under its current ownership which is quite marvellous.

March 5, 2025
Athens – Temple of Poseidon

This is what Richard identified as the Temple of Poseidon.

This is the actual one. It’s an easy mistake to make though and I didn’t say anything. The ruins are from a temple dating to around 444 to 440 BC, replacing an early temple that the Persians had constructed in 480 BC that was sort of knocked down during the Persian Wars. It was an important religious site as sailors used it to seek Poseidon’s favour for safe voyages and it was also more practically used as a visible landmark for shipping. I’m no expert in Greek architecture, nor indeed an expert in any architecture, but apparently it’s built in the Doric style which was similar to the Euston Arch before they pulled it down. They used local white marble to construct the temple, using the stone from the nearby Laureotic Mount.

There were quite a lot of people around when we arrived in the late morning, but the site itself was closed off due to the national strike. It’s located around a one hour drive from Athens although there are some coach services which operate out there.

And as it was closed, that meant this was the closest that we got to the temple. I had been hoping to see the graffiti made by Lord Byron who visited here and decided to carve his name into one of the pillars in the early nineteenth century. It is moderately odd (although entirely correct) that this is an interesting thing to look at when it’s historic graffiti, but rather less approved of when it’s modern day graffiti. In 1825, two of the columns collapsed and the bits have ended up in Venice and London. I mean, it survives for thousands of years and then some bits fall off just at that moment, but I’m not making any allegations.

© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Here’s the bit of the column that is in the British Museum.

This is the drawing commissioned by Lord Elgin of the site, drawn by Sebastiano Ittar in 1802.

As some things in the local area were re-opening in the afternoon, we came back later in the day to see if they had opened the site up, but unfortunately not. The views were well worth stopping for though and the cafe had opened up, to serve coffee and light snacks to the disappointed visitors who had come to experience history. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t get closer to the temple, but it was still an impressive thing to see perched on the edge of the clifftop.

March 5, 2025