You/\'ve got to be suspicious when you walk down the street of a morning and there's police tape across the road and each intersection you come to as you get closer to the main thoroughfare has more police that are increasingly heavily armed. Welcome to Athens as the riots and demonstraions escalate. Today was another strike with violent demonstrations that impacted on Athens and beyond. While Carmel had a day of lectures on "Management of children with developmental behavioural disturbances" I took a rather easier route and went on my cruise of the Saronic Gulf, visitint the islands of Poros, Hydra and Aegina. We left Athens at 7am with an hour bus trip to our port, and by 8.30am had started our cruise. It was quite commercial, which goes some way to explaining why I was sitting having grilled octopus with a glass of ouzo for breakfast at 10 o'clock in the morning. The weather was hazy, but warm. We visited the three islands, including a tour to see another 2500 year old temple on Aegina as well as pistachio farms and churches.But it was nice to get a bit of sea air and be out on the water. The only sign of the unrest in Athens on the islands was that the strike had closed access to the temple on Aegina, but we were still allowed to look from the perimeter. . We arrived back in port at 7.30pm, and our coach dropped us off away from the usual stop amid crowds of riot police that were waiting in case the violence escalated. Fortunately the walk back to the hotel was uneventful, and aftr a quick shower I was ready to join Carmel at the Welcome Ceremony for the Congress. there was lots of food on offer, as well as (bottled !) Greek wine, and an ouzo finished off the night nicely. The news on the TV here is full of reports of the violence in Athens today and the implications for Eurpe, so it will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings ..
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