Preveza to layup, Athens and home 21 September - 30 September

We prepared Razzmatazz for hauling out alongside the town quay, in particular being able to fold the jib on the clean, dry lawns on the quayside. Then we anchored for the night just outside Vathi Creek, and presented ourselves as arranged at 9:30 next morning. Within half an hour or so all the helpers, including most importantly the crane driver, had arrived, and we manoevred alongside the shallow shore by the yard. Demetrios swam out to position lifting straps under the hull. There was some difficulty in arranging the crane hook to hoist without fouling our highly raked mast, but eventually they joined sufficient straps for the hook to be clear above the masthead, and this arrangement ensured that the squeeze on the hulls was minimised. We were soon ashore and carefully supported.


AcropolisFromLykavitos (69K) AthensChoralSociety (47K)
The Acropolis from Lykavitos Athens Choral Society
After a couple more days cleaning and tidying, and finding that our thump on a rock in the Lefkas canal had only chipped the gel coat a bit, Demetrios gave us a lift to the bus station, and we set out for Athens.

In Athens we stayed in a cheap but clean and adequate hotel near Omonia, handy for the Archealogical Museum and some 30 minutes walk from the Acropolis. By sheer fluke it turned out that on the next day all the monuments were free to enter, so we enjoyed a leisurely if crowded stroll round the Acroplis. Next day we took the funicular to Lykavitos, for a splendid view looking down on the Acropolis while we drank wine. And then to the Archealogical Museum, to see lots of naked stone men but not a single women.In the evening we discovered that the Athens Choral Society were giving a concert of traditional Greek songs on a street corner overlooking some ruins. The audience increased from around a dozen at the start to around 200 at the end. An excellent way of promoting themselves!

Finally, nice Mr Ryan flew us home cheaply at such an ungodly hour that we had to take a night-rate taxi to catch the plane!