Cafe Alexandros

The cafe Alexandros seems to be the social hub of Kritsá. I came here on Sunday evening to get online, since the modem at the house is broken. The place was packed! In the outdoor area, now covered and surrounded on 2 sides with plastic walls to protect from the wind, some old guys were playing cards. But the main action was in the main room by the bar as you enter: There were 2 TV screens, one large and one humungous. The large one was playing a drama, though the watchers had to make do with subtitles, as there was a soccer game on the humungous screen, the commentary blaring into the room. Further inside are 2 groups of sofas, a father was watching his sons play a tv soccer game on the tv by one of these groups. A group of girls were chatting and drinking coffee at the other. Some older kids were sitting at a bank of computers playing computer games. There was a game of pool going on at one of the pool tables. I was trying to skype with Roland, and kept having to move. First to make way for the kids playing the tv game, then for the girls that wanted to use the other sofa group. Then I was told my conversation with Roland was disturbing the soccer game - it's clear what the priorities are here! I doubt it would have been well received if I had said the soccer was disturbing my conversation! So I moved to where there were chess and backgammon boards, which were not in use and this seemed to work. I originally had thought, based on the general noise level that a skype conversation would be acceptable, but I must have underestimated the importance of soccer. Since nobody bothers about non smoking rules I eventually got smoked out.