Tuesday October the 6th; in transit

I had a really rather self-indulgent breakfast, involving local honey and fresh orange juice.  I've been staying B&B here, and Mrs Kondylis does an excellent breakfast; but of course, that’s my carb allowance for pretty much the whole day, blown in one blast.  Very good though.

I packed, found I had just missed the bus to modern Corinth and had an hour to fill before the next one, so I went for a stroll. 

A last look out over the ruins of Roman Corinth

Outside the church is a big marble pillar with this quotation from one of St Pauls's epistles to the Corinthians, in Greek and English

..and this delightful chap was sitting at the foot of the text!

When I came back for my luggage forty minutes later, Mrs Kondylis insisted on giving me a bottle of their own home-grown olive oil.  I’ve managed to cram it into my case and will look forward to the taste of Korinthos in London.

Mr and Mrs Kondylis were super and so were their rent-rooms.  I’ve been eating in the evenings at their little taverna downstairs, too; their food is simple and fresh and they had nice house wines.  They don’t do a large range of dishes, perhaps three starters and three main courses, a choice of salad or horta; and when you ask what’s for supper they list it instead of bringing you a menu.  I’ve eaten very well there. 

I was sad to leave Archaia Korinthos.  It’s been wonderfully peaceful – though of course with various rural noises like cockerels and church bells and tractors and goats.  There’s very little light pollution, too, so that at night I could see masses of stars, even quite faint ones like the Pleieades and just a suggestion of the Milky Way.  I’d like to go back there some day, maybe visit Lechaion, Sikyon, Kenchraeai, Isthmia...

There’s always the next trip.

Lechaion, seen from the bus; the marram grass-covered sand dune in the middle distance covers some of the ancient harbour works, and to the left of it is a rather stagnant-looking lagoon that is all that's left of the artificial port the Romans built

Meanwhile on this trip, I got the bus to Corinth, took a taxi to the main bus station (because for some perverse reason the local buses all run from a totally different part of town to the long-distance ones), bought my next ticket, and took another bus to Athens.

Bizarrely, the long-distance bus terminal is next door to the abandoned railway station (the new railway line has a different route).  This is the place where I got stuck for ages, 26 years ago, with no breakfast.  I'm guessing it closed fairly recently, since it doesn't seem to have changed much, apart from no more trains going through, and of course the palm on the platform has grown a fair amount

The eastern end of the Corinth Canal, seen from the bus

The road to Athens is mostly coastal; some of it is really scenic; open country and views out to sea near Megara

...and some is less so; modern docks and industrial district near Elefsina

I’m back in the Athenaikon Hotel, in another little single room with a comfortable bed and tiny bathroom and a pile of clean white linen and towels.  Athens feels tremendously bustling and busy after the rural quiet of Archaia Korinthos, but at the same time it’s nice to be back here. 

Passing by the Panathenaic Way in the early evening

Beautiful crystalline strata in a block of the steps of the ruined Eleusinion

A simple graffiti, "I love you"...

Monastiraki Square, getting busy as the evening comes on

I've been out for a stroll and I just had a very tasty supper at Oinoploeion - the grilled mushrooms were delicious!  Tomorrow is my last day; on Thursday I fly home.  What a thought.