Hi All,
So much going on. Have been getting a little behind on the blog as we have been seeing so many places in our travels and it is hard to summarise without writing a book. We also haven’t had easy access to mains power in the caravan parks so have been conserving our laptop battery charge.
Luckily we now have power and I am laying here on the bed looking out the open doors to the balcony which shows the sculptured coast and light blue water, listening to the small waves lapping the beach so this is enough to balance my attention between writing the blog and looking out over the bay. A captivation sight.
The ferry was huge and once inside we had two rises of escalators and a long walk along a corridor before reaching the reception staff who delivered us to our adequate pulman seats in the middle section of the boat. There was plenty of room so it was quite comfortable and there was even an episode of medical series of house for Vanessa to watch while charging the laptop on a nearby power outlet. We left the harbour on time with the passing of an old fort at the entrance and an opera singing fisherman entering in the opposite direction in his small and colourful wooden fishing boat. The weather was good without wind and the ocean was smooth. Vanessa and I settled in for our left over pasta for dinner.
One of the staff seemed concerned with our packs at the back of the room and the sleeping bags which had been laid out as a space claim for later but seemed satisfied once I sat around on it a pack removing items within it. Maybe he initially thought it was a potential bomb threat or just that we had our sleeping bags out too early which might have been a breach of protocol as we were supposed to be sleeping in the seats but of course with so few on board most would be asleep on the floor in their sleeping bags later. Probably the latter.
It wasn’t long before we settled into our little sleeping area and after a couple of different configurations we got out the thermo rest mats and attempted to get some sleep after locking up our important gear in our small packs inside a mesh and connecting it to the nearest seat. We were quite tired after the early start but didn’t sleep well and were woken at about 230am by staff who told us that we would be arriving at Igoumenitsa in about 20 minutes. This was unexpected as we expected the trip to take longer but in retrospect was correct as there was another trip the next day that had only 9hrs sea travel time but we didn‘t connect it at the time.
The ship docked and ended up at the international ferry terminal at 3am without any information about getting the ferry to corfu which was about a 90 minute ride away. There was no welcome to Greece or customs checks and we walked by ourselves between the unloading trucks towards the only lit building which presumably was the international terminal hoping to find out where to catch the corfu ferry. Little did we know at the time that a ferry left at 4am from another ferry terminal. The terminal was warm inside and we found a powerpoint and to our surprise a free wifi connection so managed to check our emails and catch up on some research on corfu while charging batteries. There was a 24hr bar and the barman said that the corfu terminal was about 1km away but we opted to stay as we didn’t know the area and it was dark outside! We got moving at about 530am and found the corfu ferry terminal and that the next ferry was at 730am so we settled on our packs waiting as there was no way we were walking back to the international terminal with our heavy loads. The morning got surprisingly cool and kept getting cooler so we were relieved to get on the ferry at about 645am and sit in the warmth smelling the toasted cheese sandwiches. We both needed sleep by that stage and I had a short power nap at the start of the trip and Vanessa nodded off for some of the trip later.
We arrived at Corfu and after rejecting the notion of staying at the pink palace were found by a hostel owner and without too much thought we found ourselves on the other side of the island in a hostel perched overlooking the beach. It was one of the hostels that we had been considering anyway. A quick shower, some washing and hanging out the tent to dry and heading off tired but managed to walk around the beach and climb the nearby hills for a fantastic panorama of the island. Oh yes. The island is about 12km wide and about 70km long. We headed back to the hostel and slept away the afternoon.
Now sitting looking outside across the ocean I eagerly wait with Vanessa for a spectacular sunset.
Day 2
Seems that just like the Spanish the Greeks like to eat late very late as it was about 10pm before we sat down for dinner and consequently well after midnight before we retired to bed which is far to late for those amongst us that like to see the sun come up and those that are encouraged to see the sun rise.
Today was suppose to be a planning day for our time in Greece but the lure of the sea was too enticing so the day started with a walk along the beach a climb over jagged rocks to peek into the next bay and a wade of two through crystal clear rock pools. We eventually settled down to do what we set out to do before being distracted yet again by Skype. Such is life.
Didn’t really do much today but was amused when a couple of paragliders swooped past the window and landed on the beach.
Didn't really do much today.
Day 3
Intended on catching a ferry to one of the other 1400 islands that surrounds the Greece but found out that as it was still low season the ferries weren’t running everyday so opted to instead catch a bus to Athens and from there we would return to the islands. Our bus was loaded aboard a ferry for a 90minute ferry ride back to the main island from where it was a tedious 8hr trip to Athens. We were surprised to pass snow capped mountains on the way.
Bye,
David and Vanessa
