Subject: BS: POSTCARD FROM POROS (GREECE) 2022
From:
Roger the Skiffler
Date: 24 Sep 22 - 10:21 AM
We have been all over Greek island groups except the Saronic Gulf ones so this year we tried Poros which is 1 hour by fast catamaran from Piraeus and 10 minutes by small shuttle water taxis from the mainland town of Galatas. Our travel involved BA and Heathrow to Athens. We were advised by the airline and airport websites to allow 3 hours before flight. We allowed 2 ½ only to find bag drop didn’t open until 2 hours before flight! Go figure! There must be a conflict between the retailers and caterers at the airport who want you through check-in and security to spend money and the airport and airlines who want to give you as little time as possible to eat or shop. Having got us to the gate they held us for an hour while they changed the ‘plane. This meant new seat allocations instead of the ones we had carefully chosen online. However, we made up time, our transfer to Piraeus and the ferry went OK and we were met at Poros by a small boy holding up a sign with our name correctly spelled: “Follow me” to the taxi waiting area. The driver welcomed us, bemoaned our leaving the EU as they like British people the best! He parked as near the hotel as possible, 20 steps to go or a steep alley. The small boy seized Sheila’s bag and scampered off up the slope , I followed more slowly with the other bag and we gave him a few coins when we reached the hotel and he seemed pleased.
The driver had pointed out the direct 20 step route to the hotel: “By the yellow motorbike”. We managed to find it even when the bike moved! Described as a boutique hotel, it was small (10 rooms) on 3 floors with a rooftop terrace where breakfast was served. There was a lift with a sign “avoid using the lift” which I hope was only a fire warning! Sheila was glad of it later. We had a small balcony with sea and town views. The only downside was the bathroom which looked very good but the designer had clearly never tried to use it! The towel hooks failed to grip the towels and the sink was shallow but the tap powerful so water jetted straight out and on to you. There was a drain slit which even our universal travel plug couldn’t fit so to get any depth of water to stay in the sink you had to jam a flannel or similar into the slit!
Greek showers are often dodgy, this one was fine: even had those jets the hit you unexpectedly (like the Spanish Inquisition) from all directions and the drain had a loose metal cover which was a cut hazard for the unwary.
We expected Poros to be expensive because of the proximity to Athens and the presence of holiday homes of rich mainland Greeks, but food and drink cost what we were used to, although there were jewelry and clothes shops for those who like to splash the cash. As well as lots of sailing yachts, flotillas and fishing boats there were a large number of super and mega motor yachts whose guests seemed to eat and drink on board. The busy main drag along the harbour was always busy as the regular water taxis from Galatas brought people over to eat and drink. There were estate agents renting them holiday homes, perhaps they were Letters to the Galatians (sorry!). There were also car ferries of varying sizes and speeds to other destinations. Being 2 street layers and 20 steps up, our hotel was very quiet. At breakfast we were entertained by sounds of naval drill from the nearby Naval College in what was once King Otho’s palace. When we walked past it there were signs forbidding photography and we could see lads, presumably on “jankers” picking up trash! The iron fences and gates were in sore need of a paint job, no UK barracks would have left them unpainted! They seemed to have church parade every morning and once a week marched across the bridge to the larger part of the island. On Sundays their (long) service including long sermon was relayed from the garrison church by loudspeakers. The woman serving our breakfast turned up her radio to compete!
Like many Greek harbours there was an evening traffic ban which, of course, didn’t apply to electric scooters (very popular) bikes, pedal and electric, motorbikes, wedding cars and the local minibus so you were always in danger of being run over! The minibus was free and ran every 20 minutes round the town with 5 fixed stops. Masks to be worn (also true of taxis and ferries- strictly enforced) . Mornings from 10 to 3 and then evenings from 7 to midnight with priority for elderly, disabled and children with carers. We used it to go round the town and to go to the furthest restaurants. All the eateries were good and we were spoiled for choice, we tried about half a dozen and the same number of cafes. Some were very busy, (one had 30 staff) with large parties of yachts crews and local family groups, we even had to book a couple of times, something we’ve never needed to do in Greece, especially this late in the season. There was so much choice we didn’t have a Greek salad until our second week! Most gave a free limoncello granite or a cherry drink as a postprandial freebee...and sometimes they didn’t- was it something we said? At weekends a male/female duo of singer/guitarists sang Greek songs on the quay. Bars showed football and basketball as usual and someone’s funeral. We had a tv in our room but didn’t switch it on. The Greek daytime soaps they showed on the ferry looked very hammy, even by soap standards!
The local council hall had a women’s choir practicing several nights which we could hear from our balcony and the front bore barriers supporting the local fishermen’s campaign to keep the waters unpolluted: there was a drilling ship and a couple of dredgers out to sea that we could see from our room. We were pleased to see lots of garbage and recycling bins, clean streets and a mobile recycling lorry, other islands could learn from them.
We did a walk on our second day to look at the beaches and passed the red sandstone Galini Mansion which had included Lawrence Durrell, Henry Miller, Seferis, Venizelos etc. as guests in the past. Unfortunately Sheila pulled a muscle in her foot which meant we spent more time on the (admittedly very pleasant) beach then we would have done and never got to Poseidon’s Temple, although we did see some finds in the town museum (we got OAP rate without asking!). Whether it was the mainlanders and rich visitors, but we experienced discourtesy while walking. Everywhere else we have found Greeks friendly and helpful, bur Sheila was obviously limping, walking with a stick and bandaged foot and yet groups of Greeks (and, I am sorry to say, one group of American men) blocking the pavement or coming in our direction made no attempt to let us past, unless I made myself into a bulldozer.
The beach was shingle/sand, very clean and with comfy sun loungers. There were 2 tavernas. One had the comfiest loungers but loud music so we used the other one and lunched there most days. They let us run a tab on daytime drinks, lounger hire, ices and we would settle up before leaving There were gentle waves except after a passing ferry when there was a mini-tsunami which washed away unsuspecting shoes etc. Apart from the first weekend the beach wasn’t busy. At weekends Greek families come to the beach and we were impressed by some very young snorkelers. Teens and under 40s tended to use the other beach taverna, we were definitely in the family and seniors end of the beach!
We looked up three of the larger motor yachts. One had 8 crew for 12 guests and could be hired for 85k euros a week. Another with 5 crew for 12 guests cost 110k euros a week. The larges was UAE owned, not available for hire and had a helicopter, beauty parlour, beach bar, massage room, jacuzzi and cinema with 44 crew for 20 guests.
The island was very green and we saw no goats, not even on the menu. One street was named after my birthday: how thoughtful. There was also a memorial to the Battle of Navarino, fought nearby in 1827. Our route to the beach involved crossing a road at a crossroads, made interesting by the fact that drivers almost always neglected to signal their turns and were quite happy to weave round you when you were using the zebra crossings. Our return journey worked OK, the steep ramp to the ferry could have been difficult for S with her foot and me with 2 bags but the crew were very helpful with an arm or a push! Our tickets had a seat number but as usual we were encouraged to “sit anywhere” to speed departure.
Yet again Thimbles O’Hooligan has put some photos on his Facebook page for those who are his friends. Where to next year? There are 3 more Saronic Group to go, and we also want to visit some of the mainland sites like Epidavros, and the new Acropolis Museum (haven’t been to the Acropolis since 1982, I wonder if it is finished yet?).
RtS
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sj
