The story
You are at the harbour of Porto Rafti, on the small peninsula of Pounta. In antiquity a road known as the Steirian Way ran down from the Mesogeia plain to this coast, and the bay at its end was the best protected anchorage on the east side of Attica. Much later, in the Middle Ages and after, ships used it as a way into Athens. At times when Piraeus was closed or in hostile hands, Porto Rafti became a back door to Athens.
Just before the pier is the little church of Saint Nicholas. Its oldest part is a small vaulted chapel from the years of Ottoman rule. As the settlement grew around it, the church was enlarged. Its feast day is the sixth of December. By the harbour stands a memorial to the Unknown Sailor. Now look east, towards the mouth of the bay. The steep island out there is Raftis, with its marble statue on the summit.
Sources (6)
Every fact in this text comes from these sources.
