Leaving Leros (for a bit)

It was time to say goodbye to Songster for 6 weeks while we do some land travel in Europe.  She was snug at the marina in Lakki just down the pontoon from Tiaki.  We cleaned all the surfaces, treated the heads, closed the seacocks, disconnected the batteries, gave the old girl a good pat to take care while we were gone and said goodbye.

We had a 10.00 pm ferry ticket from Leros to Piraeus so walked into Lakki to have a leisurely dinner while we waited for the ferry.  We had finished dinner about 9.30 and sauntered down to the ferry dock to await its arrival.  About 10 minutes later a taxi driver pulled up to ask if we knew that the ferry wasn’t coming into Lakki.  We checked with the Coast Guard who confirmed that we would have to go to Aga Marina, the smaller port on the other side of the island about a 15 minute drive away.  There was no bus or help provided by the ferry company or the authorities for this change of plan.  We were on our own, so we hopped into the taxi and the driver told us the change in departure ports was because of migrant troubles at the camp in Lakki.  Apparently there was a bit of an uprising and they had set fire to one of the buildings.  The residents were frustrated that their processing was taking so long.  Most had been there since before March.  (   The authorities didn’t want to risk migrants stowing away on the ferry in Lakki, near the camp.

We arrived at Aga Marina with a heavy Coast Guard presence, directing traffic into the small port.  The ferry finally arrived (we followed its progress on Navonics, just to make sure) and out spewed reinforcements; military personnel and a caged police bus.  Unfortunately the police bus had a low clearance and the ramp off the ferry was quite steep.  The rear bumper got stuck and ripped out while getting off, much to the curses and mutterings of the driver.

Ferry arriving with the Coast Guard checking the crowd

The police bus and one of the legitimate passengers who was questioned

Plain clothes police were scanning the crowd to see if any refugees were trying to sneak onto the ferry.  Plenty of racial profiling going on – anyone not looking ‘European’ were questioned.  We saw two young men dragged away, one quite roughly.  Eventually we were allowed onto the ferry.  The times we live in....

Saying goodbye for now to Leros

See here for information on the disturbance and its aftermath: http://dailyhellas.com/2016/07/12/concern-on-leros-over-migrants/ and http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/volunteers-leave-greek-island-attacks-refugees-160710132258629.html