Mike remained on Island Drifter (ID) in the circular
harbour of Mounikhías, Athens, Med-moored on a ‘free’ berth in the Piraeus Sailing Club
(PSC), while Helen travelled to, from and in the UK between 4 and 8 June. She returned to the UK to see Lesley, our
daughter-in-law, in a play (A BELLY FULL) at The Mill Theatre, Sonning, near
Reading.
Google Earth © overview of Mounikhías Yacht Harbour, Piraeus
The
harbour at Mounikhías viewed from the Yacht Club balcony
PSC’s
Members’ Bar and in the background balcony
overlooking the Athens
coastline
The Cruising Club of Greece (CCG) is among a number of
other sailing clubs who also have segments of and use the harbour as their
base. The CCG’s prestigious Club House
sits on the top of the bluff above the marina with outstanding views over both
it and the Athens coastline. The
building was originally owned by the Royal Hellenic Yacht Club.
The
entrance to the Cruising Club of Greece’s ‘Club House’
The
prestigious ‘club house’ of the CCG
Athens and its outlying suburbs is situated in a
coastal plain surrounded by mountains.
Thirty per cent of Greece’s population live there: it is home to over
half the cars in Greece and 90% of the country’s industry. In the summer it gets very hot and humid,
protected as it is by the surrounding mountains from the cooling effect of the
northern wind that sweeps through the Aegean islands.
Google
Earth ©
overview of Athens with
mountains to the
north and the Saronic Gulf to the south
In consequence of the aforementioned factors, smog
clouds (the Nephos) periodically form in mid-summer, rather like in Los
Angeles, and the Government is forced to limit or ban motor traffic from the
streets. Fortunately for us, it is not
mid-summer and the weather is simply very warm with a variable breeze. Even so, we found it more comfortable living
under our new lightweight sun cover.
At
6 a.m. – the start of another perfect day
ID
moored bows-to with new sun cover up to keep the heat off
When Athens was belatedly chosen, in 1834 (for largely
sentimental reasons), as the capital of the newly independent ‘Greece’ (as it
was then), it was little more than a garrison town with 6000 inhabitants. (At
that time ‘Greece’ encompassed the mainland to Thessaly to the north, the
Peloponnese to the south, and the Western Aegean Islands including, in
particular, EVIA, the Western Sporades and the Cyclades. It did not include the Ionian Islands (1864),
Northern Greece (1881), CRETE (1913), Eastern Sporades (1913) or the Dodecanese
(1947) – now all part of Greece as we know it.
Sea areas of Greece referred to in the paragraph above (afraid the Ionian to the West of the mainland has been chopped off)
Over nearly two centuries of Greek refugees from
outside ‘Greece’, population exchanges (primarily with Turkey), the influx of
islanders arriving looking for work combined with industrial and commercial
development totally overwhelmed the Athens’ authorities. Hence Athens evolved without thought or
planning. Not surprisingly, with four rush hours a day (as a consequence of the
‘siesta’) traffic congestion and its environmental effects have become major
problems.
Even outside rush hour, parked vehicles on either side of the roads can make them almost impassable. This photo was taken just outside the yacht club
Having said that, the place and the people grow on
you. At times you even wonder what all
the fuss is about. Individual Athenians
appear to simply accept their lot and make the best of it. They are cheerful, enthused, helpful,
entrepreneurial, hard working, positive and even confident, but underneath, in
the background, there remains a significant
underclass and some areas of the city should be avoided, especially at
night.
Things are, and indeed have been, changing – slowly
and in fits and starts. In 1990 the Greek Authorities embarked on an ambitious
programme to drag Athens into the 21st century. The 2004 Olympics provided the
catalyst for change: projects were fast tracked to meet deadlines; planning
laws were overhauled to enable planning objectives to be achieved, and
obstacles encountered were ruthlessly removed.
One
of the several Olympic stadiums.
This
one, and its adjacent park, was close to the Yacht Harbour
The city’s infrastructure was dramatically improved
and areas where The Games took place were often flattened and rebuilt. No
doubt, the 600 million Euro grant from the EU helped. In particular, bus services, roads, trains,
trams, trolley and Metro networks were extensively improved. The construction of the new international
airport (Eleftherios Venizelos) in place of the old city’s Ellinikon airport
near Glyfada gave an immediate and noticeable effect in the termination of
noise pollution and the dumping of unburnt fuel over the city and its coastline. (To everyone’s surprise, the Olympic
infrastructure was completed on time and The Games were a success.)
Mike travelled on foot, by bus, train, tram,
trolleybus and Metro both into the city and along the new coastal road from
Piraeus to Glifada and was staggered by the positive changes that have taken
place since we backpacked in Greece 30 years ago.
Mike
used this modern tram to travel along the coast
There is, however, no doubt that behind the main
thoroughfares and in most suburbs renovation is taking place only very slowly.
Indeed, it is estimated that even with an upturn in effort it could take 20 to
30 years and will cost a great deal of money.
Derelict
buildings are all over the city.
This one, near the Yacht Harbour, was in an
upmarket area
Graffiti is everywhere: always colourful, often meaningful and/or
witty. It ranges in quality from straight vandalism to works of art. One suspects that some is, if not commissioned,
then at least tolerated.
The
graffiti on this wall faced the entrance to Zea Marina
The 2004 Olympic legacy was a cleaner, greener and
more efficient capital (at least in some areas) with a newfound pride buoyed by
a decade of booming economic activity.
Optimism and fiscal feel-good times were, however, short lived. By 2010
the European banks were having to bail Greece out on the first of two
occasions, when the country’s debt ran at 115% of GDP. In return the Greek Government were forced by
the EU to impose severe austerity measures to bring the budget deficit down,
leading to riots and strikes and the rise of extremist political parties. It is claimed that the economy started to
grow again in 2017.
Originally we had planned to give Athens a miss since
marinas are expensive. We were quoted
between 70 and 128€ a night. A bit more than the 12€ we budget on average for
an overnight stay. We’d also believed
that the climate and weather would be as bad as the press make it out to be and
in any case we’d ‘done’ Athens before.
(We now realise that the weather out of season is actually quite
pleasant and how little we’ve ‘done’ of Athens. Maybe now we know our way
around a little better an out-of-season visit might be in order.)
We had originally planned to anchor off the island of
AEGINA, some 15 miles away from Piraeus harbour and for Helen and our friends
Max and Sue, who had flights booked to the UK from Athens International airport
to catch a fast ferry to Piraeus and then the X96 bus from there to the
airport.
Part of the Piraeus commercial docks. When we visited there were 7 ferries and 3 cruise ships in the harbour. Yachts are definitely not allowed in!
We only decided to stay in Mounikhías harbour at the PSC after a Greek fellow Ocean
Cruising Club member and OCC Port Officer for Athens, Dimitris Liaroutsos,
offered OCC members the use of his temporarily empty berth. A more practical
and convenient solution and by then Mike fancied taking the opportunity to
explore the Athens waterfront and coastal strip rather than spend 7 days at
anchor talking to himself.
Google
Earth © overview of Athens docks,
ports and marinas
We arrived at the PSC, on a Sunday morning, having
spent the previous night anchored off the beach at Varkiza on our way from the
island of KITHNOS in the northwest.
Route
taken through the Cyclades to Athens
From the moment we arrived we were impressed by the
activity, energy and enthusiasm of the membership of the various yacht clubs
both at the weekend and subsequently mid-week. Clearly some serious yacht racing takes place
in Falirou Bay within the Saronic Gulf.
Dinghy training and racing for all ages (from 5?) was in full swing and
being properly managed, while shore parties were working on a range of projects
and support tasks. The various clubs’ restaurants and bars were full of
sailors, family and friends and visitors.
It got a bit noisy as night progressed – but that is Greece.
Young
children getting kitted out for their sail
in the Club’s Optimist dinghies
The
children preparing to launch
At
lunch time the wind increased significantly and dinghy sailors raced back into the
harbour. Only at that stage did we realise
just how good some of them were
The harbour has a
great sailing tradition. King Constantine of Greece, as he was then, was an
Olympic Gold Medallist in the Dragon Class at Rome in 1960 and a member of the
original Royal Hellenic Yacht Club (RHYC).
His Olympic boat is in immaculate condition and is stored in one of the
boatsheds. Two members of the PSC won Bronze Medals in the 490 Class at the Rio
Olympics (Brazil) in 2016 and are currently away training with the Greek team
in the hope of doing better in the forthcoming Olympics.
King
Constantine’s dinghy in which he won a Gold Medal
at the 1960 Rome Olympics
Panel celebrating the Bronze Medal won by two
of the Club’s sailors at the Rio
Olympics in 2016
The Club does not normally take visitors and indeed
being ‘locals’ people don’t stay on their boats overnight. Hence the ‘facilities’ in terms of showers,
which were cold and open plan, and washrooms/toilets which could only be
accessed through a hole in the wall, were limited. Not a problem for us since we are self
contained and had the use of ‘free’ water and electricity on the pontoon.
The
hole in the wall into new washroom and toilets proved convenient!
While Med-moored on a PSC pontoon we met up with Japanese fellow OCC members Yoshi and Takako Wakau who, before we arrived, were using 'our' berth and were simply allowed to stay on longer on an adjacent vacant berth. They had bought their Hallberg Rassy Crows Nest 7 in Florida and are planning to take three years to cruise back to Japan.
Fellow
OCC members Yoshi and Takako Wakau
signing our Visitors' Book
One of the real benefits of Athens for a cruiser is
the availability of a mass of chandleries and hardware stores, spares, nautical
equipment and skilled engineers capable of taking on any task. On the islands most things ‘have to come from
Athens’, experienced nautical engineers are in short supply and everything
takes time!
A
small fibreglassing workshop on site at the PSC
In sailing terms Athens equates to the Solent and
French Riviera. Along the Athens coast there are 8 large (some very large)
marinas, most with some hard standing, all with support services available,
good security and excellent all-round shelter.
Some simply don’t take short-term visitors, others won’t if they can
avoid it (too much effort) and all are full of very expensive plastic, a lot of
which (as in nearly all marinas in the UK) clearly never move. Super (motor)
yachts are everywhere, competing for attention. Size is everything.
A
Mega Super yacht dwarfs a passing Super Yacht
We concluded that a short-term visitor is usually
likely to get negative feedback from the marinas on the phone and that in the
end you simply have to visit and see what happens. Try Zea Marina first since they at least
claim to be visitor-friendly or arrive mid-week at Alimos Marina when the
charter boats are out where one could probably negotiate a temporary berth with
a charter company (for cash of course) rather than deal with the less flexible
marina office. Thereafter it is a matter
of luck and perseverance. It is a lot
easier to stay when once in than possibly to get in in the first place. As a last resort one can always anchor off
one of the many beaches along the coast outside the swimming areas and of
course only in good/appropriate weather conditions – but would you really want
to leave your boat at anchor while you visited the city? Certainly we wouldn’t, which is why we always
planned to stop in a marina.
Zea
Marina – there are an awful lot of large expensive power boats in the marina
but equally there are also a lot of yachts
Alimos
Marina is enormous. It can take 1000 boats
and is home to quite a few charter
fleets
The bus or tram service, which runs along the coastal
strip between Piraeus and Glifada past the marinas and into the city, is
excellent – but it is best to avoid the rush hours.
Helen thoroughly enjoyed her trip back to the UK – in
particular the time she could spend with our granddaughter Emmy and being able
to see Lesley’s play at The Mill at Sonning.
As the mother-in-law of one of the principal actors she was privileged
to meet all the cast and the owner of the theatre.
Debbie
McGee, a patron of The Mill, was also seeing the play the night Helen was there. They had a long chat in the bar afterwards
Helen got back to the boat late on Saturday
night. This time she pre-booked a 20€
seat in a ‘shuttle people carrier’. Much
better for one person than 50€ plus (at night) by taxi. Unfortunately the 3€ public airport bus does
not pass the waterfront on its way to Piraeus after 2030hrs since no ferries
arrive during the night. “Holiday
Taxis” specialise in taking people from the airport to their hotels and vice
versa. They will, however, tailor-make a journey, in Helen’s case to the yacht
club, for people not staying in a hotel.
We now plan to head back to the Cyclades through the
Saronic Gulf and possibly (if necessary) part of the east coast of the
Peloponnese in order to ‘knock off’ the three islands in the Cyclades that we
bypassed on our way to Athens.
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