Day 12 - Aegina (Αιγινα) to Athens (Aθηνα)

Thursday, October 4
Travel time: 3 hrs, Distance: 19.2 nm

Some Tradewinds boats behind us

The team awoke early so that we could get ready for the final leg of our journey. We had to be in Athens by 11:00 a.m., and we estimated about three hours. All of the Tradewinds boats said good-bye to Aegina at 7:00 a.m. just as we were getting the day's first light. We were number two behind Bob Kimball.

The winds were 18 knots, light! And the seas were calm.

Athens on the horizon

Kelli motored us into Kalamaki Marina where the Athens Moorings base is located. The marina is in southeast Athens, near the airport. The Moorings dockhands directed us to back into a spot near the end of the pier, and a dockhand jumped aboard with a lazy line to secure our bow. When all was secure, Kelli shutdown Didimos for the last time.

David Kory moored the catamaran Tonina in the last open space on the pier. All of the Tradewinds flotilla of chartered boats had completed a safe passage with no major injuries to crew or vessels. A successful mission!

Sue and Mike relaxing on Didimos awaiting check-in

Our crew finished cleaning up the boat, clearing out all the lockers and cupboards, and boxing up our not insignificant leftover provisions. Some of the crew wanted to take some of the extra booze with them, and Kevin ended up with our last bottle of Greek wine. We left extra food and paper provisions aboard knowing that the Moorings staff would be happy to claim them. No food is left aboard for subsequent charterers by the Greek Moorings company.

Eventually, it was our turn for the formal check-in. First, a couple of technicians came aboard to make sure everything still worked. This was mostly a mechanical checkout of the engine, windlass, and some of the systems. A diver in the water checked the bottom of each boat, looking for bent props, shafts or rudders, or other damage. We reported the sail damage and repair and they took notes.

Sometime later, the big boss came by for the final inventory and paperwork. It seems that Moorings in Greece is a different company than Moorings in other countries. Greece is handled like a franchise rather than a part of the parent company. The owner of the franchise did our inventory check-in. He owns all the bases in Greece.

The fleet with crew baggage ready to depart

He was a little crabby about refunding our €50 for the sail repair. We pointed out that the sail was an old rag, and he said we should have pulled it out and thoroughly checked it out before we departed Corfu. We said we didn't do that, but it wasn't torn before departure. It failed underway. After dickering back and forth, and getting lectured about how he handles things in his perfect world, he finally paid us. He would not pay us for the boat hook, however. He said he didn't care how we lost it and the fact that the handle failed was not the point. He left a bad taste in our mouths about chartering from Moorings in Greece.

Nevertheless, it was sad to leave Didimos for the last time. She is a good sailboat, and six Tradewinds crew members enjoyed her for thirteen days. And she cared well for her crew.

Athens (Aθηνα)

We loaded onto our tour bus at 12:30 p.m. It was then that we got the announcement that we could not visit the Acropolis and Parthenon because all the nation's park security guards were on a one-day strike!

We got some pictures of the ruins as we traveled to the original site of the Olympic Coliseum.

After the original coliseum site, we went to Areopagus Hill that overlooks Athens and is next to the Acropolis. On this hill murder trials were heard before the Council of the Areopagus In AD 51, St. Paul delivered his famous "Sermon to an Unknown God" form this hill and gained his first Athenian convert, Dionysus, who became the patron saint of the city.

A panoramic view series of Athens.

Below the hill was the ancient city of Agora. Agora was Athens' meeting place in ancient times. Agora was the focal point of administrative, commercial, and political life. All roads led to the Agora. Socrates spent a lot of time here expounding on his philosophy.

Agora was devastated by the Persians in 480 BC, rebuilt, then destroyed by the Herulians (a Gothic tribe from Scandinavia) in AD 267.

Two of the best remaining ruins are the temple of Hephaestus (picture on the left) and Stoa of Attalos.

The temple of Hephaestus was surrounded by foundries and metalwork shops, and was dedicated to Hephaestus, the god of the forge. The temple was built in 449 BC and has 34 columns

The stoa was built about 143 BC. It was two stories high and housed expensive shops. This was a popular stop for wealthy Athenians. The stoa was authentically reconstructed in 1953-56 by the American School of Archaeology.

After the bus tour, we were dropped off at the President Hotel at 3:30 p.m. and rested, taking a really looonnnggg, hot shower. Just letting the water run.

Team Sivota met up at 6:00 p.m. for a metro ride downtown. It was a 10 minute walk to the metro station. The station includes a mini museum showing the artifacts found during the metro's excavation. There is also an explanation of the layers of civilization the Athens is built upon.

Departing the train after a short 15 minute ride, we wandered the busy commercial area of Athens. The hustle and bustle was sure a change from the quiet marine town of the islands.

We had a fun dinner at an outdoor cafe with a view of the Acropolis -- lots of good food and laughs.

It was a short walk to the closest metro station and back towards the hotel. As we neared our hotel, Sue spotted a Starbucks. Yep, Starbucks IS everywhere. After 12 days of press coffee, Sue, Mike, Kevin, and Kelli headed in for yuppie decaf drinks, just to have some good American coffee!

Back to the hotel at 10:30 p.m. for some rest before our 4:00 a.m. wakeup call to ready for the long, 22-hour, no-sleep trip home via London again.