Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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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
Norwich – Coachmakers Arms (Two Julians)

Apologies again for the poor photo quality, they were taken on my old phone which has fortunately been replaced since we visited this pub in mid-February on one of our perambulations around Norwich. This was our visit to the Coachmakers Arms on St. Stephen’s Road in Norwich, a pub which dates to the seventeenth century and is a former coaching inn apparently built on the site of a former asylum. The record of it being a pub date to the mid-eighteenth century and the breweries who have owned it include the Tompson Brewery, Morgans, Steward & Patteson, Watney Mann, Norwich Brewery and Tager Inns and there’s more about the latter on the page about the Cricketers’ Rest which isn’t far away.

The pub has an external mural by John Moray-Smith (1889–1958) and he also created the one at Berstrete Gates.

Julian parking his bike in the courtyard and there was a major crime committed here in 1905….. The text from the local newspaper of the time reads:

“CHARGE AGAINST A SCHOOLBOY DISMISSED

Charles James Nichols, schoolboy, of Sixteen Row, Lakenham, was charged with stealing a box containing 14 lbs. of raisins, value 3s. 4d., the property of George Daniel Tann, between November 21st and 24th. Mrs. Bloom stated that last Thursday afternoon a number of boys made a cave at the bottom of her garden on Sigismund Road. She heard them talking about plums, and afterwards found a coat belonging to one of them on the ground and some raisins. A little boy, aged about ten, who said he was with the defendant all the afternoon was called as a witness; but the Clerk said it would not be fair to him to ask him to incriminate himself, and his evidence was dispensed with. The ostler at the Coachmakers’ Arms, St. Stephen’s, said that on the 21st inst. several boxes of raisins, belonging to the prosecutor, were left in the yard. George Tann, a grocer, of Forncett, said there should have been ten boxes. He did not count them, and did not miss one until the policeman made inquiries. The Clerk said it appeared difficult to connect the defendant with the case, which seemed to be one of confession. The defendant’s mother said the lad was no trouble at home. He was never out at night. The Chairman said if he was not better looked after he would bring her to sorrow. There was a difficulty about the case, and it would be dismissed.”

The lad became an “habitual criminal” (I always think of Norman Stanley Fletcher when hearing that phrase) according to police records in 1913 and he had taken to the theft of cycles, which ties in back to Julian parking his bike there quite neatly. He went on to fight in the First World War (Charles, not Julian) with, I think, some distinction and he went on to have a long life.

The courtyard area which I can imagine is busy during sporting events. The building is Grade II listed and I’ll just quote from the listed building record:

“Former use unknown, now Public House. C17 and Late C18 Rendered. Stucco quoins and window surrounds. Black pantile roof. 3 storeys, 4 bays. Off-centre door with plain surround and small decorated consoles supporting a flat hood. One sash window to each side with 3 lights per sash. Raised and moulded, eared and haunched surrounds with keystone. Sash windows to first floor with identical surrounds to ground floor windows. 2nd floor sash windows with simple raised and moulded surrounds. Projecting, moulded box- cornice. Hipped roof. C17 ceiling beams with knicked chamfer-stops. Large frieze on wall to right showing St. Stephen’s Gate by Moray-Smith, 1937.”

The beer selection, although it wasn’t entirely clear what they did have. I ordered two beers from these pump clips and was told they were unavailable so I thought it best to ask what they did actually have and I wasn’t sure that I was any the wiser, but I think they had the Silver Adder from Mauldons, the Abbot Ale from Greene King and the Old Speckled Hen from Morland (Greene King). I think, but wasn’t told, that customers should ignore the pump clips and just look at the barrels as there’s gravity dispense.

As can be seen from this advert from 1873, the serving directly from the barrel is nothing new. Victoria Station, which was located opposite, hadn’t served passengers since 1916 but it remained open for freight traffic although the buildings were damaged during the Second World War and pulled down soon after. The station site was replaced with offices occupied by Marsh, but they were taken down in late 2024 and early 2025 which must have impacted the pub’s trade a little. Not unlike other pubs, they advertised for a ‘girl’ in 1913, noting they wanted one aged around 25 and from the country. They didn’t want any city folk, whether older or younger, cluttering up their residence.

I went for the Silver Adder from Mauldons, which was crisp, hoppy and well-kept, but it’s all a bit light on flavour for me.

There is food served on weekday lunches and the pub was clean and tidy, with the interior feeling historic and interesting. The on-line reviews are positive and the service during our visit was friendly and efficient. The beer selection wasn’t really my cup of tea, or indeed jug of beer, although the Oscar Wilde would have been my choice if they did have it. The pub also sells Cruzcampo, but I make no comment as I don’t judge…. There’s quite a cosy atmosphere and there’s also an upstairs function room.

March 4, 2025
Athens – Healing Water of Sounio

I’m not sure how healing this water is, but apparently there are minerally rich thermal springs around here and it was also a rather impressive viewpoint. We didn’t know that they were healing waters at the time, otherwise perhaps we might have had a little paddle.

NB, the use of the word minerally is apparently a modern concept, although has now reached the OED and so is acceptable. I didn’t know it wasn’t a word until spell check queried it. Here’s an Ngram graph of how the word has been used over the last 200 years and I accept that I probably should have just written mineral rich…. Anyway, I’ve digressed.

Decent views.

A hole which Richard refused to investigate. In many ways, I was quite pleased with that as I have no idea how I would have helped him back out without the support of the Greek coastguard.

I was worried that there might be snakes in there, so I didn’t rush in. This is when you need Liam as he would have jumped down there.

There’s likely a whole caving complex down there.

And Richard jogging back up to the car.

We were on the road from Athens to the Temple of Poseidon and it is a beautiful drive.

March 4, 2025
Athens – Tapfield

Although it didn’t look like the most vibrant part of Athens, the area just to the north of the Agora has plenty of food and drink options.

The one that we headed for was Tapfield, as it was Untappd verified and it appeared to have some interesting beer options.

There was a friendly welcome from the team member and the beer list is clearly visible, although it’s also listed on Untappd as well. The team member was willing to give recommendations and I liked the mix of Greek and international beers, with most major beer styles represented here. We seated ourselves indoors at the end of the bar, although there’s more outside seating for those who like sitting in a fog of cigarette smoke. Although it didn’t have many tables inside, that did give it a cosier and more comfortable atmosphere.

My flight of beers, it seemed the easiest way to try several beers. For anyone interested, from left to right:

(i) West Coast IPA from Kykao, with a deep hop flavour, it was punchy, piney and stonefruity.

(ii) Craft IPA from Craft Microbrewery, which was smooth and hoppy but didn’t have any intense and decadent flavours to it.

(iii) Coconut Sky CocoStout from Athens Noctua Microbrewery, this was a little thin but the depth of coconut was intense and I love that. A Bounty bar delight…

(iv) Red Ale from Retimi, there was a bit of caramel, quite malty but again a little thin.

There was a modern bar and dispense, it all felt suitably on-trend. The reviews for this bar are very positive on-line and there are surprisingly few other venues similar to this.

Part of the decor, some considerable effort has gone into all of this.

We got a few cans between Richard and I and I’d better note that as I didn’t get through all of these on my own. This was the Stone Imperial Stout from Stone Brewing, which was pleasant but I had hoped for something more complex. There was a bit of chocolate, a bit of smokiness, it was OK.

This is the Umibozu from Funky Fluid, perhaps my favourite brewery in the world, and Richard loved this beer and gave it his 5 star seal of approval. I liked it, but it was bloody sweet although hugely punchy. There were massive hits of maple syrup and some coffee as well.

The Star People from Elmeleven and this was beautiful, with blueberry all over this. A lovely pastry sour with some end notes of banana. Delicious and much punchier than the ABV and it was aided by the professional pouring from the team member who rolled the fruited sour cans for us to ensure we didn’t get a lump of fruit residue at the end.

And another winner from Elmeleven, the I Want to Leave beer, with caramel undertones, lots of berries, decadent and again way more punchy than the ABV suggested. It was time for us to leave after this beer and we timed it well as some rather noisy customers then entered and we’re too old for that sort of environment (well, more specifically, Richard is too old for that sort of environment).

We very much enjoyed this bar, it was a clean and comfortable environment although it occurred to me afterwards it was the only one that didn’t do a free snacks option with the alcohol, although I’ll forgive them for that. Lots of interesting beer choices, a knowledgeable team member and the pricing was also reasonable. I’d merrily come again and this was one of my favourite bars in Athens. For craft beer people, this is definitely recommended.

March 4, 2025
Athens – Cat at Pet City

It’s not immediately obvious from the photo, but I rather liked how the cat (of which there are quite a lot in Athens) was sitting in a little cat basket outside Pet City, that felt very appropriate…. I’m easily amused.

March 3, 2025
Athens – Kyklamino Restaurant

The first evening’s meal and we thought we’d go for something local. After much faffing about on my part checking Google reviews, we settled on this one. There was external seating available, but I’m not one for sitting next to smokers whilst trying to eat a tomato or some other decadent treat.

The menu which fitted into the style of the restaurant which was functional, welcoming and not overly showy. I also liked that they noted which items on the menu were frozen, which is something that perhaps more restaurants should do. The food felt traditional and authentic, with the restaurant feeling peaceful despite it being in a relatively busy area of the city.

The beer is the Alfa Beer from the Athenian Brewery, it’s light and smooth albeit perhaps just a little dull.

Free bread was brought out before the meal.

They also came over with some free olives, which looked a little sparse given the plate size, but any number of free olives is a bonus. Apparently the olives and the olive oil come from the owner’s own farm.

I will admit to Greek salad being one of my favourite meals and it’s served as a generous portion here with a slab of feta cheese.

The meatballs that we got to share and some lumpy thing on the left Richard got as his main course, but he enjoyed it so that’s all to the good.

The spicy sausages served with rice, with the meat being tender and full of flavour. I wouldn’t necessarily say that the food was the best presented that I’ve seen, but I’m far more engaged with quality over looks.

There was also a free dessert provided to round the meal off. There was a set meal which represented good value for money, although it didn’t quite match what we wanted, so we ordered off the main menu instead. The positive on-line reviews seemed justified and the restaurant felt like a family affair, with the service being informal and laid-back. Despite its location relatively near to the Agora and Hadrian’s Library, it didn’t feel touristy and it was steadily busy throughout the evening. They were in no rush to kick us out at the end of the evening and the payment process was efficient, so all rather lovely.

March 3, 2025
Athens – Novotel Athenes

A sleepy bear at the Novotel Athens where I spent three days and I will say in advance that this hotel surprised and delighted me. I was very pleased to discover on arrival that they had upgraded me to a room on the top floor with a balcony and a free mini-bar of soft drinks which would be refilled daily, which is hardly bad when paying under £50 a night. Richard checked in later and they had shoved him on a lower floor and not given him a balcony, but he did have a view of the Acropolis if he looked carefully in the right direction. They gave him two macarons (one of which I had) and some wine to distract him from noticing how small his room was, but I didn’t say anything.

I liked that the receptionist pro-actively told us of the potential problems the next day and it was also signed around the hotel, but more of that later.

The room and it also had a large bathroom that had a bath and shower. I’m not a design expert, but the light colours were cooling and the carpet was clean and seemed a sensible colour to me. That’s it, that’s my design opinion.

The balcony. As one of those people who likes city noise, I rather liked keeping this door open at night. I didn’t have any noise issues internally or externally, indeed, it wasn’t entirely clear how many other guests were actually staying here. There was air conditioning, but I didn’t much need it on which was handy as opening the balcony door turned it off.

The receptionist said that they refilled this daily, although the cleaning staff forgot on the second day, but I won’t hold that against them. They were probably shell-shocked when they entered Richard’s room early without knocking, although he quite rightly went to reception to complain about that situation. There’s also a kettle for those wanting hot drinks.

The view from the balcony and I will say that it’s not the best location within Athens as it’s not the most salubrious of areas and it’s about a twenty-five minute walk to the Acropolis area. The hotel was built in 1988 and received a large renovation in 2007 which has given it more of a modern feel. There are some design quirks, there are two sets of double automatic doors which the hotel doesn’t use, but which guests keep trying to use as they don’t sign they’re out of use. The layout of reception, the restaurant and breakfast room isn’t in keeping with how the designs are arranged now, but everything was easy to find.

I did also have a view of the Acropolis (it is there if my two loyal blog readers look carefully), although I accept Richard’s was clearer than mine. There’s a swimming pool on top of the hotel, although I didn’t go and investigate it, nor did I burden myself with visiting the gym.

The welcome drink and I went for a Paulaner Weissbier which I’ve never had before, it was rather good, smooth with banana notes whilst being light and fluffy. Richard had a red wine which he hated. Bonus points to the hotel bar for the chilled glass and also the free nuts.

There is an underground car park over two levels and it’s free of charge, which is unusual. I won’t go into too much detail of the little crisis that Richard had when trying to drive out of the car park up the ramp, but I was very brave in very challenging circumstances where I thought we’d be there all day. All told, I thought that this was one of the best Accor hotels that I’ve stayed in. The staff were friendly, the hotel was spotlessly clean, the room exceeded my expectations and the service was on point. All rather lovely and a credit to the Accor chain.

March 3, 2025
Athens – Evzones Protecting the Presidential Palace

Two of the Presidential Guard protecting the Presidential Palace in Athens. Known as Evzones, they’re ceremonial guards and they also protect the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The uniform is distinctive and comprises of the Fustanella (the pleated white kilt-like garment), the Tsarouchia (the red leather shoes with large black pompons) and the Pharion (the red felt cap). They also have a semi-automatic rifle, although there are armed guards nearby to them who are protecting them as they spend quite some time just standing still and not being allowed to move. They take this quite literally, there have been instances where a protester has thrown a firebomb and their sentry hut burned with the nearby Evzone not moving until told to and also a case where police were using tear gas and the soldier was stuck there next to it. All very brave.

March 3, 2025