The Midnight Ride of Nikos

Dear all, I told our friend Nikos that I would devote an entire post to him, so I must be good to my word. And I do have a good story to tell....

We made it via back country mountain roads into Corinthos yesterday by car. As we are driving, the major signs are in both English and Greek and the minor signs are all in Greek. I have been studying the language and can sound out words but often don't know what they mean. With road signs, I can generally identify a town we are looking for, but the trouble is that while driving the signs whiz by too fast for me to decipher sometimes. We followed signs to Corinthos, but there is a huge spider-web of roads that can get one there. We ended up on the "scenic route" and I'm sure the main highway would have been faster, but it was a nice ride. There was only one place in the middle of nowhere, really, that the sign had been damaged and knocked over. It was hard to tell which direction to go, but we came out alright.

Once we got to Corinth, it was much harder to find Loutraki, the little town where we needed to return the car. We spent probably 20 minutes going in all different directions, driving through the train station which was our ultimate destination there, before we finally got it right. One thing I've realized now is that I can ask the questions alright in Greek: "We are looking for such and such a place, please." And I'm asking so well that I get a great dose of Greek verbage in return which I cannot at all decipher. I look at the hand motions carefully and try to pick up words like "down" and "left". Sometimes they can help me out in English, and sometimes not.

We were relieved that the car rental people didn't bat an eye at the tar streaks on the little yellow car, caught a nice taxi to the train station and were quickly on our way into Athens. We tried to call our friends Nikos and Maria to tell them we were coming in earlier than we had expected, but of course the one phone at the train station had been completely ripped out and there was no other. So we got on the train: much much nicer than Italy! Very well air-conditioned and spacious. The driver also actually ANNOUNCED the stops, which was a real treat. Not only that, but they additionally provided a ROUTE MAP by which we could check how many more stops before we needed to get off. All in all a most pleasant travelling experience.

Landing in Pallina they actually had an elevator to go up, so we also got to miss the stairs. Unfortunately, no phone and no bathroom, and a very busy street right in front of us. Of course, Basil had to go. Well, I walked down the street and found a phone at a local business that they let me use. Called Nikos and he started on his way to pick us up. We waited about an hour, finished up some food we had brought for lunch, playing MORE Mad Libs (will they ever end?) and I actually got a little drawing of the Panaghia (Theotokos) in. Soon the sweet faces of Nikos and Maria were before us, we hopped in and were off.

Most graciously, Nikos and his family have lent us their summer home for a few days. It is just up from the harbor at Rafina (not Ravenna, as I mistakenly said in the last post). What a treat to have a fully-equipped home at our disposal with plenty of beds, a stocked refrigerator, the cutest bathing device I have yet seen in Greece: rather than a square tiled area it is a mini-tub, like a bathtub made for a hobbit, a clothesline, and lovely patio all around from which you can see the Aegean.

We decided it would be good for me to rent another car so that I could go and pick up Christopher from the airport and get us down to the beach, stores, restaurant, and whatever we might need. The house was a little too far away from everything for us to walk. Nikos took me down to get some groceries and then the car, and gave me directions for getting to the airport. He had to leave for a business meeting and Maria stayed with us.

We got the kids and some retsina and headed for the closest beach. Emma the fish was ecstatic to be in the water again, with big waves that she thought were a blast. Basil was content to dig in the dirt and make "mountains" while the womenfolk sat on Maria's sarape and had our retsina, a specialty Greek wine made with the pitch from the pine tree. I think this evening was a highlight for Grandma Coco: to be able to have conversation in English with someone other than me and the kids, to unwind with some good wine in the cooler sea breezes as dusk approached. Ahhhh...

By the time Emma was done it was almost 8:30PM so we headed for dinner at the taverna closest to the house. We ordered a half kilo of lamb cooked in the coals, an order of souvlaki for me (I don't like lamb!), some stuffed peppers, green beans, fried cheese, and french fries. What a feast! It was delicious. Grandma and Maria had some of the house wine and thoroughly enjoyed chatting over dinner. Emma happily fed the stray cat our scraps and Basil had just as much fun as she once he found the rainbow-colored duster they had left lying around. He got quite a bit of mileage out of that, and looked every inch a gypsy child (now having seen some of them, I can say this is really accurate): shoeless, dirt-smeared face, hair stuck every which way half from saltwater and half from dirt.

Now comes the beginning of the adventure. Nikos had said the airport was "really easy" to get to, only a few kilometers away (I think I have now learned my lesson that when a Greek says: "only a few kilometers" it could mean anywhere from a 15-45 minute drive); just down this road, a left at the main light, another left later on, good signs.

Well, prudently, we decided to all go together to take a dry run. It was probably 9:30 by now and already pretty dark. We headed out as directed. No problemo. First turn, easy. Pretty dense traffic, but I am getting used to it and stayed in the "slow" lane. We hit trouble at one of the airport signs. They do this thing with an arrow pointed up for straight ahead and then another pointing left or right for major turn-offs. There was the little airplane sign Nikos had said to look for (forget reading the name of the airport!) the trouble was, it was, I swear, EXACTLY in between the up and the left arrows. To which arrow did it belong? Maria thought this, I thought that, and by now I was committed to turning, so turn we did. Didn't seem quite right. Thinking of turning around and then boom, someone from my left turns directly in front of me onto an on-ramp which forces me onto it as well. Now we are on a major freeway with no exits, going to Athena. This strikes fear into my heart, as we have been discussing the nature of
Athenian driving. I mean, I am really scared of having to drive there. No thank you! We finally see a toll coming up ahead and are sure we are wrong. Thankfully, an exit, too, and we turn around and go all the way back up to the road we left.

At this point, we stop into a Shell station (yes, Shell) and confirm that we are going the right way. We need to go all the way down to Marco Polo. No, that is MarCO-POlo. Yeah, that's it. Wow, is it ever a long way. And the traffic is zipping by, there's nothing to do but zip as best I can, realizing that being overly cautious and slow would be as likely to cause an accident as anything.

We finally get to the exit and see that it is a toll road. At this point, I feel I can find the rest of the way without a problem as it will be well-signed and the major road leading to the airport. So we drive past the exit, thinking we will turn around at the next intersection. Intersection? Well, ah, in this part of the world they seem to have little appreciation for such a constricting convention. In fact, I was stunned to see my first traffic light in Rafina. We are now bombing along a very busy 2-lane (when convenient) road with a few stoplights to the side that are for what? Well, not for an intersection. I'm not sure what they are doing there. There are no cross-streets. (I am realizing this all as it is whizzing by). And now there is actually a divider and signs point straight on to Athena. I admit it, my palms are getting sticky.

Meredith-Maria is my steady co-pilot, coaching me in the finer points of Greek traffic law. "Okay, you've gotta get to the left." Yeah, but how? "Well, at an intersection or a left turn." There are any intersections. These people don't stop. "See that little break in the divider? Try going through there." What, you mean stop full on in moving traffic and try to turn left into traffic moving the other way through that little hole in the divider? "Yeah. See how it says 'No U-turn' well, you just ignore it. That means you go ahead and do a U-turn. See a red light? That means you go ahead and run it if you can. Lean on your horn, and be aggressive."

So I try her tactic, but there is no way I'm stopping the car over on the left like that. No way. After a little more she says, "OK! There! There! You see it? Get over there right now!!" I see an actual left-turn lane carved out to coincide with the break in the divider. Alright. I can breathe as I pull over, so I'll give it a go. We screech to a stop.

"Now back up a little." You've gotta be kidding. I'm at a full stop on the far left with the divider on my left and cars whizzing past on my right. I'm looking at a full 3 lanes of cars coming towards me just as fast with a sliver of concrete to separate us. Back up? Is this a death wish?
"Listen, you gotta back up. We can't see the light." Oh, there is a traffic light, seemingly unattached to anything else moving around it. Right. Back up a tiny bit so we can see it. It's gone green. "Go!! Go, go! Do a U-ey, even though it says not to! Pull tight, that's it."

Whew. The drive home was a piece of cake.

I know I could have made it down to pick up Christopher at 3AM on my own. Grandma couldn't sleep. Meredith couldn't sleep. I couldn't sleep. Nikos called and said he was on his way to take me. I can't say I wasn't relieved. This will be so easy with Nikos. He can drive; he knows the shortcuts and it will be great. Fine. He gets there, we get to the airport in plenty of time. It's a rather long wait, but finally Christopher appears in his Giants t-shirt. I am so happy to see him!! He looks great and has a surprising amount of energy after his 28 hour sojourn. We head out to the car where Nikos and Meredith are waiting.

We start out down the airport road and I notice Nikos turns off early onto a side street. Must be nice to know the alternate routes, and this street is much nicer than the big highway. Christopher and I are holding hands, enjoying the scenery in the twilight, noticing the hills around us, he finds Casseopoia in the night sky. I remember that we are low on gas, and tell Nikos we probably need to get some more. He drives through more countryside, along the waterfront, really we are quite far from the busy centers and I am amazed that there is this much rural area right around bustling Rafina and the airport.

After awhile, Nikos turns around and there is some indication that perhaps the road are not leading exactly to where they should. No worries. Time passes. A lot of time passes. More time passes. We have said the things we needed to say after being apart for a couple of weeks. Nikos says, "We are a little lost. We are on the wrong side of the water, I think. We need to find some gas."

Shortly after this, we see some signs and perhaps we are getting closer to the inhabited areas? Well, no, we take a 10 minute sprint through some kind of grasslands. Down a hill and into an area with lights and activity..... but no gas station. By now, the needle is touching red. Christopher leans over and says, "Do you think he knows where he is going yet?" Although I think we all checked the gas guage numerous times over those last 15 minutes, I didn't feel particularly anxious. I figured, hey, if we run out of gas, we'll probably sit down and look at the stars and have a nice chat for a couple hours. The evening air was cool and the night was beautiful, and my husband was by my side, my friends in the front. It couldn't be too bad.

I've come to believe there is something unique and special about the Greek people and this blessed land. As I said to Nikos, how, otherwise, could it be possible for them to drive as they do and not be killing themselves and each other all day long? Honestly. I think Grandma Coco has gotten her oxygen intake fully primed during the last few days as she has punctuated our drives with a huge panicked air-suck every time someone pulls in front of me, or opens a door right into on-coming traffic, or a motorcycle squeezes by, or an on-coming vehicle is halfway over in my "lane" (such as it is) or as we are whizzing down the "slow lane" we realize with dismay that there is a string of cars up ahead parked half on the side walk and half in our lane of traffic: the choice arises, do we swerve over into the left "lane" to avoid hitting the parked car and risk the cars in the left lane, or do we slow down and stop behind the parked cars and risk getting rear-ended? At any rate, Nikos, like many other Greek drivers I've observed, has the magic touch. He pulls up into the driveway of the house and I estimate we might have 10 more minutes of driving before the car is completely dry. Wow. And it only took about twice as long as it might have if I had driven home from the airport. BUT, it was an hour well-spent, with my beloved next to me, a beautiful night, and my mind free of worry about getting the car down the road. Plus, we have another great adventure to add to the blog!

We all slept well and late. Christopher didn't actually sleep until the rest of us got up, but we were all well-rested by early afternoon. Nikos had taken the car keys inadvertently back to Athens in his pocket, so we were stranded for the morning in the house. But this had us all fully rested and well-fed. I made breakfast this morning -- the first eggs we've had in 2 weeks, wonderful Greek yogurt with honey, pancetta and cheese from Mytilene, Nescafe and condensed milk, fresh apricots, cherries, and sundry dry "toast" things that they love over here and we can't quite figure out.

This afternoon Nikos and Maria have the kids at the beach. They were hankering for it after a slow morning. Emma spent time reading comics in Greek and Basil was a pretty happy guy running around buck naked outside investigating all the garden and outdoor equipment. Grandma and Christopher just had a nice lunch in downtown Rafina while I've been typing. Grandma had more souvlaki and Christopher got some fresh squid.

Signing off in warm Rafina with a wonderful sea breeze.