Friday, November 23rd, 2007
Woke about 8:30 am and Bobby, the owner, knocked on the door about 9 am to inquire what time we wanted him to drive us to the port? Check out is noon so we said we’d be ready about 11 am. It was hard to climb out of my warm bed so I snuggled down and enjoyed it for as long as I could. By 11 we were at the car and ready to go. He dropped us off at the port; outside the Blue Star Ferry office where he said we’d be able to leave our luggage for a few hours without any charge.
Dropped the big cases and large backpacks there and then headed towards town; we’d only gone a very short distance when we discovered an OPEN INTERNET CAFÉ. Yes, we went in, ordered an hour of time, wireless that we could use in the smoke free patio area; coffee and tea. We were set for the next couple of hours. We actually ended up purchasing another hour of time and one more cup of coffee before leaving. So nice and much cheaper to use this Internet than on board the ship; I was definitely a happy camper.
About 2 pm the ferry arrived and we boarded for our trip back to Piraeus, the port of Athens; we should arrive just after 8 pm this evening. It’s a long afternoon but the cheapest way to travel between ports. Just after boarding a man came by selling some food; the Greek girl next to us negotiated and it was seven of the circular things for five euro. I asked what it was and she very generously offered me a taste. It’s like two large pieces of unleavened bread, if you’re Catholic…they’re like very large hosts. We were told that they only make them on Syros. The ingredients: honey, sugar, glucose, egg whites, almonds/peanuts, vanilla and mastic. In between is a white, soft taffy substance with nuts. They call them Nougats; very sweet and good. I talked Jim into purchasing a packet of seven of them for us…it will be dessert over the next several days.
I asked the Greek girl, who spoke English very well probably because she works in hotels; about the “breaking of plates” shown in movies about Greece. She laughed and said that doesn’t happen anymore except for the tourist shows. She did say that she has one friend who owns a restaurant and when he has his friends in and they are having a really good time he may break a few plates. But it is highly unlikely to ever see that happening today in any Greek Restaurants.
After stopping in Syros we had many new people board the ferry. A husband and wife sat down in our row of seats with their grandson and his friend who are traveling with them. Very nice but don’t speak any English. We’ve used lots of sign language to communicate. The children purchased a soft ball and they’ve been playing toss with it; occasionally giving us the opportunity to catch and return it to them.
We got out our leftovers from the market trip on Wednesday and had an early supper: lukewarm Mythos beer, dried bread, bananas, nuts and now our Nougats. Plenty of food for now as neither of us is very hungry. It’s going to be a long afternoon and evening before we reach the Hotel Adams in the Plaka area near the Acropolis. We have reservations there for the next four nights. Tomorrow we will go by Metro to say hi to Julie and return her books and maps that she has loaned us. Had planned to take them to dinner but timing was wrong as she is getting ready for a trip and leaves on Sunday.
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