Attica

Wandering around Attica can be great fun, if you’re based in Athens. You can go in any direction and find something weird or interesting. There are beaches along the nearby coast, some with toilet-paper floating in the sea and others which are “pay beaches” where you have facilities for changing and diving-boards (and no toilet-paper in the water).

One route I took went north through Marathon and up to ancient Rhamnous on the wild north coast. At Marathon I witnessed the angriest exchange ever between two groups of travelling Roman gypsies. Scary.

Another route took me south-east via Markopoulon, where the buses have a terminal. There you can switch buses to continue your adventure. There are tavernas selling a variety of hot dishes, all freshly bubbling in front of you. You could get a banquet for about £2 then.

I went to Vravrona (Brauron) to have a look at the sanctuary, before heading on to explore Laurion (where silver used to be extracted from the mines) and to try to find Thorikos. There was supposed to be a theatre there. I got off the bus in the middle of nowhere and trudged for ages along some tracks. That’s when the huge hound came bouncing up the hill towards me, snarling and delighting in showing off two rows of enormous fangs. Strange place to end the journey, I thought. Suddenly, the dog was yanked back forcefully by a long sturdy chain and fell to the dust in a groaning heap. Behind him, having heard the commotion came a farmer, who smiled and waved. “Yiassas!” he shouted.

Off I went. No sign of any site or theatre. Another sound then behind. This time a motorbike. It stopped and a smiling young Greek signalled to jump on. I told him I was looking for Thorikos and he laughed. “You’ll never find it. I’ll show you.” A couple of minutes later we were there. It was not that far from where the bus had dropped me. In those days very little was marked if deemed unimportant. I thanked him. That’s the first time I rode a bike in Greece.

I took my photograph and moved on. Here’s an interesting link to a website for this fascinating spot.

Next stop, the cape of Sounion. That’s one of the most spectacular places in Greece. There are thousands of photographs of the sunset of the temple there. The Temple of Poseidon is massive and guarantees you an impressive photo. Even these images recaptured from very old negatives on a digital scanner give a good idea of the atmosphere of the location.

Since it was getting late I needed to find a place to sleep. I had already done camping in a tent in Crete, sleeping on top of a bus-shelter, roofs and hostels. By the time I got to Rafina it was a tad late for seeking accommodation. It’s a port and lies opposite refineries and industrial stuff. But there is a long stretch of sand. So the beach it was. When I woke up, there was a pack of wild dogs sniffing around, so I lay quite still until they moved on. Then I popped my head out to witness the most spectacular sunrise ever. I immediately grabbed my camera and took this shot. I have always like it, despite the limitations of the camera (tiny Kodak instamatic).

The filters on my scanner are awesome for producing over-saturated images, using the reds and blues. Here are two different examples.

I decided to look for somewhere to stay for a couple of days to have a well-deserved break from hiking. I had heard of a hostel in Mati so made my way there. It took some finding. They didn’t advertise it, since the hostel shared grounds with a large number of chalets among the pine trees. These chalets were much sought-after by well-healed Athenians who could escape the intense heat of the summer in the city.

Here’s a photo I found of the group who had managed to find the hostel, which was just up the hill from the small beach.

Mati Youth Hostel, 1977, in happier times, with Mr Nikos

I stayed for about a week in the end, because it was such a quiet, pleasant spot.

It’s the same place which was consumed by an inferno a couple of years ago

Paul WoodfordMay 11, 2020Mainland