I start a new book. 'My Åland'. It is from a series of books where Estonians who live in different places write about their experiences. Since they are not writers then the quality varies a lot and usually I avoid these books. Except when the place is interesting for me for some reason or I know the author. I have been to Åland and am now on islands as well so it should fit. The beginning makes me totally nervous. The author has only skirts in her wardrobe and she cannot tolerate silence. What a terrible person that must be. She first goes to Kökar island as a summer help in a guesthouse and is deeply disappointed that it is not a big hotel where she could serve 'high quality guests'. Every second week she has time off and then she leaves this 'characterless island'. Kökar which in my memories was one of the coolest places in all Åland! Finally she learns to evaluate as well peace and quiet as Åland and Kökar. Also starts to write rather nicely, forgetting the initial banalities.
The ferry ticket seller sends a message with ferry coordinates and a disclaimer that the information might be wrong. The Supreme Court calls to tell me that I got 7 points out of ten. Nothing shiny but over the threshold. Now I have to get the materials for oral examination from the bottom of my bag. Which is annoying of course. Citing myself: even if this is the wrong mountain, I have climbed mountains before just for the fun of looking down from there.
I linger on the balcony but don't have the patience to wait the cleaning lady. The only thing that I learn is that if you leave something outside then it is covered in thin layer of salt after a while. The phone number of the guesthouse does not answer so I send a message through booking.com and go to the beach.
There's strong wind on the beach as everywhere else. Soon my ears and pages of the book are filled with sand and I leave after a short swim.
In the port captain Kostas organizes life showing who has to sit where and who has to park where.
The ferry is half an hour late. It is a small one like the ferries in Dodecanese where people walk onboard together with the cars and can freely move around. I'm the only passenger who boards, all the locals only grab some boxes from the car deck.
After leaving the shield of the port the ferry drives in nice side wind and sways heavily from side to side. Some passengers try to stay vertical in relation to the horizon all the time which is an interesting sight. Water jerks randomly, wind blows waterdrops off foaming waves. When sun hides behind a cloud then sea turns from dark blue into grey.
Sun is already low when we land on Amorgos. The car rental company that my guesthouse recommended gives me a blue Fiat Panda. The rental guy pats me on the shoulder and does not want to talk anything about the car. We only check together that the tank is empty. Gas station is one kilometer in a direction of a broad handwave.
First I drive somewhere between cafés, look at the map, make an u-turn, try not to fall into the sea and find the right way. In a sharp bend the motor dies and I can practice starting with the handbrake. Gas station is on top of the mountain, there is good view of the sunset. They already know that when someone arrives and finds that the hatch is on the other side then this is a tourist. Then there are a lot of unilluminated installations on my side of the road but luckily no-one drives in the other direction.
Actually I wanted to take a car on the second day but surprisingly the pickup from the port costs 8 euros and returning the car in the other village only five. It makes no difference on what day I drive. Then no scooter. This is already a big island. The distance between the two main villages is 25 km. When there was no road over the mountains then both parts of the island were connected only by sea. This is the reason why here are two ports with separate ferry schedules.
I'm awaited in the guesthouse. It is a labyrinth through four floors and I'll be at the top. Superb room. This is finally a place where they have fresh fish that you can go to check out in the fridge.
Seems to be quite a storm outside.
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