A Look around Lavrion
Lavrion is the second largest port in Greece complimenting the Port of Pireaus to the north. Situated on the south eastern coastline it is not what you could call a pretty town. This was not always so as it was once the largest town in Greece. This was because of the mining of silver as well as other minerals in the vicinity ( way back from a couple of centuries BC to just a century ago). Evidence of more affluent times can be seen but for the present time Lavrion is an industrial port with a substantial fishing fleet of boats ranging from large to very small, like Tom Thumb, and a sprinkling of tourism thrown in. There are a couple of fleets of charter yachts which are in the process of being brought out of their winter hibernation and being made ready for the season which officially starts the week before their Easter. This is not always the same as our Easter but this year it happens to fall on the same dates. So we can expect an influx of sailing tourist in a few weeks although we hope to have moved on by then. We are waiting on our Australian ships documents to arrive so we can move. .
Back to the village of Lavrion. The waterfront has palm trees planted along the walkway and across the road is the large selection of Tavernas. The idea is to eat the tradional foods at lunch. They are prepared in the morning and served hot for lunch but then just kept warm for later so it is best to order a grill for dinner to know you will get it hot. Drinks have to get a mention,so the men are drinking beer from 500ml cans for an average of 70 euro cents each and after some awful choices have found a couple of nice Pinot Grigio for me and Moscato for Liz. The men are not as discerning as the girls when it comes to drinks. Off the food and drinks and back to our surrounds. Dogs are everywhere, big ones, just laying around in the sun and if that happens to be in the middle of the road then the cars go around. We think they are communal dogs as they are all in good shape albeit a broken leg here and there. Some have taken up residence in abandonded buildings but they aren't agressive, just trotting along when not asleep. Speaking of cars and Greek driving and parking. Rules? There are no rules. Park where you like even if it is on the wrong side of the road, and don't use an indicater use your horn instead. We are still getting used to the cars on the wrong side of the road when attempting to cross the road.
One thing that disturbes me and it is not just here in Lavrion, but along the road and in the small villages on the way to Athens or the airport, is all the unfinished buildings ( obviously someones dream) both domestic and commercial. I guess with their economy as it is a lot of people have been hurt financially. They also experience a lot of illegal immigrants who just come over the boarder.
The markets are every Thursday and move on to other towns on the other days. The fresh fruit and vegetables have had us filling our Nanna trolleys. There are also stalls with seafood, sweets, grains, linen, clothes, kitchen gadgets and tools. The atmosphere is great with the stall owners yelling out their prices and why they have the best range. It is a verbal free for all. We are looking forward to the next one. Buying meat remindes me of our attempts in Croatia. Their cuts are different to ours and what they call for the BBQ is our slow stewing. Chicken is very cheap and pork comes in second. Beef is very expensive. For general shopping apart from the town square,they seem not to have a town plan with shops intersperced with homes, so to find a particular business you may have to walk the whole town. There seems to be a pharmacy everycouple of blocks.
Just down the way from where we are moored is the commercial wharves and we watch the ferries and freight ships come and go. Across from us is the fishing docks and are considerably clean with only a hint of smell on occasion when passing. We have only seen a couple of boats sell their catch and really we can't get excited about what they are offering. The markets are a bit better but we are thinking we'll just wait and catch our own.
Back to the installation of the equipment we sent over. Glen and Gary (mostly Glen) in nooks and crannies poking wires every which way. The radar got put up the mast and the threading of the cables etc. made for a very BIG day on the job. And so it will continue: