Читать книгу The Journey: How an obscure Byzantine Saint became our Santa Claus - David Price Williams - Страница 73

I was anxious to disembark immediately to visit this magnificent city. I could already see the tall obelisks and statues of exotic Egyptian gods set up in the grand squares that surrounded the harbour. But Polios said there were many things that had to be done first. There was much documentation to be completed with the harbour-master, for the ship, for its cargo, which happened to be baulks of timber from the Taurus Mountains behind Patara, and also for the crew, including me. I hadn’t thought of that. It wouldn’t be until the afternoon that we would be free to go ashore. There were many small jobs to be done on board too, coiling ropes, cleaning the decks, furling the sails and other tasks associated with a sea-going vessel; actually these took up most of the rest of the day. By the time we’d opened the hatches to the hold so that the sawn wooden beams could be examined by the timber merchant who was going to buy them, the sun was already starting its journey to the horizon.

As evening drew on, Polios suggested we walked along the quayside to find a tavern where we could get something to eat and drink. It was then I realised just how tired I was after two or three days at sea with little sleep. We climbed over the other ships and set off around the harbour. It was at once an amazing experience for me. The dockside was thronged with many different nationalities, speaking many languages and dressed in all kinds of clothing – Syrians from the north, from

DAVID PRICE WILLIAMS