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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
