Lost in Attika (April 23, 2009): Aerodromio to Athina

Location: Attika

Distance: 26 miles (42 km)

Trip: Athens Airport to Athens Center

Date: April 23, 2009

I could see the town coming. Thank god, since the airport I’ve been riding the lonely back roads of Attica and all I can think is “nero, nero” (“water, water”). I rode into the unknown town. Standing outside the gyro stand, I aksed for water and coffee – only to find that I had no euros. The owner was kind enough to give them to me for four dollars – US. As I sat drinking water and a coffee, I attempted to figure out where I was on the small map in the guide book. Hmm… I guess Athens is that way, based on the possible mountains around me.

Do you want to get some weird looks? Put together a bicycle in the loading zone outside the airport. People coming out of the customs area spoke various languages quietly while people pointing at bits and pieces of Schwarzfahrer strewn about the sidewalk. One woman pulled her boyfriend/husband over to make him look at the trailer I was attaching to Schwarzfahrer.

Once Schwarzfahrer was put together, I set off on my ride into the city. Needless to say I got off track of the directions immediately – stupid Google maps! I could not find any of the roads it was telling me to take out of the Airport. Alas, I just started following signs to Athina. This led me onto the interstate! So I just kept riding until I made the first exit and got off!

Now I’m on the back country roads (Take me to Athina) of Attica with no real clue. I also had not packed any water – that dumb liquid rule with planes and all. So I just started heading away from the sun (At least its West!). I found my life saving gyro stand, then a bank and I went back to buy a gyro in euros.

So with some broken English from him and so shitty Greek from me I got the general idea of where I had to go. So, the map in my guide book at least had town names. So I jumped from one town to the next that was on the map. (Well, this town is towards Athens).

As I got closer to the city, I started to feel at home. The roads had no shoulders and cars merely whipped around me with the minimal of clearance around me. People pointed to the strange guy with the trailer on his bike. And the street signs were nowhere to be found. I could easily be in New England.

That’s when I miraculously got back to the google map directions. There was a rotary (round-about) that had the street I was looking for. Now, I’m really at home – cycling through the rotary. Unfortunately Greek rotaries are totally different! They have signs before the rotary to tell you which turn will be yours; inside the rotary they warn you of your turn coming up. And, there are clearly defined lanes within the rotaries. It is obvious what to do when you’re in them! Amateurs!

Getting back on track and into the real Athens city area made the trip much easier. Every major street has a bus and motorbike lane only. I merely rode down that until I got into the city center. At that point it was like I was cruising through New York or Boston. All these British who I’ve read complaining about cycling in Greece, should ride in the US for a while. I found the Zeus hostel, showered and left for the Akropolis.