Leaving Lesvos and Back to Athens

After my trip to Plomari I was shattered. I manage to drag myself around the corner to Kalderimi for a ‘dine and a wine’ before heading back. I hit the hay hoping for a good night’s sleep. All was well until around midnight when I was woken by the sound of “thump thump thump” from across the harbour. I did my best to ignore it and go back to sleep but this was an absolutely impossible task. If the “thump thump thump” would have been a constant beat like a heartbeat I may have been able to adapt but it was more like a ” thump thump thump” (pause) “thump thump” with missed beats in between. An atrial fibrillation of dance music. This really set me on edge trying to anticipate when the next set of thumps would occur like listening to a new born baby breathing.

I went out onto the terrace to see if I could see where the sound was coming from. It looks like it’s Monkey where I had breakfast the other day. The thing with the horseshoe shaped harbour is it acts as a echo chamber. Any noise will reverberate around the whole harbour and there is no escaping it. I go back into the studio and try putting in my headphones as ear plugs. The thumping noise supercedes this. I try putting some music on but this is merely a distraction not only from the pumping nightclub noise but also from sleep.

I go into the kitchen-come-living room and anticipate sleeping on the sofa. Being on the other side of the wall may give some protection from the sound. It doesn’t. I know that I’m in grave danger of sounding like a bit of a ‘Karen’ here and I can promise you that I’m not. I’m just really exhausted and desperately need some sleep. It would help if I had some indication of how long this is going to go on for. I get on Google and this club night it seems is a regular event. It says that it usually closes at 3am. Well at least I now know what I’m working with. I get out my laptop and download photographs from my camera and phone as I’ve begun getting behind on the blog. At least I’m doing something productive.

Sure enough at 3am or thereabouts the music stops. I find it hard to go back to sleep so take the opportunity to do a timelapse of the sunrise over the harbour. When life give you lemons………………………………………!

It’s a little bit wonky but I had to construct a makeshift tripod using a coffee table balanced on the edge of the terrace wall. Thank God there wasn’t a gust of wind!

My last day on Lesvos was spent doing a little bit of this:

A little bit of this:

Quite a bit of this:

I also spent a bit of time re-arranging my luggage to make the jars of honey and bottles of ouzo safe during transit. Two pairs of leather sandals get discarded. My Birkenstock style sandals is my basic footwear for night and day. At my age it’s comfort all the way. However, although the sandals are still all in once piece, at some point during the trip they’ve been soaked with seawater and by guessing from the developing stench, a new life form is growing from within. It’s not all glamour!

Once in Athens I’ll continue to live from my suitcase for the three days that I’m there. All the beach clothing has been used to wrap and protect the breakables. I just had to think carefully what clothes I wanted to keep accessible without having to unpack.

On the morning that I leave I give the apartment a tidy and a clean and dispose of the rubbish in the bins in the street down below. There is one thing that I’ve been dreading and that is getting my suitcase down the narrow marble steps. It wasn’t an easy task because my suitcase is heavy. I resolved this issue by laying the suitcase on its side and sliding it down one step at a time. When I reach the first floor I’m able to put it into the goods lift used by the bakery.

Getting a taxi is going to be ‘Simples’ as the rank is located just below the apartment.

Before I know it I’m in one of the said taxi’s and then deposited safely at the airport. One thing that I did notice on the journey to the airport is that there are some fantastic looking old mansions along the way. Again something else to explore when I visit again.

The airport is practically empty with just a few of us departing Lesvos this afternoon. I take time to reflect on my stay here. I think I mentioned before that I really didn’t want to love Lesvos. Or rather I didn’t want to love it more than I loved Chios, Oinousses and Psara. I have fallen a little for Lesvos but to be totally head over heels as I am with its neighbours, I need to visit again and explore more. Once again I’ve only scratched the surface of this large, fertile, abundant and beautiful island. The bread basket of the Northern Aegean. I’ll have to come back

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Leaving the islands is always difficult. When I arrived on Oinousses at the beginning of my trip 7 weeks ago, I knew this trip was going to be special. I can honestly say hand on heart that this has been my best trip to date. I’ll summarise further at a later date but for now – I’m excited to be back in Athens.

Once through luggage reclaim I make my way to the metro station and head for Monastiraki. I’d normally stay in a good budget hotel such as the Attalos on Athinas Street but this time I’ve decided to push the boat out a bit. I’m going to be staying at the Lotus Inn located just off Monastiraki Square on Ermou.

The hotel complex is set across two sites – one across the road from the other. The Lotus Central Hotel main complex is a combination of the reception, restaurant and retail shops and is located on the left if coming from Monastiraki. The Lotus Inn is on the other side of the road – a satellite building with a secure entrance used by guests only. Once checked in the member of staff walks me across the road and shows me how to access the building and the elevator using the security features.

The room is very spacious with a modern bathroom – no ‘ick’ factor here. From the balcony I have views over to the main complex and above, the Acropolis. If I look down the alleyway to my right I can see Little Kook all bedecked in her Christmas finery! Halloween was just 3 days ago so they’ve really turned their seasonal display around quickly!

My only mission this evening is to find somewhere to eat. I’m almost on autopilot as I head down Ermou and then veer off to the right towards Plaka. I settle on a bistro style restaunt called Ydria which is sitting somewhere between Hadrian’s Library and the Metropolitan Church. I order a glass of Prosecco or two as a way of celebrating what has been a fantastic trip. Though it’s not quite over yet with three nights in Athens where I always feel as though I’m coming home! Tomorrow I’ll be visiting Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon at sunset.