We had a long lie in this morning- it feels like a very long time since we had. We then gathered up our picnic basket and walked down to a nearby cove where we had a lovely breakfast in the sun and I a refreshing wash in the sea. I was suprised to not find myself sticky after, with the salt, and almost wished I'd bathed in the warm waters of the beach of our first morning in Greece, oh well! We headed off to Athens at a leisurely pace and stopped in a nearby town to indulge my emerging tourist shopping urges. After our experiences in Morocco earlier this year, I've developed a tendancy to avoid people, let alone vendors as everyone you meet there is either selling or begging. I've finally taken on board that we haven't seen any of that so far and want to embrace this tourist pursuit. Frustratingly, there was only one tourist shop in the whole town and it was closing down so had very little left but I did have a nice ice cream. Alex, meanwhile, immersed himself in the Turkey map and guidebook and concluded on my return; "It's big"!
We headed on into Athens, finding our way back much faster once we'd realised the 'no motorways or toll roads' option was still on on the Sat. Nav.. We were suprised to be charged for this toll road as all the others down the country appeared to be having their booths built so we hadn't paid a penny until now. We glimpsed the Acropolis on the way in but headed stright for the area of P@@@ to be near the port. We went to the local Archeological Museum in the hope of finding some tourist shops there. No shops but a refreshingly small and uncluttered museum with one room full of pottery, (some with some very saucy pictures) and statues. The crowning glory was definately three bronze statues that had been put in a store cupboard to protect them against pilfering Romans and had been found there in the 1950s in immaculate condition. They exhibited incredible workmanship and detail and the eyes were painted or plated a glowing gold with black holes for the pupils that brought them disturbingly to life. I gained a whole fresh understanding as to how intimedating and alive these gods would have seemed, especally in the flickering light of a temple. I couldn't even bring myself to take a photo of the smaller Artimis as she was so fierce, this is the larger Artimis.
I also really liked a set of statues downstairs that had been pulled out of the harbour- the shellfish of the harbour floor had begun to colonise the marble over the years, disolving holes into the rock with their excretions. Some still had their inhabitants in place. This one had had her arm part dissolved while the rest of her was left alone and the resulting efect was not unlike something from Doctor Who. Inspired by the museum we found the original harbour walls to sit and eat our lunch on then found a post office to post the last of my Greak mail, including my brother's Christmas present. Sadly it had only been open in the moring so we pressed on to the ferry.
We were suprised to find, despite twelve well labelled gates, that once you were at the right one it was just a scrum, no orderly queues or arrows or folk directing you or anything. After a while we worked out the system was one of similtanious embarcation and debarcation as the lorries took so long. Once we were about two cars away from getting on someone came to get our ticket and cheked we were in the right place. It all worked somehow and we had a (thankfully) calm seven hour trip, arriving at Chios around midnight. We managed to find a quiet area around the coast, surrounded by plots of land which seemed to be giant allotments and enjoyed a peaceful nights rest.
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