Lost in Athens? Ye gods!

I was sitting in The Hip Café in the heart of Athens on Sintagma square. It was late afternoon. Finally the sun was about to set. It was not that hot anymore. I glanced through the menu: ”Hip Hand made pasta, Hip Pancaces , Hip Toasted Sandwich….” But no, I had totally lost my appetite. I guess it was because I was worried!  We had finished our week long cruise and taken a taxi to Athens and now she was lost!

Cape Sounion & Temple of Poseidon

Early in the morning we had sailed past Cape Sounion, and had admired the ruins of ancient Temple of Poseidon. The rising sun had made the ruins high up on the bank appear incredibly white against the blue clear sky. I raised my left hand from the steering wheel and set it on her shoulder. The boat was gliding in the beam reach almost silently on the turquoise surface. I was happy. I told her so. She returned my feeling by presenting me her best smile. We sailed on towards North-East until we reached Lavrio, the small town on The Mediterranean. There we set sails at the Olympic Marine and returned the Bavaria 38 to the Navigare-Yachting boats rental. With the help of a young man from the rental we carried our bags to the side walk and I immediately spotted a hand with prayer beads reaching out of a side window of a black Mercedes. “Taxi” I hailed. We were soon headed to Athens. He surely knew where the gas pedal was. We checked the safety belts. “You Finland?” I admitted. “Raikkonen very fast” he declared. I nodded and quietly murmured “ You too, my friend, you too”. I requested the driver to start the air conditioning. It was so hot but for cost saving purposes he did not use it. He did start the cooling. What a relief! On the way she said she’d like to have some time of her own to look around and do some shopping. We came to an agreement. I asked the driver to drop us at Sintagma square. I paid the fare; no receipt. I moved our bags onto the terrace of the Hip Café. Ordered a Mythos and let her go. It took a while. I think I had ordered a couple of more beers until I realised it was taking too long. Was she lost in Athens?

I had been nicely sleeping under the sun shade, but the sun had moved and I was in direct sun shine. I woke up and immediately relized that we were still in Lavrio, I had been dreaming while waiting for the taxi. I had dreamed about us stopping by in Athens and my wife getting lost, probably since there had been an incident of the same kind some years ago in the town Nydri on the island of Lefkas. She had gone to do some leather products shopping and got lost for an hour or so. Fortunately not this time! The taxi arrived, we loaded our things, got in the car and off we went. Straight to Eleftherios Venizelos airport please!