Greece
Athens & the island of Naxos

I took a "Eurostar" train from Rome to the ferry port of Bari. I had to pay an $11 supplement to my Eurorail pass for the privilege. There was nothing Eurostar about this train - slow and many stops.

After finally arriving at Bari, while waiting for the bus to the docks, I met two Koreans and a Chinese guy named Jack. The bus driver from the train station to the port dropped us off at the ship not knowing we had to buy tickets so we all had to trudge back about 500 meters along the pier to the ferry office. After that, we had about two hours before departure and Jack and I set off to find something to eat in town - no luck, it was Sunday and everything was closed. I had a two reheated dishes of spaghetti at the port office snack bar and watched the sunset from the balcony.

After the lousy experience of the night train to Paris, I was not looking forward to this overnight ferry travel to Greece. When we got one board and I saw the dorm bunks I could use for free and I decided to upgrade to a cabin. I was glad I did. I had a two bunk cabin to myself and a good night's sleep.

We arrived at the Greece port of Patras the next day about noon with one minute to walk a quarter mile to the train station to catch the next train to Athens. When I got to the station the electronic sign at the station was flashing the train's name and departure time but there was no train on the track under the sign - only one sitting one track over. I should have known from the size of the town and the station that if there was ANY train sitting at the station on ANY track about the time one was to be there that it was the one.... but I didn't and didn't ask and let it go. My first and only train catching mistake. The next train was in two hours.

Jack and the Koreans and some Japanese girls showed up and Jack and I decided to go get something to eat.

The train to Athens was the worst looking train I've see so far. Five cars long, dirty bathrooms, no non-smoking sections, no first class. On top of that... Jack and I got kicked out of the seats we had chosen (twice) because people had reservations. Finally we found unclaimed seats and settled in for the 5 hour ride. This train moved slow and every so often it would have to pull off to the side to let another train go by in the opposite direction.

About halfway there the train started filling up. Pretty soon most seats were taken. Jack was sitting in the of seat opposite and facing me and there were two young Greek women sitting next to us. Across the isle and on my side was a young couple about 27 years old. Facing them was another young man and an old woman.

The train was running a half hour late by now and we were still making stops. At one point the guy across the isle (part of the couple) made some remark to the other young guy across from him and they both started laughing and looking at Jack. Jack just smiled back. This continued for the next half hour. I could not tell for sure but I thought they were making fun of him and this was an instance of racism I had read about in the guidebooks (though I'd expect this in Germany or somewhere north and not against an obviously Asian tourist). The strongest indication that they were making fun of Jack was the snickering of the young man sitting opposite the "couple guy".

The "couple guy" had also been speaking off and on to the two women sitting with Jack and I. We also found that one of these women spoke a little english. At one point the communication barrier was broken when the young Greek woman began translating for the "couple guy". She said that this guy admired Jack and wanted to know about him. Turns out Jack's last name was Chen and this was close enough to Chan and Jack looked enough like Jackie Chan to excite the "couple guy" who said he wanted to be Jack's friend. The conversation continued with the young Greek woman translating. Jack gave information about himself and the couple guy responded and suggested places to stay and visit in Athens as well as dishes to eat. All the while the "couple guy", and more so, the guy sitting across from him, laughed and in a way that was not reassuring.

I didn't think the two women sitting next to Jack and I were anything to worry about - they seemed to genuinely be interested and care about Jack. But the "couple guy" and the other guy, I was worried about. If they should offer Jack a place to stay, I would want to try to get my concerns to Jack discreetly. From were he was sitting, Jack couldn't see the way the one guy laughed and even if he could I wondered if he could interpret the type of laughter.

Meanwhile the train still lagged. An hour late by now. We would be arriving at 9 PM or later - way past dark. Turns out the couple left before we reached Athens. After they left, one of the young Greek women spoke in a voice soft and low to the other and kept glancing over towards the "laughing" guy to make sure he wasn't listening (and he was trying). I could only interpret this to mean that my assumptions about the derision and attitudes of the two young men were right and the women shared them.

Later after reaching Athens and walking about seven blocks to the hostel, Jack and I went out to find some dinner and I shared my concerns with him. He too, had reservations about the "friendship" he had struck up with the "couple guy".

The hostel in Athens was no great shakes, but it was only $8 a night and had internet access and was on a quiet street - though not such a great neighborhood. Actually, much of Athens is pretty disgusting - not much old town, dirty streets, haphazard construction everywhere. And, aside from a couple museums (that I declined to bother to see), the only two things to see are the Acropolis and the ruins of the ancient Angora just below and north of the Acropolis. I bought a $12 pass with multiple stubs to visit up to seven sights and ended up only visiting three.

The second day I went back and visited the ancient Angora area again because there was a bench in there next to a very well preserved temple that had an excellent view of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis. The Agora also had a newly built full size replica a long hall building. On the west side of this building down a long open double columned causeway, at the very end, was a modern water fountain next to the men's room that had the coldest most refreshing water I tasted on this trip. The walk down this causeway, as the sun set, going from sunlight to column shadow to sunlight, was mesmerizing....and well worth the several times in two days that I made the journey to the water fountain. I tried to use one of the remaining stubs to get into the Acropolis area again for sunset the second day, but they were wise to me and I had to watch the sunset again on the hill just west of the Acropolis entrance with the rest of the twenty-five or so, low rent crowd.

The next day I had to make an 8:30 ferry to the island of Naxos. I almost missed it because my watch alarm did not wake me even though I tied it around my neck (close to my ear) with an elastic cord. This was the best I could come up with to get it close enough to wake me. I had noticed many times before that it would not be loud enough to wake me when sleeping in hostels when I was wearing the requisite ear plugs to muffle the sound of my roommates. Other than forgetting that finger and toenails grow and that I'd need something to cut them, the watch was the only gear mistake I made. Everything else I packed was everything I would have wanted to pack.

Anyway.... I made the Naxos ferry, even as I was having reservations about leaving Athens that day as I had a few outstanding trip business things to take care of by email and I wondered if there was an internet connection on the island. Not that Athens was so great - internet wise. Other than two machines at the hostel, I saw only one real internet cafe in two days - though I did come across a bar called Cafe Internet and Joe's Internet Cafe - neither of which had a computer inside.

After a six hour ferry ride I arrived at Naxos and departed the ship with the four other people traveling to this island that day and was immediately approached by people offering places to stay. I finally accepted an offer to ride with this guy to see his place when he agreed to return me to the tourist office (which the guidebook said could help with finding a place). The guy's pension room was very nice and with a kitchen but not much view and I talked him down to $15, but left saying I might be back. Another pension hawker must have followed us in his van because he came up to me as I walked away from the first place. Turns out his place was in a much better location, had a kitchen with stove and refrigerator, a large balcony facing south which could view the sunset and sunrise and a roof terrace with and even better 360 degree view. I talked him down to $20 a night and have been here 4 days and contemplating 6 more.

That night I walked to the remnants of an ancient temple and watched the sunset .

The town square is two blocks away. The closest internet cafe is 200 ft from my door (this small town has at least 8 internet access points and they are as fast as Athens and cheaper). A little further is a very good pizza place.

The town itself is very charming and is honeycombed with many small winding whitewashed alleyways leading up and down. The first full day here I rented a 90cc scooter for $9 and toured part of the island. The second day I hiked to a peak east of town in the morning and then wandered about the alleyways of town in the afternoon. The 3rd day I rented a mountain bike for $3.50 and road to a beach and fortress south of town.

Today it rained and I spent a lot of time taking care of online business (and writing this). The weather forecast for Greece is rain for the next week. Yesterday it was supposed to rain - but it turned out to be the sunniest yet. I'm trying to decide wether to move on to Crete (and rain), stay here and read and ride and walk between rain, or head back to northern Europe and train it around for a couple weeks. Tough decisions.........

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