Well folks we are still hanging about waiting for the English banking system to get with the programme but the good news is there are plenty of other things to keep us occupied… well there would be if everything wasn’t closed… for renovations that is!
I’m sure it isn’t something peculiar to Greece, all this titivating before the tourist season starts, but it’s the way they assume you know what’s going on, rather like the random shop opening hours. To be successful in Greece you have to have some built in telepathic ability to know whether or not the particular place you want to go is open or not. Needless to say we are still in the dark but attempt to perform all important operations between the hours of 8am and 2pm to hedge the bets in our favour.
Since we last blogged we have been to Naphlion, Spetses and Poros with side trips to various other places in between.
Naphlion was great fun. We went to see the Myceanean armour at the central museum (closed for renovations) and Palamidi’s fortress (randomly closed throughout the day for renovations) but ended up having the most fun playing International Flotilla Rescue (IFR – F.A.B, man!!).
Our top tip for today is; do not buy an ex-flotilla boat!! After a hot climb to the summit of Palamidi’s doodah (999 steps straight up) and a rapid descent to throttle the local tourist officer and part-time stand up comedian who said it was open when it wasn’t, we were in desperate need of a beer so headed to the water front. Over the past hour or so the wind had got up significantly so we thought it would be fun to see how all the boats were fairing and by the sound of crunching and squeaking as we approached the Neilson flotilla we guessed not well. However, when we finally sauntered closer we realised just how, not well, that really was!!
Picture this; four boats port side to on the seaward side of a concrete pier merrily bobbing up and down in the washing machine they assumed was the harbour, grinding off toe-rails and smashing stanchions on the wall, each other and the associated paraphernalia that always lives at the waterline on Greek quaysides. Let’s just say for those of you that try and avoid such pitiful sights, it’s wasn’t pretty. As we weren’t directly our responsibility we took our only logical course of action and went and had a beer… How cruel we hear you say but in our defence we had it where we could watch the action.
After ascertaining which was the lead crew (the hands over the eyes and general wailing and gnashing of teeth gave it away) we proceeded to watch them back the lead boat down the quay sustaining significant damage along the way and disappear leaving the hostee to watch the rest. Not a good start. After a long while and a bit of body and lip reading we realised the skipper was intending on leaving them to their fate and it was at that point we abandoned our beers (well we drank them more quickly than we would normally) and found the nearest phone box. Now appropriately attired, we causally wandered down the quayside and offered our assistance….
Murray “Can I be of any help?”
Engineer “I suppose so.”
Murray “So what’s your plan?”
Engineer “Umm??”
At this point it occurred to Murray that no one had a plan so he took charge and string was set flying, people were being coaxed, cajoled and directed and after a concerted effort the first two boats left unscathed.
Sum total of hostee’s help; “Make sure you have your lifejackets on and attach your harness to the binnacle!” Humm, hard to say which school of sailing she went to but that not that useful in this situation and I have to say quite embarrassing from a practical woman’s point of view!
The Engineer proved a willing assistant but as he pointed out it’s was his first week, he’s a windsufing instructor and he doesn’t really know anything about boats!!
Where the hell was the illusive skipper?
The final boat turned out to be a bareboater and the hostee reckoned that he wasn’t willing to go but I can tell you he and his wife had definitely bucked up when they saw Murray in action and were definitely ready to put their faith in him. So off we go, undoing the ten tonne of string he had rigged and after deciding that his wife was less than happy with the situation, provided extra crew (me – what a hardship!) and completed the rescue of three lots of happy punters.
Once Murray had them all moored up (what Murray… where the hell was the skipper?) there were beers and cheers all round and we finally met the “skipper”.
Not inspiring!!! He wasn’t sure about this new fangled Mediterranean stern to mooring, had no idea about the area he was leading in and generally didn’t know shite from shinola! But hey we’ve all been there, however, the trick is to at least look like you know what you are doing and inspire a bit of confidence at the very least!
The Port Police man was also less than impressed and said to Murray “Why do they not know what to do when the wind gets up. It’s going to be a very long season! Thank goodness someone did something”.
Needless to say we thought it was great fun, had a whale of a time and both agree IFR has a great f
uture!
By comparison Poros was extremely laid back (what’s new?!) and it was good to catch up with Big Richard (now Enormous Richard) and the rest of Greek Sails… doubt they will ever need our IFR services! If you are thinking of visiting Greece we can still recommend Poros as “the place” to go. Spetses too was as lovely as ever and we discovered a new statue park...
Well must love you and leave you now…
I’m sure it isn’t something peculiar to Greece, all this titivating before the tourist season starts, but it’s the way they assume you know what’s going on, rather like the random shop opening hours. To be successful in Greece you have to have some built in telepathic ability to know whether or not the particular place you want to go is open or not. Needless to say we are still in the dark but attempt to perform all important operations between the hours of 8am and 2pm to hedge the bets in our favour.
Since we last blogged we have been to Naphlion, Spetses and Poros with side trips to various other places in between.
Naphlion was great fun. We went to see the Myceanean armour at the central museum (closed for renovations) and Palamidi’s fortress (randomly closed throughout the day for renovations) but ended up having the most fun playing International Flotilla Rescue (IFR – F.A.B, man!!).
Our top tip for today is; do not buy an ex-flotilla boat!! After a hot climb to the summit of Palamidi’s doodah (999 steps straight up) and a rapid descent to throttle the local tourist officer and part-time stand up comedian who said it was open when it wasn’t, we were in desperate need of a beer so headed to the water front. Over the past hour or so the wind had got up significantly so we thought it would be fun to see how all the boats were fairing and by the sound of crunching and squeaking as we approached the Neilson flotilla we guessed not well. However, when we finally sauntered closer we realised just how, not well, that really was!!
Picture this; four boats port side to on the seaward side of a concrete pier merrily bobbing up and down in the washing machine they assumed was the harbour, grinding off toe-rails and smashing stanchions on the wall, each other and the associated paraphernalia that always lives at the waterline on Greek quaysides. Let’s just say for those of you that try and avoid such pitiful sights, it’s wasn’t pretty. As we weren’t directly our responsibility we took our only logical course of action and went and had a beer… How cruel we hear you say but in our defence we had it where we could watch the action.
After ascertaining which was the lead crew (the hands over the eyes and general wailing and gnashing of teeth gave it away) we proceeded to watch them back the lead boat down the quay sustaining significant damage along the way and disappear leaving the hostee to watch the rest. Not a good start. After a long while and a bit of body and lip reading we realised the skipper was intending on leaving them to their fate and it was at that point we abandoned our beers (well we drank them more quickly than we would normally) and found the nearest phone box. Now appropriately attired, we causally wandered down the quayside and offered our assistance….
Murray “Can I be of any help?”
Engineer “I suppose so.”
Murray “So what’s your plan?”
Engineer “Umm??”
At this point it occurred to Murray that no one had a plan so he took charge and string was set flying, people were being coaxed, cajoled and directed and after a concerted effort the first two boats left unscathed.
Sum total of hostee’s help; “Make sure you have your lifejackets on and attach your harness to the binnacle!” Humm, hard to say which school of sailing she went to but that not that useful in this situation and I have to say quite embarrassing from a practical woman’s point of view!
The Engineer proved a willing assistant but as he pointed out it’s was his first week, he’s a windsufing instructor and he doesn’t really know anything about boats!!
Where the hell was the illusive skipper?
The final boat turned out to be a bareboater and the hostee reckoned that he wasn’t willing to go but I can tell you he and his wife had definitely bucked up when they saw Murray in action and were definitely ready to put their faith in him. So off we go, undoing the ten tonne of string he had rigged and after deciding that his wife was less than happy with the situation, provided extra crew (me – what a hardship!) and completed the rescue of three lots of happy punters.
Once Murray had them all moored up (what Murray… where the hell was the skipper?) there were beers and cheers all round and we finally met the “skipper”.
Not inspiring!!! He wasn’t sure about this new fangled Mediterranean stern to mooring, had no idea about the area he was leading in and generally didn’t know shite from shinola! But hey we’ve all been there, however, the trick is to at least look like you know what you are doing and inspire a bit of confidence at the very least!
The Port Police man was also less than impressed and said to Murray “Why do they not know what to do when the wind gets up. It’s going to be a very long season! Thank goodness someone did something”.
Needless to say we thought it was great fun, had a whale of a time and both agree IFR has a great f
uture!By comparison Poros was extremely laid back (what’s new?!) and it was good to catch up with Big Richard (now Enormous Richard) and the rest of Greek Sails… doubt they will ever need our IFR services! If you are thinking of visiting Greece we can still recommend Poros as “the place” to go. Spetses too was as lovely as ever and we discovered a new statue park...
Well must love you and leave you now…
...International Flotilla Rescue are go… FAB!
P.s. Looks like we get Key West at the end of this week!!! Yippee!!!
1 comment:
Great to see Greece doesn't change in a hurry or the British banking system for that matter!!!
Hope by now you are well and truely on Key West and heading to waters unknown. I love the photo of the goats, before I looked closely I actually thought they were real.
Pleased to see Murray took charge and got the people organised, wonder how they faired for the remainder of the journey???
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