As close as I get to a church these days

Serifos has definitely been an interesting stay. Not interesting in that lots of things happened – there’s really not a lot to do except relax – but interesting in that we managed to find one of the few islands not spoilt by tourism and we had a chance to see what Greek life was all about. Oh and I got in touch with my own mortality.

As lovely as Hotel Rizes was, we didn’t want to spend *all* day lazing by the pool so we hired a car and proceeded to go off the beaten track to get to ‘real Greece’. I decided to drive because a) I’d never driven on the right-hand side of the road before and b) didn’t want to be a wuss about driving on the right-hand side of the road.

So… here’s what driving off the beaten track in Serifos mostly entails: driving up/down a rutted stony track only wide enough for one car at a time with no barriers and a sheer drop to certain death on one side, clutching the steering wheel in a death grip praying to any god that will listen and resolutely not looking down. I would have let Chris drive but I’m too much of a control freak and he kept looking at the view so he was banned from driving – except when I’d had too much to drink in the evening (which was every evening incidentally 🙂 ).

My favourite dining experience on the island came when after finishing our meal (and a bottle of wine) the owner gave us a glass of local firewater to send us on our way. Got to love a country that gives you more booze before you drive home to ‘perk you up’.

I haven’t made up my mind whether I like Athens or not yet. It’s grimy, graffiti-ridden – a city in decay, but then you unexpectedly come across something beautiful like a church in the middle of the chaos and find yourself liking it almost in spite of itself. It’s rather disconcerting actually, but on the whole I’ll be glad to leave Athens and probably wouldn’t return except as a stop over on the way to somewhere else – like the island of Serifos where we’re heading next.

It hasn’t been the best start to our island adventure, however: Chris got pick pocketed on the train on the way to the ferry. It was quite a masterful operation to watch – this gang just swarmed Chris in the guise of helping him, and before he knew it he had been divested of his wallet. The most audacious part of it was that they stayed right next to us on the train like nothing had happened. Then, when Chris started to make some noise about losing his wallet, one of them ‘found’ it on the floor – less €50 of course – then they all hopped off at the next station. Still, at least they didn’t take his credit cards and €50 isn’t much in the scheme of things. Lessons learned, lessons learned…

One thing I do know is that I already like the island of Serifos very much indeed. More later, but for now this is where we are staying: Hotel Rizes.

It’s time for Sam’s European adventure take 2, only this time I’m on my own… not coz I’ve dumped Chris (or vice versa) but because he couldn’t meet me in Athens until Sat so I’ve had a night and a day all to myself. While admittedly travelling on my own freaked me out somewhat*, it’s actually been kind of cool and not having someone else around seemed to circumvent the meltdown I usually have first night in a strange city – and vodka wasn’t even involved! Truth be told, I laid down for a quick nana nap at 5pm and woke up the next morning.

In a fortunate happenstance, I seem to have found a hotel right near the main shopping drag so that took care of the first part of the day. In an effort to prove that I’m not a complete philistine, I went to the Benaki Museum to see a jewellery exhibition designed by famous artists such as Picasso. Now museums are normally Chris’ thing (there’s a limit to how many pieces of pottery I want to look at), but I can’t spend the whole day shopping. I then compounded the problem by visiting the Museum of Cycladic Art and realised that Chris would have actually wanted to see this one but too late now. It had a fantastic exhibition of nude sculptures by Ugo Rondinone. Lots of willies.

To complete the day I indulged myself with a fish spa, pedicure and massage. Rather odd to have little fishes nibbling away all the detritus from your feet but I guess a part of me will now stay in Athens (collective eww! there). I usually expect a girl to do the massage, but no, I got Andreas. A little weird, but apart from the odd breathing and waving his hands over my body to align my chakras or some such nonsense it was pretty good. Think it was supposed to be a no clothes massage but he obviously picked up on my ‘don’t touch my breasts’ vibe and told me I could keep my knickers on.

There’s a lot to be said for travelling on your own, but I’m not game enough to venture out by myself at night in this district so it’s just as well Chris arrives soon and I can start the drinking 🙂

*travelling generally does this to me anyway. As a result, Emma now thinks I need therapy – I’m just surprised it took her this long to figure that out.