It’s Saturday so we are off up the “toon.”
Khalkida “toon” that is.
It has various spellings but for this particular blog it’s Khalkis.
Sam & Graham had told us of a friendly little fishing harbour you can tie your dinghy up at just this side of the bridge and walk over into the town. On the dinghy ride in you pass the train terminus from Athens (and presumably places in between) which funnily enough just stops before bridge! The Greeks seem to accept colourful grafitti as an art form as the walls are covered with them.
The bridge in the distance & little fishing harbour on the left around the corner
Train station
The old fishermen are very welcoming. Once you have climbed out you are virtually on the old bridge itself.
The channel was 1st spanned way back in 411 BC; later Justinian replaced it with a moving wooden one. Under the Venetians the island took the name Negroponte, “the black bridge”, from the bridge of the same name. In 1896 a Belgian company built an iron swing bridge that remained until 1962 when the existing bridge was built.
Although the port office would not tell you the exact opening times this traffic sign always gave a good indication to the drivers off the planned closing and reopening times
The dangerous currents in the channel are mentioned in ancient sources. Cicero & Pliny amongst others commented on them. Tradition has it that Aristotle flung himself into the channel because of his inability to explain the phenomenon. Bit extreme, but perhaps drink had been taken? Wicked stuff that Ouzo !
It was our 1st glimpse of the current that can run through the channel & there are canoe slalom poles hanging to make use of the waves generated.
A bar sits immediately above the NW side of the bridge which must give a spectacular view of the boats & ships passing through when opened.
Khalkis is the modern capitol of Evoia. The water front is a busy pedestrianised area filled with bars & restaurants
and a street back a shopping precinct lined by clothes shops, phone shops, butchers, coffee stops, hairdressors, pet shops, Onan betting and the rest we have become accustomed to in Greek fashion all happily rubbing along side by side.
As they say “a picture’s worth a thousand words”
…..and again lol.
It being a Saturday it was bunged and near impossible to find a seat in the many noisy coffee bars, but we eventually did.
Then having explored the town, did some provisions shopping, bicuits for the fishermen and walked along past the army barracks to see the Yacht Club / Marina, we had lunch in a taverna overlooking the bridge.
Weather still a bit cloudy & overcast at times but it didn’t spoil our day ashore.
It even felt like a Saturday – maybe should’ve bought a lotto ?
