On The Boat Again...

A great day. Firstly, it didn't rain, and the place we were staying in was marvellous to wake up in. Where did all those birds come from? Lovely. 

This is the view over breakfast, it's a really lovely spot. Breakfast was pretty good too, with a fresh cooked fluffy omelette and the usual add-ons. We had to drag ourselves away... Like we have had to in all the other places!! 

Not too far to ride today, only about 220km, to pick up the boat tickets in Patra for 16.00. So we took our time. Turned off the highway just after Lamia, and the road goes up over the hills, with amazing views of the fertile valley, and then the hills in the pic. The clouds were around us but although threatening, didn't actually rain. The only minor drawback was the huge trucks hauling raw bauxite from the mines all around, but we stayed out of their way.

For lunch we turned off the road into a small village by the sea. By this time the road was following the coast, revealing unbearably picturesque villages at every turn. My only regret was not planning to drop into Delphi for lunch, which we passed the turning for, so this had to make up for that!

Jim contemplating opening a beachside jewellery establishment, or possibly checking out the fishing device trap thingy on the shoreline.

This is the lunchtime view - rubbish eh? Usual Greek salad, chicken souvlaki, spot hit. Back on the road after a great break.

We had no problem finding the ticket office, largely because I reccied it online so recognising the shop was easy! We double parked outside, like you do, I nipped in, nice young lady printed them off, job done. The hardest part was finding our way around the damn terminal  - no wonder we we're confused when we arrived last, er, some day or other.

Goodbye Greece, it's been brilliant! As Jim says, the holiday has been different every day, with new experiences to enjoy. 

And the sun puts on a show as we head out into the Adriatic on our nice shiny new boat. I think we prefer the old one, it had more character and the bikes were on the open deck rather than stuck in th hold. Hey, who cares, next stop Bari, drive off the boat and straight on to Pescara.

Sofia's Choice and Spyros' Oven

An interesting evening...

Let's start with Spyros' oven, pictured above. Wood fired, it produced some super yummy lamb, to follow some great tsatsiki, along with some "amusing" red wine. The smell of woodsmoke is an important taste additive, we've discovered!!

Here's to another day at the potash mines...

The lady who owns the hotel is Sofia, and we had a long conversation when we got back about her situation and that of Greece. 60% tax... 24% VAT... €6000 one off tax on her hotel... Sounds like the typical small business person's complaints but it's more than that. It's the uncertainty and fear of more things happening that causes stress, big stress. No easy answers, but clearly governments aren't providing any at all... 

Vote Gouk and guarantee the freedom to wear your hat as stupidly as you choose!

On Holiday! Part 2...

A casual glance at the map above reveals that I missed the turn off the motorway, so we had to go to the next exit, which was obviously miles away. No harm done though because we're ensconced in a very nice spot, after a few miles of very pleasant bends executed in the sun. Marvellous!

We woke in the excellent Archontirakis Hotel, to see the rosy fingered dawn across the wine dark lake ( C Homer 400BCE-ish). Except the lake was wine dark because of the clouds, which opened moments later and rained solidly all through breakfast, packing, 40 tabs and any other procrastinating devices we could conjure up. 

Jim procrastinating.

We headed out onto the motorway, at least glad to escape the rainy urban madness. The new highway is an incredible feat - there are so many tunnels, and so long, it definitely cost a fortune! A single €1.70 toll each was paid, so at least we've contributed.

And then I missed the turn to Tikala, because of roadworks, and, IMHO, a somewhat ambivalent GPS display. Anyway, a slight detour of maybe 80km and we got to Trikala anyway. And it had stopped raining!

The north of Greee is pretty mountainous, hence the motorway tunnels, and the non-motorway roads get pretty twisty and up and down. During one respite of this we had lunch, bean soup, which Jim had been hankering for since yesterday...

And the sun came out!! Hey, we're on holiday!! Better write that down so we remember... We left the main road after the last fuel stop, and now we crossed another ridge, and into the fertile valleys. Some great windy roads, small villages and few other vehicles a recipe for motorbike joy. This is what we came for!

So now we're in the Hotel Alexakis, with a mountain view, wondering when we get the first beer in. Lovely.

Rainy Day, Dream Away

Returning northwards today, what would have been the turnaround in the original Plan A. Plan B involves a loop back to Patras, but to do that we have to move away from it... And Ioannina it is.

And it's raining... Pretty hard as it turns out. 

This is the first and last fag stop on the run. You can just see the friendly lass who was selling fruit at the roadside in the doorway, we chatted about stuff.

The route was very strange, and included several chunks of barely completed toll road, which isn't open properly, owing to lack of cash. On one stretch we saw 4 cars and a motorcycle. Other bits were the old two lane road, including a hairy section round the coastline, with concomitant bends and ascents/descents, and the ubiquitous very slow haulage convoy - desperate . In fact, given the rain and low temperatures, we were glad of being able to drive fast to decrease travel time!

Ioannina is a pretty large place, with a university and lots of museums and history etc. It has a lake and mountains too, visible from the great hotel...

We were cold an hungry so went to eat at the local souvlaki shop - lovely. Really friendly, great food, nice people.

But they don't do pud and coffee - we were forced to move to Motley, a hall of wonders.

And then we went for a walk around the old castle and museums, which are, of course, all closed on Mondays!!

Then Jim found a new friend who is even older than him, and we went back to the hotel for a warm and a chat with mine host.

On Holiday!

I feel a bit like the man with short term memory problems who keeps re-recognising his wife, but after 3 minutes has forgotten and repeats the cycle with surprise and delight... Here we are in Greece, on holiday! All the classic features - sea, crummy roads, dusty cars, strange wires looped everywhere, and in this case, a small encampment by the beach!

Hotel is ok, comfortable bed, hot shower, quiet - Jim still staying off the snoring

:). We'll have to get a him a couple of glasses of wine to test the hypothesis.

The view north, with a lady fishing. The clouds don't look too promising, but it's not raining yet.

Back towards the port we landed at, you can just see the squatters' vans on the left. 

Not so far to go today, 120 miles maybe, so a fairly relaxed start. My, that bed was comfortable!!

Night Ride into Patras

No map, we'll be in Patras shortly. The boat arrives a bit later than thought, and it's late as well, so we'll be there about 22.30 - well dark! It's been a long 33 hours, with 5 onboard meals, 5? coffees, a few litres of water and the odd wine gum. Fortunately it's only a 5 mile ride to the hotel - the planning!

Here's Corfu north coast as we passed into Igoumenitsa. Most people seemed to get off there, and the U.K.-Greece transport service guy suggested we could get off and ride quicker than the boat. We decided not to do that!

Getting off involves going down the ramp, seen here with the Austrian bikers leaving.

It's been very interesting talking to various Brits and the Greek staff. Transport guy is an ex-builder, moved to Corfu 10 years ago, fixed up some houses, now does runs to/from Uk. Another couple from Scotland coming to work on and go out on their sailing boat - nice! Staff work 4 months without a day off, then a month off after which they will hopefully be taken on again - blimey. Austrian bikers - mad bastards, but lovely guys.

The car deck at night - fortunately not damp.

Well, we made it! Ramp a doddle, but finding the route - a total PiA! The satnav seemed to have trouble corresponding with reality, and we couldn't see an obvious way to go left... Ended up traipsing around a low key Patras suburb before heading down Main Street and clocking the hotel. Which is full of Greek bikers, and, necessarily, about 20+ Greek bikes, most of whom were in the foyer shouting when we arrived. 

Hotel Delfini, Fix beers, nuts, excellent inn keeper with a sense of humour - time for bed.

A Short Day, But A Long Way To Go

A short ride today, but even with the GPS we managed to take a few wrong turns - hey ho. Still arrived to pick up the tickets in time. Exciting!

The queue was quite orderly, lots of ex-pats or long term stayers, in motor homes and so on. One guy runs a transport business with 3 Mercedes vans that do a million miles, carrying stuff and dogs to Corfu for people. Blimey.

Then there's the German ex-hippy crowd who are still building the camper before they get on board...

We had to ride up two ramps and park up beside the saloon. The tie down is a bit of rope - let's see how well that holds, and meanwhile hope it stays fine.

It's an Anek Lines boat, from the colour scheme maybe it should be called IKEA Lines. As well as the cars on the open deck, there are loads of lorries on the lower decks.

We have an outside cabin for 4, set up for 2 - luxury!

And it's goodbye to Venice - an incredible sight, hard to capture on an iPhone. Imagine what it must have looked like to a voyager sailing up towards it in the 15th century, must have been like a fantasy. We pass many small islands on the way out, reminds me of Jeanette Winterson's The Passion...

We saw a load of kids carrying instruments walking on as foot passengers. Yes, they are an orchestra and yes, they're practising in the saloon as I write!

There are some Austrian bikers on board - you can see their bikes in the photo - they've been to S America as a trip. Packed bikes and a support van into a container, shipped the lot - a 4 week journey - did a month tour of Chile, Argentina and Peru. Didn't book ahead, only planned the route, and found cabana accommodation for 14 every night as they went! 18 months planning. Yes, I'm a wimp. They usually do enduro trips into Romania and Hungary, but might venture into Russia soon.