From Athens it takes nearly four hours to drive across the Pelopponese peninsula (via a region by the name of Arcadia - what expectations…) to the south-western corner, near Koroni. This is where my partner and I hid out last week, holed up in a pretty little swamped by olive-groves (www.saintfridays.com) while temperatures outside rose and rose - and rose to 40•. Scorching, but compensated for by the stunningly clear, cool and calm waters of the Gulf of Messina down below. Here’s a watery view on a rather hazy morning, The outline of the Taygetus mountains of the Mani peninsula opposite is just visible. That’s for the next trip. Next minute (or 15) I was down there, afloat in the transparent water - bliss.

Don’t worry - that’s not the new museum below. Patience. The first time I went to Athens I remember selling my blood. Those were my 1970s student days of drifting across Europe and running out of money - pre-credit-card, pre-email. All very footloose and fancyfree but it does make me sound like a dinosaur. However what everyone savvy knew at the time was in Athens you recouped your finances by selling a litre or so of haemoglobin, which we did on the way out and the way back. Very naughty. The other budget ploy was to sleep on a hotel rooftop for a few drachmas. I can’t remember how or where that was, but it was comfortable enough to give us a couple of days seeing Athens’ sights before we hit Piraeus, the ferries and the sybaritic islands.