Having survived the night without a mass riot seeming to take place outside my hotel despite the massed hordes of riot police I strolled back up Syngtama Square past the Parliament building and into the National Gardens. A relaxing place despite the traffic noise on the adjacent major road, Amalias. Further down the hill I came across the ruins of a Roman baths, unearthed when they were excavating a ventilation shaft for the new Metro. Fortunately they were able to relocate the shaft and preserve the baths.
I next came across Hadrian's Arch and was able to gaze up at the Acropolis lit up in the morning Sun. Adjacent to the arch is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. €2 got me into the site which seemed relatively empty of tourists so early.
The temple took over 600 years to complete and must have been an incredible sight when complete. Now it still has a majesty in the morning sunlight. The detail at the top of the columns is still clearly visible.
One of the columns fell in in a storm in 1862 and now lays broken across the floor. The view from here up to the Acropolis is enticing but that site will have to wait till I have more time to explore.
The rest of the morning was spent strolling around and trying to find a local sim card for my iPad to over come reliance on dodgy hotel wifi. Cadged free wifi in the cafe in 'Public' a technology/book store overlooking Syntagma Square. Eventually found a card in the nearby Vodafone store but needed my passport to purchase it so did this after checking out of the hotel on the way to Piraeus.
The Athens Metro is a convenient way of getting around, only €1.40 for a trip to the port. It is, however, crowded and seemingly full of accordion players with very young children playing then begging for money. The initial rustic charm wears off quickly so I developed a steely expression of avoidance.
Piraeus has a reputation that seems well earned. Exiting the station i saw the overpass to the harbour side. Alas neither the up escaltor or the lift worked and I didn't fancy carrying my heavy bag up the long stairs so chanced it crossing the main road. Having squeezed down the narrow pavement I arrived at Gate 7 to try and find the ticket office for my ferry line. No initial joy so I asked in another office and they directed me back to a sfront on the main road. When I got there they then said they no longer represented the company so sent me back to the station to the general ticket office. Even there they at first didn't t want to issue my prepaid ticket as they claimed it was in another name. Finally though I had a ticket and headed back to Gate 7 for the ferry.
Whilst walking to the entrance a guy came running up to me to inquire which line I was traveling with. When I told him Aegean Speedlines he claimed they were not running today and tried to point me to another ferry. Animated discussion took place and eventually I kept going and finally found my ferry docked ready for loading. As I was too early to board I retired to a nearby taverna for lunch and a well earned beer.
Once on the ferry I was directed upstairs to the "Exclusive Class" section, nice seats with power and a table. The ferry was not full so I had the 4 seat block to myself. Trip out to Milos was 4 hours 20 minutes, stopping at two other islands enroute. The most notable thing about the ferry was the number of passengers sitting out in the open back deck with their dogs. One had to be careful where one walked out there by the end of the trip.
On arrival in at 8.20pm I had a taxi ride out from Adahmas, the local port, up through narrow, windy roads to Petrinella's Guesthouse, my abode for the next week and also the location of Sea Kayak Milos. The sea kayaking is run by an Aussie, Rod Feldtman who is married to a local lady, Petrinella. Rod soon arrived and welcomed me. We discussed the upcoming week over a glass of ouzo and some smoked octopus, sitting the bar at the base of the guesthouse. My concerns that I would be arriving late at night were unfounded. The bar only got busy after 10pm. After offloading my luggage I headed back down the street into the main part of the village for a late dinner before collapsing into bed in my comfortable upstairs room, looking forward to lots of paddling ahead.
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