I published my book "Kalo Taxidi - Notes from Greece and the Greek islands in July 2011. I am now working on my next book about Greece, and adding some extracts to my blog.
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And more on Andros Buses (late 1990s)
Not only is there a composite bus timetable and a daily list that differs. The daily list lists all the buses by number. Some are 'off' on each day and each bus is allocated a driver. In addition, drivers are shown as switching buses. The mind boggles. The bus shown as going to Strapouries and Apikia...does it double back? I think there had been some new roads built that were not shown on my map. Even after bussing and walking in the area, I found it difficult to get my bearings. The bus to Stenies is at 13.50. When does it return? The bus goes to Syneti next, so it must return to Chora. It was difficult to understand the timetable after a week in Andros, when some of the abbreviations were recognisable to me as the names of villages. Imagine the depth of my confusion when I first arrived. I must learn to say in Greek "may I have a copy of the timetable for the week, please." Not that such a publication, if it existed, would be a practical proposition in Andros – the timetable would rival the bi-annual British railway timetable in size!
I decided to catch the 12.30 bus to Apikia. The buses have MANOUSSIS TOURS written on them. I think that is the name of the coffee roasting grocer’s shop. Just seen that the nice old boy who has been saying 'yassou' to me is the prop. of that shop. Strange, after all these trips to Greece, I still do not know which are the most common Greek surnames, the Greek Smith and the Greek Jones. A chap has just put the usual sized blue carrier bag containing one pair of trainers into the boot of the next bus. Why - do the trainers smell? I thought of the time when I hired a car in Crete with Graciela, an Argentinian lady (hello, Graciela!). Graciela soon insisted that I buy a pair of lightweight shoes. Graciela did not relish the prospect of sitting in a car next to my trainer-clad feet. Since then, I have learnt to avoid plastic trainers……………..
The bus engine has been running for 10 minutes. It was an old bus. There were a lot of fumes; it smelt as if the exhaust fumes were coming into the bus. Why was the engine left running? The driver eventually switched off the engine. The conductor walked through the bus and opened the windows. Now 12.40. Engine turned off. There is an ‘empty’ sort of sound when the driver seems to try to start bus. I think the battery was flat! We were given a push start! I am glad the engine did not stall on the hills as there was only me, the driver, the conductor, and one other passenger for the last part of the journey.
Three sweet girls aged about five got on the bus. I think they got on with their teacher (who did not travel on the bus) and the bus conductor 'mothered' them. The girls got off at different stops. One girl had a mass of blondish curly hair that the teacher kept stroking and admiring. At first, I thought that she was their mother. I thought of an incident in Lincoln, on the bus from Louth. A girl on the bus (probably in her late teens) had vivid auburn hair; an old chap said to her 'excuse me miss - but is that the real colour of your hair?' The young girl graciously did not thump him for his impudence and said that yes, it was the natural colour of her hair.
There were no further problems with the bus. The bus ride was spectacular. A far better 200 dr. worth than the trip to Messaria. As the bus wound up above the harbour, we passed a taverna, a pleasant old-fashioned looking taverna with a sea view. I made a mental note to call in there on the way back. (I am writing about the walk in the café next door, larger and with less character. The quaint looking taverna was shut when I got back). At the taverna I saw a number of tourists, red-faced and drinking. (That sounds ambiguous, I mean that they were red from exertion, not drinking!) As the bus went uphill, we passed sweaty hikers coming down. (Sweaty? Could I see sweat? Could I smell sweat?) Were there more of them and the red-faced drinkers than eight? There certainly seemed to be. I assume those that were sitting down were the quickest walkers! There must have been 30 or so hikers. It cannot just have been the French eight who abandoned the Akti as it had no fish. I hoped that the drinkers were not going to drink the taverna dry. Leave some beer for me!
The bus was timetabled to go to Strapouries and Apikia. The map shows Strapouries as a dead end, and Apikia on a road above. The bus went along a splendid road. If anything, Strapouries was even better situated than Apikia. Apikia is higher, but the view of Chora was obstructed by a ridge. We went up to Strapouries and to me we seemed to go far beyond that. I thought a new road had been built since the map was drawn and went from Strapouries to Apikia. Had we reached the end of the route? I did not want the bus to go back downhill with me on board. No. The conductor said, "wait." We retraced our route half way back to Chora (and a reprise of the splendid views) and up the Apikia turn that I had seen on the way up.
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