Chasing the sun

As the nights close in on northern Europe and the weather turns so my chosen path is taking me increasingly south in search of warmer climes.

My plan was always to spend time in Spain and then several weeks in Turkey, how we moved between the two countries though was up in the air. After exploring the options of going overland, flying into via Macedonia or Bulgaria and entering Turkey from the north, we settled on the more relaxed approach of a boat across from the Greek Islands. 

 

Leaving Barcelona to unseasonal rain and flooding we arrived in Athens just as I remembered it from previous visits, brown, hot and without a cloud in the blue blue sky, reminiscent of landing into Perth for my annual Christmas sojourn.

We only stayed in Athens for two days, enough time to spend a pleasant day sight seeing at the Acropolis. Having been in Athens a few times before I was, in a way, more intrigued to see if I could perceive changes from my previous visits given the current economic situation that Greece has unfortunately of late become infamous for.

On the basis of a friends recommendation, which included the promise of a much vaunted 2 Euro gyros directly across from the hotel, we by chance found ourselves staying in the area of Exarchia, the bohemia centre of Athens and an area the US State Department has advised against visiting given its association with rioters and civic disturbance. Potentially an issue given the rioting that had occurred in central Athens the week prior.

Gyros

Of course I had no idea about this at the time and was more focused on trying to locate the promised gyros land. Strolling around Exarchia it reminded me of many other inner city areas I’ve seen, with street art, bars and clubs and a whole range of eating options, from the aforementioned gyros to fine dining. 

Where Exarchia differed that first evening however were the riot policeman posted on each corner.  I assured Susi this was normal, although when we passed a van full of them I wasn’t so sure and then questioned why I thought it was normal in the first place.  Saying this we had no problems during our time in Exarchia, had some great meals (including the gyros) and evenings out, that were much more preferable to the tourist fare on offer in the vicinity of the Acropolis.

 

In terms of changes it was hard to gauge in such a short period, but the general mood of Athens feels somber to say the least and I’d say they’re grateful for steady stream of tourists the Acropolis and associated Parthenon provide.

Leaving Athens the hotelier enquired where we were going next, my response of the Greek Island of Kos elicited, ‘why do you go to Kos?’, to this I had no real response except it’s close to Turkey and the flights were cheap.  This reply, especially the mention of the Turks resulted in a stony silence and we shuffled out the door in search of our airport bus.

As I’ve travelled from place to place there’s usually a predominant type of tourist, from those doing a few weeks in the States, to those on longer timeframes in Central and South America, or in Iceland, the weekend break.  To date though I hadn’t really come across the package sun worshipping northern European tourist until Kos.

After a bit of research we’d chosen to stay in a small town called Tigaki on the basis that it had a very long stretch of sandy beach affronting the crystal clear waters of the Aegean and our accommodation, ‘Jonathans’ appeared pleasant enough when booking.  The accommodation turned out to be the finest and some of the cheapest to date and our initial booking of three nights quickly turned into five.

I’d read that Tigaki was famed for its windsurfing and I was keen to give learning another go. So late on the first afternoon, in fading sunlight, as I strode out along the shore searching for signs of windsurfers I was bewildered by the sparsely laid out pack of elephant seals basking in the sun, barely moving a muscle, that were my fellow beach goers.

It took until the next morning before we too succumbed to the pace of the Tigaki lifestyle of waking late, heading to the beach, lunch, swim in the pool, beer and then meal.  This we varied with the odd trip to a surrounding town, which confirmed how much we enjoyed Tigaki, and then we’d slowly make our way back. I’m not endorsing the package holiday, but for five days it felt very strangely like its own highly enjoyable separate vacation within my travels.