Blogs from West Greece, Greece, Europe
May 27th 2012
Not much to do on the ferry... So I may as well continue writing out my thoughts about this trip. Me, Chris, and Sergio (the bus driver) were discussing last night that this trip is about 10,000 km and so for we have only traveled around 4,000. Of course this doesn't include water travel. Sergio was filling out Will's map and highlighting which roads we traveled and which ones we will travel on. Then he highlighted in a different color the places we stop in. All in all it looked very cool and I will have to do that when I'm back in Canada and frame it. 10,000 km. 17 countries. We're still 3 days away from the halfway point. I remember being nervous before this trip began thinking that I've never been this far away ... read more
Chapter 4 - DAY 19 - Farewell to Greece
Published: September 27th 2011Europe » Greece » West Greece » Patras
September 25th 2011
GOOD BYE TO GREECE Today was a transit day from our Cruise ship to the overnight Ferry from Greece to Italy so not too much to report. We returned to the Port of Athens to end our amazing Greek Island Cruise. Like the rest of our tour it was designed to give us a snapshot of the islands and it certainly did that. I guess it’s no surprise that Mykonos and Santorini were the highlights however the whole cruise experience was a lot of fun and a very nice change from our day to day tour routine. One of the big advantages of touring as part of an organised group is that your bags are always taken care of. We put our bags outside our room before we went to bed and they were picked up ... read more
August 14th 2011
Today we woke up at a reasonable hour and our lovely man made us breakie at 9am with amazing freshly squeezed orange juice! I stayed back at the hotel initially cos I had to skype home and sort clothes to be sent over to London now that i was going to be going back so much sooner! El and Andy went to the Archeological museum of Olympia and spent a few hours walking arund that. it was all about the history of the place - not just the olympics. I then joined them and we walked for about 45 mins in extreme heat to try and find the statue of the guy who originated the first modern olympics but we couldn't find it so gave up and went and found some lunch. We were pretty much ... read more
August 13th 2011
Today we got up and I got in touch with ppl about startig to organise my stuff afer having everything stolen! Then we mished it to the bus stop and met up with Andy - a friend from back home.We didnt really have any idea where we were going but managed to find the bus and boarded it and spent the next 5 hours travelling to Olympia. We arrived at about 7ish pm and as we arrived at the hotel (which was so so cute) the hotel boss was waiting out the front for us and was so so excited that we had arrived co El and I had booked in Dec and paid then online. Apparantley we were his first online booking and he treated us like royalty! Our rooms were very cute and he ... read more
July 19th 2011
Olympia - the home of the ancient Olympic games of wrestling, chariot and horse racing and a pentathlon.... read more
The MSC Musica!! A 7 day cruise to Italy and Greece and Crotia.
Published: July 28th 2011Europe » Greece » West Greece » Olympia
June 6th 2011
Friday 3rd June 2011 Up and off today to our final Greek sightseeing destination that of the ancient site of Olympia where the original Olympic games were founded. The first stage looked easy on the map, about 80 miles of motorway, and started as expected following signs for the A8 to Patras. However either we missed the turning ? ( I don't think so ) or this mostly imaginary motorway is still under construction for some 70 miles. During this epic we endured endless roadworks with 'interesting' lane changes, thousands of cones and some absolutely spectacular Greek driving but thankfully no traffic jams. They even had the cheek to charge a toll for one section that was restricted to a single lane in each direction and in a poor state of repair ! Which just goes ... read more
April 27th 2011
Dear friends, During our crossing from Mauritius to Savona we also visit the ancient Olympia (Port of call: Katakolon) Enjoy the pictures. Costa Cruises: It's a way of living Stay tuned for more Costa Cruises Photodiaries From the living seas with love Jacqueline and Adriaan B. Monkey and Bear Information about Acient Olympia - Thanks to Wikipedia. Olympia (Greek: Ολυμπία Olympía), a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad (i.e. every four years), the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC. In 394 AD, (after exactly 1170 years) emperor Theodosius I abolished them as they were then considered reminiscent of paganism. The first olympic games ... read more
April 7th 2011
The drive from Patras to Ioninna and Perama was not so bad, on pretty good roads. We stopped for a coffee break in a town on a Bay and that was quite pleasant (see picture). Although the funniest thing on the drive was the “highway” was cut off on one ramp and turned us to another and when we looked down that ramp, the 2 lanes ran directly in to this big huge pool of water. Just straight down in to it and the whole road disappeared. Too bad there were cars behind us because that picture would have been priceless. It was just the strangest thing. Another break for lunch was at a random roadside café - although we think in hindsight it was part of a town - a very very small town - ... read more
April 4th 2011
Lagkadia is a beautiful place but they apparently are not used to seeing women traveling without a male - or something? We had a warm reception at our hotel but received a lot of weird looks from the locals in general - most especially the older men. In fact, we were actually turned away from a coffee place!!! That grouchy old man either did not speak English and didn't want to deal with us or he simply did not approve of women in his place. Well regardless of that, the place is beautiful and quaint and has great Baklava. As we were driving down the mountain, we came across a herd of sheep. Not kidding. The roads were narrow and twisty turny but the views were stunning. We often felt we were not possibly on the ... read more
