MY TRIP TO GREECE AROUND SEPTEMBER 1971

My trip to Greece
Around September 1971

I cannot remember exactly how old I was when I did this trip. But I must have been round 20 years old as I was at university at the time. My last year at St Andrews was 1968 and from there I went directly to University in Johannesburg. For a brief period I had a Greek girlfriend. She introduced me to this trip that had been planned mainly for Greeks in Johannesburg. The price of around R500 was to include accommodation at the University hostel in Athens. Even at that time this was a good price and my father agreed to pay for me. I think that he must have also given me some spending money. I left with no idea as to what I was going to do when I got to Greece but packed a minimal amount of clothing and set off on the Olympic airline. By the time we started this little adventure the girlfriend and I were no longer going out so I teamed up with a young man Tim and his sister that I met on the plane. We sat together and worked out a possible trip.

Once in Athens we were taken by bus to the City Centre where we were shown to our rooms. It was basic accommodation but very comfortable and they gave us a meal. We wanted to explore and so began our tours around the city of Athens. By day we would take busses to various part of the city. We combined our trips to the ancient sites such as the Acropolis with visits to coffee shops. The evenings were spent in the area just below the Acropolis known as the Plaka. It was a small area full of Taverna’s and Restaurants. This is where we had about three nights of real fun. We ate watermelon, drank wine and sang songs with the locals. I remember one night when I had been the last to leave that there were no busses running so I had to walk home. I had no idea where to go and was lucky enough to meet up with a young man who helped me find the hostel. I was not worried about getting robbed as I had very little if any money. On my first day in Athens I bought a shirt in the local style. And I wore this shirt throughout the trip. It was white with embroidered Greek style patterns around the V neck. I loved this shirt. During the day we ate Slouvaki. This is a pancake filled with shavings off a huge polony type of meat that turns slowly around a griller.

After we had our fill of partying at the Plaka and sight seeing in Athens we decided to do an Island trip. One morning we woke up early and took a bus to a port town. From there we boarded a ferry boat that would take us to Skiathos. We always travelled deck class on these boats. I froze every night we were on the boats. Sometimes I would try to sneak into the lounge through the window but was scared of getting caught and being handed over to the police at the next port. So mainly we huddled in the ropes to try to keep the chill out of our sleeping bags. The Island of Skiathos was a huge success for us. As we landed we greeted by young boys who asked us if we were needing accommodation. They offered a bed only for about R0.50c per night. We were allowed to use the toilet but a shower would cost extra. We were quite happy with this as the room was sunny and warm and we really only needed the room to store our kit and to sleep. Tim, who I had met on the airplane turned out to be a Transvaal diver. One morning we were on a beach when some passing fisherman saw that we had female company and offered us a ride on their boat. Once on the boat we saw they had a huge kind of shell fish and Tim asked if he could try to dive for one. They laughed as this was a once off that they had managed to catch this shell fish deep in the ocean. Tim jumped off the boat and it was not long before he surfaced with one of these shell fish even bigger than the one that they had. He was the hero of the day and they immediately rushed us off to shore to a beach Taverna where there was a lot of dancing and singing about this catch. The lady of the Taverna offered to cook the delicacy and the owner offered us some wine. This was an amazing afternoon and we celebrated with them until late that evening. The fishermen eventually offered to take us back to the main port where we were staying. Each evening I would walk the narrow street and tried to find a small local taverna where I would sit for hours with a glass of wine or Ouzo and absorb some of the local culture. During the days we took busses or walked to the various beaches and spent hours sunning ourselves. On one of the beaches Tim & I saw some people on a Hobie Cat and enquired if we could hire one. Soon we were sailing off into the sea. Carefree and happy we hardly noticed how far we had sailed nor did we notice that the wind had picked up. Eventually as we battled to make our way back to shore we capsized the Hobie Cat and after a long fight we were able to right the boat. But by now time was against us and the owner of the boat must have realised that we had little chance of returning his boat to him in one piece so he came out in a speed boat and towed us back. This was a really embarrassing time for Tim & I as we had left with so much confidence and had returned with our tails between our legs.

After something like a week in Skiathos we left for Mykonos. This was one of the most popular tourist Islands and while we had a great time there we did not find the same hospitality and friendliness that we had experienced in Skiathos. IN Mykonos we did much of the same: days on the beach or walking the streets and exploring everything we could. There were huge numbers of Americans in Mykonos. Some living on the beach for what seemed to be undetermined periods. Our evenings were spent at Taverna’s and coffee shops. There was one restaurant where I was able to find a waitering job for a few days to try to supplement my funds.

From Mykonos we crossed back to Athens. Again we travelled deck class and froze on the boat. In Athens we were again able to use the hostel and I was really grateful for this as I was able to wash my precious Greek shirt. I had not noticed how brown it had become until I gave it a good wash. We had about a week left and decided to take a trip to the Island of Hydra in the south. This was another commercial Island and we only spent one night here. The last few nights of our trip were back at the Hostel. More sight seeing during the day and more partying at night.

I had spent a month in Greece and had thoroughly enjoyed the trip.