BLOG 6 / Spring 2019: Athens, 2 to 10 June 2019




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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