DAY 11 - ATHENS

11) FRIDAY, 8 JULY 1977: 175KMS .. - ATHENS.

On the way from  KONSTANTINOS to ATHENS  before ARKITSA, we  found  a  beach almost deserted, so we  parked for a rest and swimming,  as well as cleaning  interior of our campervan and clothes  with fresh water of  limited quantity  20- liters. Since we  left Munich  for 10 days, this was the first time that we had a chance to wash our clothes. 

First day of laundry under olive tree on the beach

I used a nylon rope stretching between two olive trees  as  clothes hanging line. Then I cooked (steamed) rice and made  spicy Chinese sausages salad  (that Yai-PONGTHEP  has  given us before departure from STUTTGART)  I had it together with  red chili paste.  Around 6.00 pm, we began driving to ATHENS.

We need to pay for roads toll 20.- Drachmen for the highway useing.  The Greek highway, anyhow, was not as wide as German Autobahn and  no dividing barricade on the road.  Most Greeks seem to  drive  well (?) , as well as Thai people (!), zigzaging from  left to right and enjoyed using horns  for fun without reason. Even worse were those trucks with color lamps at the front and both sides  (not much different from Thailand),  causing nervous tension and frustration. I seemed having got  used to German standard  during the past 4 years  in Germany that I never heard anyone used the horn !

Omonia roundabout (old photo) - Phot : Binbg images search

We arrived  ATHENS  about 8.30 pm. Tilo prefered to park outside the city as we were afraid of finding parking lot . At first, we though it was not far from the city center but we were wrong and had to walk quite  a long way. There was no sign that we would reach the city center,  we passed nearly  40 building blocks  until we reached  OMONIA roundabout, where  we  had some  sweets and cakes that look like Thai dessert made from egg yolks dipped in syrup (called Dhong-yhib and Foythong).   

Omonia square nowaday - Photo : Wikipedia / Bing images search

We walked  to look around  and saw people sitting at tables, generally having grilled meat and dessert.   Around  11.00 pm we went back to the parking  and drove off to find a better parking near the park not far from the National Museum.  Until we found the ideal parking spot, we had to drive around a OMONIA roundabout many times .


At last ..... something unexpected happened ....

After cleaning ourselves with wet towels as usual and we were preparing  our bed, we heard  a knock at the side of the campervan.   As soon as Tilo opened the back doors, we heard the voice announcing “Police !”  Of course, the policemen ....they asked to check our passports . One of them climbed up without our invitation.  He asked us to lift up the seating boards in the sleeping compartment and searched for  illegal materials but found nothing.  

I wondered and asked them what they wanted to search for. The answer was that because they saw our campingvan  moving and  making  several stops. Because parking area was hardly to find and we wanted to find the best area that was the reason Tilo drove around and stopped once in a while to have a look !  The police should have thought that  we might be drugs traffickers (oh well !? )  Actually Tilo had noticed  a car following us but didn’t mention it to me as he thought it was a taxi.

Athens - Photo : Bing images search

After having found nothing illegal and some converstions exchanged till clearly understood for both parties, the police politely asked for apologizing and bade us good night and wishing us a wonderful time in GREECE before driving away. So it was time to bed finally.

Athens by night and Acropolis - Photo : worldpress / Bing images search