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Published: July 25th 2006
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our ferry!
this is a view of our ferry @ sunset so we left roma at 6 am to start our 31 hours of traveling to get to athens. took the train from roma to ancona where the ferry left to go to patras the athens port. at the harbor we met some other canadians who were from toronto and hand lunch with them while we waited for the boat. then in line to get on the ferry we met some more canadians all from ottawa who we chilled with the on the boat.
the ferry was huge it looked like a cruse ship it had a full bar, a pool, a duty free shop (which would come in very hand when the chap beer we bought on shore ran out), and two restaurants it was nuts.
it was great we got killer seats on the upper deck in the sun however once we started going we realized that we were surrounded by 400 german students on holiday.. made for an interesting trip especially when i (IAN) threw their football off the boat into the ocean (opps).
on the boat with the rest of the canadians it was great we played cards for a few hours, ass hole, and
the canadian gang
all the canadians on the boat! euchre, with eventually turned into drinking games when the wine and ABSINTH AND OUZO started coming out. it was great we ran out of beer then bought cheap wine and OUZO from duty free and one of the canadians had a bottle of absinth he bought in Prague so it made for a very messy boat ride, (not to mention that passing out was the only way to fall asleep on the boat with 400 germans and sleeping on the hard deck floor..) after playing more cards poker euchre we went to bed .. trying to squeeze two people into a sleeping back on the deck of a ship on the middle of the Mediterranean is not the best thing in the world .. the sleep started great because of the passing out factor .. however was completely chattered when at 4 am a gypsy fell on me and tried to pick my pockets .. thank god i have buttons on them. ... that was interesting .. and after that there was no way of falling back asleep it was rough.
the next day was alright tanning eating greek food on the boat finally arriving in patras (the athens port)
23 hours after we left italia.
in the port we chilled out and had the best burger i have ever had while waiting to get the 3 hour train which turned out to be a 7 hour train to athens. GREEK trains are retarded, even more then italian .. there is no structure no limit of people allowed on the train and no air and everyone is allowed to smoke not fun .. and to boot they are the shortestest trains in europe that we have seen three or four cars at the most so they are really really cramped. but it was an experience.
finally in athens at 1 am we had to find our hotel it was a 15 min subway ride away then a 15 min walk with our bags after traveling for 31 hours was not fun to say the least, but we made it. however where we made it to was a place called omonia once a thriving business districts of athens and one of the main squares of the city .. but when the olympics came they developed out the other way from the square and not it is and i
quote "is known today for its prostitutes and pickpocketers"... and it was the toilet of the city haha .. to bad because the hotel was actually really really nice full with families and young people which was cool. the next day since we only had one day to spend in athens was crazy ... got up at 7 had breakfast and out to sightsee .. not getting home till like 10 45 at night... but it was amazing .. like rome but seemingly older and had a mysticism in the air that was unbelievable. we sat on the rock where plato and socreties philosophiesed over looking the city. we saw the ancient roman and greek agoas. (i think that just means market place), the temple of zeus, the acropolis, the Olympic stadium and, so many other ruin sites and beautiful parks the city is an amazing place. it is huge but everything that you want to see (the old ruins) are for the most part localized so it was pretty easy to see, the acropolis was the most amazing sight in the city, on top a hill overlooking the hole city the temple of athena nike stands tall at the
view of athens
overlooking all of athens gate leading into a huge opening with temples and paths all over the hill it is unimaginable to think that this was built in a time when there was no machinery to get all the materials up the hill just amazing.
seeing all the old ruins all intertwined with irrigation and water systems shows how advanced they were and it is just amazing.
greece is an amazing place .. the people are very friendly (unlike roma where everyone seemed to be / were rude and if you went to a store or a restaurant you seemed to be bothering them.) and everything is dirt cheap the food especially and it is sooo good.
now off to the greeks islands for 6 days of scuba diving tanning and drinking OUZO on the beach hope you are all having fun in humid canada and are sufficiently jealous that you are not here ... anyway talk to you form the islands ..
peace I and K
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Auntie Bev
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gotta love that ferry
oh you two sound like you are having soooooooo much fun!!! Fun ferry ride by the sounds of it!! A few Canadians i met on that ferry 20 years ago (yikes!!) are still friends today - i stayed with one in Australia and two of them met on that ferry and even married year later - so enjoy your Greece mates - you never know when they will return in your life!! Keep the blogs and pics coming! Love Auntie Bev