We took the bus from Pireos St, near Omonoia Square in the centre of Athens and for the very cheap fare of 0.80 cents we got to Perama, a port to the West of Piraeus. It is from here that ferries leave fro Salamis. We got on a little passenger ferry and for another reasonable fare of one euro were transported 15 minutes later to Paloukia, the main Northern port of Salamis. This is an unprepossessing little town, with a very provincial feel to it. Apparently many people live here and work on the mainland, with daily commuting trips on the passenger ferries.
A bus station close to the ferry terminals connects Paloukia with all other town and settlements on the island. We took the bus and visited Ambelakia and Selinia. Selinia is a small holiday township on the coast, popular with Athenians as a summer holiday destination. Many have their holiday houses here, but it does not have a resort town feel about it and it looks fairly sleepy and innocuous, with the exception of a few tavernas and restaurants it could well be any other provincial town.
We wandered around and were surprised at how dry the island is with not much tree-covering or vegetation. Water must be a real problem and I am sure the inhabitants must be used to restrictions every summer. However, as far sheltered beaches go, this is a fairly good destination, although as is the case with most Greek beaches fine pebbles rather than sand will greet your bare feet when venturing into the sea.
In our promenade we searched for some postcards of Salamina, but were unsuccessful. Instead, we found an author who was looking after the book and stationery shop of her daughter. We started to chat with Ms Hara ….. after she told us that she had no Salamina postcards and we found out that she is a staunch defender of the Greek language, abhorring the way it is being abused nowadays and having written several books on the topic. Although she was very conservative linguistically (an adherent of the polytonic system and using much formal katharevousa idiom in her speech), she was very nice and hospitable and we chatted with her for about 30-40 minutes. We expressed the desire to buy one of her books, but she very generously made us a gift of it. We exchanged contact details and we left.
Salamina is the main town on the island and is very close to Paloukia (only about 2.5 km to the West of it, in fact), but on the other side of the island. It has a population of about 25,000, out of the 31,000 population for the whole island. It is an unprepossessing little town with a no-nonsense feel about it and much effort is being expended in order for it to be beautified and for resident services to be improved. An amphitheatre has been built on a hillside and has been grandly named the “Euripideion” after Salamis’ famous ancient playwright son. The landmark of the town is the rather severe-looking late 19th century town hall.
We got rather hot and tired at this stage and decided we had had enough of Salamis sight-seeing and decided to go back to Athens. It was fairly simple to take the bus and ferry back and shortly we were back in our hotel.
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