More About Anghistri

The above photos show what was and still is traditional transport for some islanders. The photo showing a mini truck at the bottom of a hill depicts an older version of the red truck by the sea at Aponisos. Most people use a car or van but there are still quite a number of these agricultural vehicles about - especially in the Limenaria area which includes Aponisos. They would never be taken off the island because they travel very slowly and would clog up the roads in a busy place like Aegina or the mainland.

If you go over to Limenaria you will see that agriculture remains the way of life, whereas tourism rules everywhere else. This year was the first year that I didn't see a donkey on the road from Limenaria to Aponisos. Now there is a mode of transport that certainly has diminished. We used to awake to the dulcet tones of a donkey braying on our first holiday. People used to have yards in which it was possible to find a donkey tethered. Sometimes you saw them tethered under trees out among the pines. If you saw a donkey working it was always carrying a huge load - not heavy, but very much outsize. Inevitably a man would be riding with his wife walking behind the beast.

The car has taken over, as you might expect. This followed the advent of the daily car ferries that started to call in a few years ago. This year, as we arrived and found no one to collect us on the quayside we discovered that Christos had been blocked in. He managed to get free and picked us up soon afterwards. It was, after all, August, and hundreds of Greeks were in residence.

There is one very common mode of transport that needs a mention. It is the motorbike/scooter. Many locals run ancient scooters and you wonder if the bikes are about to expire! As you might guess, they tend to be noisy, particularly at night. Many tourists, including myself, hire scooters during their stay. My good friend Taki is the man to see if you want a good scooter. They are all maintained well and you can trust his work. Costas is the man to see if you are staying in Scala. My friend, John Robinson, is restricted in how far he can walk and needs an elbow crutch to help him. His friend saw his need and provided a marvellous device for carrying the crutch whilst riding the scooter. It was a rainwater pipe with a bottom attached and all he had to do was insert the crutch and let in the clutch!!!

A number of us used to walk from Megalohori to Scala and back quite often but now have to make the journey on a scooter or not go at all. You see there are a number of tourists who return each year in September and we all chat to each other to find out how the years are treating us. We could be called the September Club!?

Because some of the roads are not very good and sometimes poorly maintained you have to be very careful. I have seen one or two nasty injuries caused by the bad road surface. One year Pauline and I pulled up at Aponisos and promptly fell of the scooter because the wheels were sliding on the loose gravel. How can you fall off when the bike has stopped? Answer: when the wheel slides in the gravel as you try to get off! I am happy to say the gravel in that place has now gone.