We hadn’t been to either of these towns and they were described as being charming so of course we needed to visit them! When we arrived in Athens at noon we were the only boat to tie up at the free town dock that was next to a very pretty park. We had lunch on board and before long another boat tied up behind us.
After lunch we walked into Athens to check it out. It is smaller than Hudson, across the river, and not as updated. The New York Times had described it as one of the up and coming towns on the Hudson River as people from the city are coming up and buying properties and moving in. There were certainly signs of that but there were still a number of houses that were in need of repair. The center of town had good bones and was definitely in the process of being fixed up. Because it was a Tuesday, many of the shops and restaurants were closed. It seems that in this part of the world businesses that cater to tourists are open only from Thursday to Sunday since people come up from the city on the weekends.
We returned to Zendo and after a quick rest, proceeded on to Catskill, another short but beautiful cruise. We passed Olana, the hilltop home of Francis Church (that we had toured on the way north) and the iconic Esophus lighthouse. The beautiful Catskill mountains are on the west bank of the river. When we visited Olana on the cruise up, we looked out at the beautiful vista that incorporated the town of Catskill and the nearby mountains.
When we arrived in Catskill we turned up the narrow and wooded Catskill Creek and decided to stay at one of the little marinas there rather than find an anchorage. Our friends, Ken and Fred, had stayed at Hop-a-Nose Marina so we called the marina and they told us to come on in. We nestled into one of their two cozy transient slips and tied up. What a charming little place in the bend of the creek! We knew right away that this was the kind of small town marina that we like best. One of the friendly live-a boards helped us to tie up. The marina includes slips on both sides of the creek but we were on the preferred side because it was just a very short walk into town.
However, we hung out on board for awhile and Jonny made a delicious one pot dinner of cod, eggplant and potatoes. By the time we finished eating it was starting to get dark but we walked into town anyway. We were very favorably impressed with Catskill’s charm and we decided to stay an extra night so we could explore (and also because Jonny needed a place with good internet connectivity the next night since he was hosting a Zoom webinar for MTOA). That night we had an inredible full moon.
On Wednesday after Archie’s obligatory walk and our lunch onboard we took a long walk through town and up a fairly steep hill to visit the Thomas Cole homestead. Thomas Cole was the founder of the Hudson Valley landscape art movement and he was a mentor to several others who followed that art form including Francis Church, whose home and grounds at Olana we visited on the way up. Cole’s home was not nearly as grand as Church’s and one could actually imagine living there. The setting was magnificent and it was this setting and others like it that he painted. His home was filled with his art as well as an exhibit of art by many women artists, many of whom had not been adequately recognized until recently.
The town of Catskill (home of Rip Van Winkle) is very charming with lots of interesting shops and restaurants and many homes under renovation. It was smaller than Hudson, and definitely bigger than Athens. We would probably rate Hudson, Catskill and Athens in that order. Housing prices in all these towns have skyrocketed since Covid but there are still probably some deals to be had in Athens and Catskill for someone willing to invest in some significant updating.
The town was hosting a Cat’s Meow Auction where participating artists painted cats in very creative ways to raise money for the community. There were more than 65 whimsically painted cats lining the streets. It was fun walking through town and discovering all of the creative cats of Catskill!
Later that afternoon we had a light dinner at a restaurant called New York that specialized in Polish food including pierogies, which we ordered along with a kale and Brussels sprouts Caesar salad. Jonny ran his webinar that evening which went very well. Afterwards we planned for the next couple of days and had an early night in our sweet little marina.
Really enjoying learning about all the pretty and interesting places you three are exploring. Thanks, as always, for sharing all that!
ReplyDeleteDuane and Diane
m/v Diva Di