We needed to go into town to drop off our garbage (Greece has big garbage bins that everyone uses) and we needed to stock up on some groceries. Our choices were to dingy over to the next bay (maybe 500m) and walk about 1.5km up and down a hill to the main town, or dingy the entire 2.5km way….except half of the journey was going to be exposed to the open sea. The winds are calm but still it can get swelly. I promised Victoria we would go see how it looked and dingy there if we could.
I was expecting it to be too rough, and at one point almost turned around, but it turned out to be fine going there. We tied up at a big cement pier. There were TONS of fishing boats, and some heavy equipment working on a new port maybe, but no sailing boats.
We tied up to an empty spot by a ladder (the pier was really high) and started walking around. This was a great place! There were a lots of nice looking restaurants/tavernas by the bay with some locals sitting (always a great sign). There was a small street that we walked up, lined with trees and full of small stores…..not all touristy! I usually hate all the arts and crafts they have for tourists, but there was a small shop with 2 guys who made their own stuff and it was neat! I was tempted to buy a duffel bag with a twisted naked mermaid on it. (If the design was on a t-shirt I would have.) We had some Greek pastries and they were very good. We stopped for a beer that was cheap. We weren’t being ripped off!!! (I don’t like paying tourist prices.) There were a lot of locals around who knew each other. One old guy said to his friend: ‘Hey, have you slept with your wife lately? You should hurry up, they are going to make it a crime!’ (Victoria translated this for me. I think this is hilarious. ) Victoria shopped for groceries, and she said it was half price of anywhere else we have been this summer. What a great place!
While Victoria was shopping an old guy on a scooter, who had lived in the US for a long time, came by to chat. He told me that it was so nice right now because it was not very busy, and later they were expecting 2 large boats to arrive with tourists. I told him that would be good for the local businesses, but I still thought the place was great. My only complaint is they didn’t have a local beer. If I go back maybe I’ll start a brewery.
Moral of the story is: if you want to get away somewhere quiet but still with a ferry to Athens…..this could be the place.
Adventures on Spruzzo 