This Summer, Grace and I went to Greece. It had been a long time since we had been on the type of holiday where you just lie about on a beach all day, and so we decided to spend some time doing just that on the island of Naxos.
Getting to Greece in an affordable manner meant flying from Edinburgh, which I was none too happy about, but it also provided a good opportunity for us to stop off in a wee place called Rafina to see my family, along with their collection of wonderful animals.
After a few days of eating and drinking our weight in deliciousness, we got up early to catch the ferry to Naxos. I was prepared for the worst, given previous experiences with Greek boat trips, but luckily the ship was pretty quiet, thanks to a combination of when we were travelling (Monday, not quite tourist season yet), and the port that we were leaving from (not Piraeus).
Neither of us had ever been to Naxos before, but we had heard lots of good things. Supposedly, it wasn’t a party island like Mykonos, and was meant to be less over-run by visitors than places like Santorini. We stayed at a hotel recommended by my aunts who were regulars, and soon discovered that their picture was up in bars across the main town. Kent faces, as they say.
Naxos is a pretty sizable island, and to make the most of it you are supposedly meant to rent a car, or some kind of death-trap masquerading as an ATV. However, we didn’t bother with any of that. We were here to relax, not to navigate cliff-side roads alongside psychotic Greek drivers and clueless Americans struggling with gear-sticks and roundabouts. We can find plenty to do in the town, thanks very much.
The hotel had a pool, which was nice – but the real highlight of the island were the beaches. The water was crystal clear, with a beautiful turquoise colour. We tried out a few different spots, taking the bus to more secluded areas further away from the usual throngs – and sat for hours on comfortable deck-chairs, drinking iced coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice while slowly but surely burning the entirety of my back to a painful crisp.
By the end of our week on Naxos, the island had begun to fill up with tourists, and it felt more like we were staying in a resort than an authentic part of Greece. It was time for us to head onward… onward to the madness of Athens. There is only so much relaxation I can take, after all.
We had chosen to stay slap-bang in the middle of everything, in an area called Psyrri. When I was much younger, this was one of the coolest places to be, though it was also pretty run down. Despite being right next door to the popular streets of Monastiraki, this wasn’t ever really a place that visitors would naturally venture – but now it is completely transformed, full of trendy cafes, bars, and restaurants. It was all a bit too trendy actually, and despite being Psyrri veterans, we ended up spending a lot of our time elsewhere.
When we arrived in Athens, it was far busier and more chaotic than I had ever seen it – a far cry from the relative calm of the islands. The vibrancy and life of the city is one of the things I love about it, and so we quickly acclimatised to the pace, though the volume of tourists also felt pretty overwhelming. There were apparently record numbers going to Greece year-on-year, and the difference from previous years was palpable – a reality that was called out on the streets in no uncertain terms.
This sentiment was most clearly evident in Exarcheia – a neighbourhood that has historically been home to the radical left, and which has undergone massive changes due to the pressures of gentrification, and policies enacted deliberately by the conservative Greek government to shut down dissent. Whilst completely understandable, that also meant that I felt a bit less comfortable than I usually would roaming around – which was a shame.
In a bid to keep my hand luggage light, I broke with my usual habit of over-packing photographic equipment, and only took a single camera with me. Specifically, the Leica M6, coupled with a Voigtlander 35mm f1.4. If I couldn’t effectively document my holiday with that legendary combination, I may as well retire completely.
Naturally of course, disaster struck. At some point, I brought the M6 up to my eye to quickly focus and grab a picture of a bit of graffiti, only to discover that no matter how much I tried to focus, everything was entirely blurry. What on earth was this? Had my glasses somehow fallen off? Had I been struck blind like Paul the Apostle?
Well, no. As it turns out, for reasons I am yet to fully understand, the viewfinder of the Leica M series is apparently removable. Somehow, this precious piece of essential glass had become unscrewed while we were wandering about the Athenian streets. How this happened, I have no idea – given that in over a decade of ownership the thing had never even shown a hint of being loose – but loose it had become, and without it, the camera was useless. To make things worse, a quick Google search suggested that finding replacements was both very difficult, and very expensive.
Great.
Thankfully, I managed to track down a camera shop that just so happened to have a couple of them in stock for a reasonable price. So I was back in business. Though I think in future I will get Loctite or something to make sure the viewfinder stays put.
To be fair, most of my pictures from this trip are nothing more than snapshots. Not that they need to be anything more than that.
I always love going back to Athens. It’s somewhere that feels familiar, yet distant; the city that I’ve spent the most time in, outside of Glasgow. The rough edges and volatile energy feel far more interesting than the polished and pristine.
This time around, I don’t think I appreciated my time in the city quite as much as I would normally. The trip to Athens came at the end of a number of months travelling, and I was burned out by constantly being on the road. I enjoyed going back to some of our favourite restaurants and finding new pockets to explore, but also felt a pull back to Glasgow… To see our dog. Hang out with friends. Settle back in to Scotland.
Next time we go back to Greece, I think we’ll try explore somewhere that we’ve never been before. Perhaps Crete, or Rhodes. Wherever we end up though, I am sure we’ll find ourselves back in Athens for at least a few days. My favourite city.
gorgeous photos