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Taking the Good With the Bad Breakfast overlooking the cove was great. We ate while watching a Greek fishing from shore. The sun dried the tent and warmed us as we munched our Corn Flakes. It was downhill from there the rest of the day. We decided to go to Aspropirgos, about twenty kilometers west of Athens, and take a train into the city. Arriving in Aspropirgos we found it wasn't quite as large a center as we had assumed from our map. After "transversing" (translating a Greek conversation) with a worker whose job it was to manually put down the rail crossing arm every time a train came we found out where the train station was. The schedule was posted on the door-in Greek. What did we expect? The station was closed and it looked as though it had been since about 1967. We looked for a bus station but couldn't find one, and finally decided to ride out of town to find camping. A reeking green creek roiled past. It was military land all around. On fences there were signs: No pictures or camping. Heading for Piraieus we rode on the busy freeway past cops. They didn't stop us. I couldn't see whether they shrugged or not as we passed. We came over a hill and could see hazy Athens, densely packed, crammed in a small space below. Above Piraieus we cut off on a newly paved road that hadn't yet opened to traffic. We scouted out a couple of spots for camping but they didn't show promise. Our best bet seemed to be the new soccer field with grass, but there were kids playing. We waited along the side of the road until it got dark. A man came along and in Greek asked us where we were going. "Piraieus" got a response that it was down that way. Well after sunset the kids were still playing soccer. Finally, the father came along and ordered them home in spite of their protests. Thank goodness for fathers. We pushed our bikes over a plank spanning the ditch alongside the new road and set up in a dark corner of the soccer field. Traffic noise above was constant from six lanes of traffic. On our map it was a little yellow road. Either the map needed an update, or we were in for real trouble. Sharon and I rehashed the day. Busy roads, freeways, poor signage, lost, Athens suburb industrial sludge (that gross green river), no train station, no bus station, more freeways, lots of roadside garbage, a military zone and no camping. Then, Piraieus. We could hardly wait to see Athens if that was a suburb! We were having a lovehate relationship with Greece. It was a country of contrasts. It was a dirty country with plenty of roadside garbage. Yet, it was a bright country in that many of its houses were a virgin white with roof and trimmings painted bright blue. In some ways it was an uncaring country-the Greek shrug was a common response often signaling: "I don't know and couldn't give a shit." On the other hand many Greeks were warm and friendly. Their broad smiles were inevitably contagious. They almost always used the few words of English they knew: "Hello. How are you?" Greece was a country steeped in history, but had no clear direction for the future. It was comprised of hundreds of tiny villages and islands-but over half the country's population resided in Athens. Greece was surrounded by clear aquablue water and inviting beaches. It had great natural beauty but it also had its share of industry and manmade scars. There were two Greeces. I liked the quiet rural one - I didn't particularly care for the other! |
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