Home » Greece Italy » Cycle to the Summit Part 5 - Senigallia to Athens/Pireas

Having promised ourselves that we would spend Christmas 'somewhere warm', we were delighted to make it to Greece to celebrate the festive season in the sunshine. We took the opportunity to ease back on the mileage, relax and take in some of the sights of Athens, before meeting up with Toby and a replacement bicycle.

Cycle to the Summit Part 5 - Senigallia to Athens/Pireas

Toby Hammond
2006-06-25 18:48:25

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road, shed his load of boxes marked 'fragile'. The scenery of the coastline was superb; clear blue water, snow capped mountains and islands out in the sea in the distance. However, as we approached Athens, the scenery changed considerably; oil refineries, flare stacks, large shipping containers and signs indicating no photography. We had a final steep incline for two kilometres before we reached the summit and saw greater Athens stretch out before us. We took a deep breath of fresh air and then headed for the city centre - I wonder how Athens infrastructure will cope with the 2004 Olympics which are already well publicised on billboards and posters.
There were numerous 'hotels' to chose from although few that we felt could accommodate both us and our bicycles and leave us with peace of mind. Athens is our first large city since the unfortunate events in Milan. Settling for the Hotel Parnon, we spent the evening doing a 'kit check'. This involved emptying the contents of our panniers onto our bed and sorting the contents into three piles; 'send back to the UK' pile, 'keep for the foreseeable future' pile, and 'not really sure about' pile. Our kit was open to scrutiny by each other so there was no opportunity to hold onto non-essential items. In Africa we will be forced to carry more food and water compared with Europe so the total weight of our kit will become a major issue.

Friday 28 December - Athens rest day

Today was a busy day. We dressed in clothes from our 'send back to the UK' pile and took the remainder to the laundrette for a thorough wash. We purchased some bike spares before heading to the Acropolis. Later I went to the airport to collect Toby and a replacement for 'Flora' -the name I had given my bike. Paul remained at the hotel and cooked up a great chicken stew. It was good to have Toby back, to catch up on the news from back home and read a recent copy of a national newspaper.

Saturday 29 December - Athens to Pireas 10km
We used the morning to get caught up on emails, assemble Flora II and try to find out about boats to Cyprus and then on to Alexandria. We received a mixture of answers, no two of which were the same. Responses included there are no more boats until February, there is a boat next Thursday (3rd) and there will probably be a boat on Monday (31st). We ventured out of Athens to the port at Pireas where we got no firm answers although one travel agent thought that there was a boat at 7pm on New Years Eve, but again was uncertain whether it would run. We were advised to return on Monday morning when we would be able to find out for sure.

Sunday 30 December - Pireas rest day
The day was a relatively lazy one spent reading, eating, sleeping and watching the world go by. Toby made a trip down to the dock to see if there was any evidence of boats to Cyprus to be told that there was a boat on Monday at 5pm. Following the directions given to him by a man at the dock he cycled round the streets of Pireas for some time trying to track down the illusive Poseidon office. Not having any luck he returned to the hotel and we resolved to get up early on Monday morning to ensure that if a boat was running that we could secure our place on board. In the evening, we went on a quest for goat to satisfy Paul's taste buds. In the end Toby and Paul settled for lamb and liver (quite what of we are not sure) while I enjoyed what we thought was whitebait.