Athens, City of Riots, Ruins and Repairs
01-05-2010
The ferry from Kos was hellish, we decided not to have a cabin to save money, even though it was an overnight crossing, and instead used the "reclining" seats, they had TVs blaring greek out until god knows when and then a load more passengers boarded halfway through unbeknownst to us off another island, so what with the impossibly uncomfortable seats along with the TV going and being interrupted by people desperately scrambling for space we didn't have an overly restful night (massive understatement) It was almost a relief when the bloody thing docked so we could find the BMW dealer that would be sorting Pete's bike out. 
3 hours later we found the place (a mere 10 miles away) and found out it wouldn't open for another hour and a half, aaaaaaaaargh!!! By this time we were both exhausted, hungry and homeless. Kostas and the team were brilliant though, when they turned up (early and some even on their day off) they took Pete's bike in, gave us coffee, found us a hotel, led us there and told us to come back Monday to collect, phew. I had totally lost track of time and can't believe we did all that in one morning and had to slap myself occasionally to keep up and awake.
3 hours later we found the place (a mere 10 miles away) and found out it wouldn't open for another hour and a half, aaaaaaaaargh!!! By this time we were both exhausted, hungry and homeless. Kostas and the team were brilliant though, when they turned up (early and some even on their day off) they took Pete's bike in, gave us coffee, found us a hotel, led us there and told us to come back Monday to collect, phew. I had totally lost track of time and can't believe we did all that in one morning and had to slap myself occasionally to keep up and awake.Never mind, they do fab and cheap kebabs here (gyros) so we'll be living off them for the next week and the supermarket over the road does decent local beer for under a euro, the tourist bars and cafes are far too expensive at 6€ a pint!!! Just a shame there's nuthin but a load of old ruins to look at (yawn) 
We did find a smattering of oddities on our meanderings around town, a lot of unsightly tags on every available surface plus the odd decent bit of graffiti, pavement markets selling everything from table cloths to snide Louis Vuitton handbags (with the sellers legging it each time a police patrol went past), the occasional riot complete with projectile beer bottles (thankfully only aimed at police) and some very suspicious loitering types exchanging money for something under the cover of lotto tickets, this last one kept us intrigued for hours. 
At the end of our 3 day sojourn in Athens we were relieved to be guided back by Kostas to the sanctuary of the BMW dealer and as this picture demonstrates they made us two very happy customers! 
The route we took in Iran caused us to come across a great deal of building works and the remains of a distinct lack of it. The war between Iran and Iraq had certainly left it's mark along the Persian Gulf, but the people we met seem to be moving on and taking advantage of the economic success the country is experiencing at present (in some cities by charging us rates we would have expected in a reasonable hotel in central London.)
Bit of a disappointment really, UNESCO had got their hands on it 
These images are better than reality 
but we had a good picnic 
with a nice view
Landslip on the Black Sea Coastal Highway 
Feels like we're on a 2 week holiday still