Monday was a bank holiday

Monday was a bank holiday and the weather is hot. So I did what all reasonable Athenians do under the circumstances. I escaped – briefly – from the sweltering hell-hole that is our metropolis.

I went camping! Under the pine trees in Agkistri. It’s a sweet island, very convenient for short getaways. Only two hours from Piraeus by boat and the pine forest that is used as a free camping site is an easy walk from the port.

Unfortunately everybody always has the same idea. The place was crawling with people and campers. The seas were full of sailing boats and speed-boats.

It had been three years since I last visited the island. As usual development is an unstoppable evil. The place was amazingly more built up that I remember it. Even all the old tavernas has renovated into new chic places. It’s not that they weren’t nicely done, it’s that everyplace has ended up the same. Restaurants and cafeterias are the same whether you’re in Athens or an island. Greece or another country.

And I mustn’t forget the scourge of our islands: the permanent installation of deckchairs and umbrellas. While quite a few people like umbrellas and deck chairs on the beaches, and don’t mind paying for them, the truth remains that it’s illegal and that a large number of us do not appreciate the blatant hijacking of our public spaces. (By law in Greece all beaches are public property.) All too often we are pushed of the sandy beaches by the deck chairs of the littoral cafeterias and forced to take refuge on the rocks to lay our towels. Actually it’s better to avoid beaches with easy car access all together. If the only way to get to a beach is by a long walk and a steep climb down a cliff, chances are that it’ll be free of deck chairs and annoying dance music.

I shouldn’t complain. I needed the escape. Walking through pine forests instead of taking crowded rush hour buses. Swimming in blue seas and burning myself on hot beaches instead of counting down hours in the office.

As usual I arrived back in Athens exhausted – it’s near impossible sleeping in a camping site, one of your neighbours will invariably hold an all-night party and by nine in the morning the tent has always become a furnace, forcing you out. I also got back full of giant splotches all over my legs. Why oh why do insects insist on biting me? One of the beaches we went to was infested with horse flies and they decided to make a meal of me.

Back in Athens it’s hot hot hot. And I’m bored bored bored at my job. On the upside I have a dance class this afternoon (one of the few things I truly enjoy during my week). And the weekend is approaching again!