If like us you though Grimaldi was a good ferry provider
then you would be wrong. Catherine decided to check online the morning before
the trip what facilities were onboard. This led to reading reviews; this led to
OMG what have we got ourselves in for. The reality was as bad as expected but
it was better that we were prepared. Essentially the boat was a freight boat
and passengers were distant afterthought. As deck passengers you hope for a
comfy sofa especially with 15 hours ahead of you. Picture a working man’s club
with no seating, add well prepared passengers with blow up beds sprawled along
the floor. We found some airport style seating in a room at the back which
normally you pay more for but there were literally no staff onboard to say
anything so we found some comfort. Long story short we slept badly, gained some
stiff muscles and made various attempts to get back to Pierre where we wished
we just hid out in. Ah well – it’s not the journey, its the destination that
matters – or is that the journey? Either way we had arrived in Greece and I
(Richard) was prepared to tackle the Greek drivers.
An hour later we were at our camperstop and truth be told
the drivers were far better than the Italians. They didn’t overtake around blind
bends, they didn’t tailgate, when things got tight they didn’t drive straight
for you – they slowed down and often gave way. This was going to take some
getting used to but from what I have read having a larger vehicle would work in
my favour!
We ended up staying 2 nights instead of 1 at our campsite
with all the facilities and we needed a good day of planning for the Greek
islands. 9 hours of solid planning later we had a few ferries booked, a few
nights accommodation sorted and some hire cars booked which was a mission given
we had hit peak season! Planning complete we rewarded ourselves with a beach
walk which turned into a hike up a massive Sand Dune before grabbing a bite to
eat at the local Taverna. These traditional style restaurants can vary in quality.
1st night there was no menu and we were simply asked what we would
like to eat. A few options were listed and we happily agreed to a Salad with
some Chicken fillets. 5 minutes later we were told there were no fillets but we
could have leg. 5 minutes later there was no chicken at all so we had Lamb
chops. 2nd night was more successful with an actual menu
(handwritten) we had some Pitta Gyros – essentially a kebab. We had fallen in
Love with the greek salads and the Tzatziki.
Next morning fully recovered we headed for our first real
point of interest – ancient Olympia. There were several different things to see
at ancient Olympia starting with the museum which was supposed to help you
understand the ruins. Most of the salvageable items from the site were now in
the museum and we wandered around the museum looking at the various statues and
finds from the site. We then headed out into the sun to the ruins which were
larger than imagined and showed various different buildings that were used for
the original Olympics including the original stadium. We learnt more facts
about the original Olympics including the fact women were not allowed to watch
them and the range of sports played including a foot race, chariot racing and
discus throwing. After about an hour in the sun walking around the huge site we
decided to head to the other Olympic museum where we learnt some more about the
games and their history. Feeling like total history buffs we decided we should
head on to our next stop....once we decided where that would be. After a quick
bit of research in a supermarket car park we had managed to book ourselves on a
tour for the following day and therefore headed into the mountains for the
afternoon. We found a town called Dimitsana which was perched on the top of a
gorge with spectacular views. What we hadn’t realised on our way there was how
high the village was (poor Pierre did struggle a little with the drive), how
narrow the roads would be (luckily the Greeks dived out the way when they saw a
British motorhome) and finally we didn’t realise that there would be a rally
car event screeching around the narrow roads. We found a taverna (restaurant) to park at and
walked uphill to the town for a little explore where we found a lovely bar
overlooking the gorge for a quick drink and we also managed to find several
cats in the village to keep Rich entertained.
For the evening we headed to the Traverna for dinner where we found
several kittens, puppies, cats and dogs. Rich was in his element with all the
animals and I had to practically drag him away at the end of the night
otherwise I was worried he would try and smuggle a few into the van.
The next morning we headed to our tour which was advertised
as a rafting tour down the gorge. We arrived bang on time (as the English
always do, although mum was always the exception) and got fitted for our
wetsuits, helmets and met our crew mates (a French couple and a Greek couple).
We then headed down to the gorge in their 4X4 before having to carry the boat
to the water and receive the safety brief. It wasn’t until the brief that we
realised that this would be more than a gentle paddle down the river. There were
lots of instructions to remember about paddling but also about what to do if
you fell overboard which was the worrying bit. We jumped in the boat anyway and
off downstream we headed but a couple of minutes later the rain started,
lightly at first and then it got heavier and the thunder and lightning started.
Luckily for us as we were in the gorge we didn’t get soaked by the rain (the
river took care of that) but the thunder and lightning were loud and
impressive. Quickly on the river we hit out first patch of white water and most
of us remembered the instructions as our guide yelled the orders out and we
managed to come out the other side with no issues. We carried on through the
gorge with several patches of white water and our guide was great at steering
the boat, shouting the different commands and telling us about the gorge. I did somehow end up in the boat several
times, apparently the middle seat where Rich and I were sat is the hardest to
sit on, but no one fell overboard. About halfway through the tour we stopped at
an area where our guide showed us how to swim in rapids and find safety which
was then followed by some mountain tea and biscuits. We continued down the
rapids even going through some backwards before reaching the end of the
section. Once out of the water we headed off on a little hike lead by our guide
through the jungle where we found a little waterfall. On the way there a crab
jumped out at me which made me jump and the guide told us that the pool we were
walking in had had snakes in it the week before due to the high heat. After
some posing for pictures and standing under the powerful waterfall we headed
back to the van and back to the house. The tour also provided a hot lunch, with
wine and ouzo, which after all that paddling was needed. We managed to get to
know our crewmates a little more during lunch which was interesting as it
helped us understand the current Greek situation a little more, although as
usual there were a few conversation stoppers including Rich stating he is an
atheist.
That afternoon we headed on towards Athens and wild camped
at a beach for the night but it was over the road from a taverna that is a
camper stop and one we knew we could go to if moved on. We hoped for a good
night’s sleep, even though we were next to a main road but the thunder and
lightning that started at 2am had other ideas. The noise from the thunder was
so loud, as was the noise from the rain slamming into the motorhome from all
angles and these two things meant there wasn’t any sleep in our van till it
calmed down after 5am. The next morning
(a bit later than usual) we got up and headed to a ruin of a fortress high on a
hill called Acrocorinth. Pierre got us up to the main entrance but we still had
some climbing to do and we soon realised just how big the fortress was. It gave
us great views over the area all the way to the sea and some outcrops of land.
The Fortress was pretty rugged and was not over run with tourists and were
managed to spot some goats, birds of prey and huge crickets. At the top of the hill
there was a restored castle, although it was very small and you could not go
in. There were also what appeared to be several deep dark wells on the hill
that you could peer into their black abyss.
After the long walk around the fortress we headed to Athens past
the Corinth canal which was pretty impressive but we only saw it quickly from
the van. Our plan was to stay in a village just outside the centre of Athens as
we didn’t want to try and drive the van around the city and then get the bus
in. Once we arrived at the little village we found a car park to stay in for
the next two nights and went for a walk to get our bearings. The village was
small but had lots of places to eat and drink and the bus stop was easy to for
the next day for our trip into Athens. The next morning we got up early ready
for our day in the big city and headed to the bus stop ready to try and figure
out the greek public transport system but apart from struggling to buy a ticket
to start with we managed to get the bus and the metro into Athens. As we
managed to get into the city by 7.30 we decided we could head straight to the
Acropolis as this gets busy from about 9.30. The ruins are vast and we managed
to see the Theatre of Dionysus before heading up to see the Parthenon and
Erechtheum at the top of the hill which also gave us views all over Athens all
the way to the sea. From here we could also see several of the other ruins
scattered around the city and we could see how Athens spread out around the
area as a concrete jungle with all the buildings looking the same. We also
noticed that there was no high-rise buildings which you would normally see in a
city. After marvelling at the ruins we carried on around the Acropolis seeing
more ruins before heading on to the museum which showed several of the finds
from the Acropolis and interesting when they had started to build the museum
they had found another ancient city in the excavation and so they made most of
the floors glass so you could see the ruins below. The museum also housed a
lego version of the Acropolis donated by a Sydney museum. After a couple of hours we headed out to the
see the changing of the guards which was very entertaining. The Guards were
dressed in gold/cream dresses with white tights and pointy white shoes with
black pom-poms on the toes (just like elf shoes). To change the guards an Army
major brings the two new guards over and there is a lot of shoe tapping and
kicking as they walk the merry dance to change over. This happens every hour
and draws quite a crowd and is over in about 10 minutes.
We then headed to the art section of Athens to where there
were hundreds of sellers of antiques and flea markets to look around
interspersed with art galleries (the one we went into had an exhibition on
breasts which was a little weird so we quickly exited). We saw the street where
loads of lamps were stung up to illuminate the street at night and there were
some quirky shops and tea rooms. There was also a very weird place called rage
room where you could pay to go and destroy stuff like plates, bottles all the
way to TVs.
After a bit longer walking around the city we decided to
head back, which seemed to take a lot longer than the journey here, and start
preparing for our journey to Crete tomorrow. The ferry ride was a 9 hour ride
but as we were not taking Pierre, he was staying in a car park in Athens, we
were not able to pack the usual luxuries on the ferry such as a sleeping bag.
We just hoped that the ferry was going to be better than the grim Grimaldi one
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