A trip along the Ionian coast

Wednesday August 7
Our travel agent, the remarkable Stella, comes up with a driver for me for the one day Oswaldo will be busy all day with his conference and talk. From her description I have expected a shy man in his 40s with so-so English and am surprised when a muscular young man with a shaved head, radiating cheer and energy, waits for us in the lobby. He's obviously used to wheelchairs and settles me in the car with Oswaldo,  and then puts my new traveling paraphanalia, crutches and wheelchair away in the front seata and trunk, respectively. We drive through Athens to drop Oswaldo at the university. Then Yanni takes me to the top of a hill where I can see all of Athens spread out beneath me. It's remarkable how few high-rises there are. The tallest has 20 some floors. We stop to do a little essential shopping (Arche shoes at 1/2 price - odd to try on only the left foot :) and another loose dress), and go to a Pharmacy. These normal things are now very complicated and have to be organized sequentially: stick left foot out of open door, hop along the car until door can be closed. Hop - this is scary - up the curb, then sit, ahhh, in the chair, or - if it's a short visit - get going with the crutches, with which I am very klutzy. Hopping on my left foot is not fun.
Then we head out of down, along the Ionian coast towards the Temple of Poseidon. The day is sunny and not too hot, because there is a strong wind blowing. The utterly blue see is covered with whitecaps.  All along we can see charming coves with people swimming in the water

I notice little houses or shrines on pedestals in various places on the road and Yanni tells me they have been put there to remind people about accidents which happened there - either the person survived and put it there to show gratitude, or the family placed it there as a memorial.

Yanni and I have a lot to talk about. He's into mobiles phones and has 3 or 4 with him in the car, as well as a tablet. He produces, for example, an extra long usb charger for my iPhone, on which I can then use his  Hotspot. Very cool.

Before we reach the stunning Poseidon Temple, standing on the southernmost point of Attica, where the Adriatic Sea begins, I admire it from afar

Once we get up close to the site, however, I look at the steep set of stairs leading to the path and decide those are not for me. There's a stiff wind blowing, enough to shake my crutches - and we don't want to fall again, do we? So I send Yanni ahead with the camera, while I stand in the sun, leaning against the warm car with my dress and hair whipping around me and I think how pleasant this is. There's something old and familiar about it - Danish, perhaps. My childhood summers at Henne Strand on the west coast of Jutland were always very windy, and sometimes we even had sunny days like this. 

Yanni returns with awesome pictures

and we continue in the car to a fishing village where we have lunch (grilled feta cheese and mushrooms, yum) and share a cold Fix beer. No Lei Seca here, apparently. Then we drive back along the same road. The light is now different and the wind has gone, so the sea is silvery and smooth. Paradisiacal. We end our tour with a trip to the supermarket, where I can finally buy things for the room, fruits, cheeses, granola, yougurt, beer, wine - wonderful. When it's time to pay I hand over what I think are three 50 euros notes. Turns out I've brought Reais (they look very similar to Euros), and Yanni is very puzzled - as he has every right to be. So we have to add another stop at an ATM machine, and once again do the hop out, and so on dance, but then we're done.
Oswaldo returns later, happy with his talk and we sit down to a cozy dinner with all the goodies I bought and share an ice-cold bottle of Gewürtztraminer - que ninguém é de ferro.