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Published: March 6th 2012
Parade Float Patra
Most of the floats had a political theme.Mama’s jonquils are starting to come out and we noticed some blossoms on the almond tree en route to the street market this morning. But the temperatures are still winter like.
Sat 25th Feb We get up at 4.30am to catch a taxi to Salonika for our 3 day trip to Patra and Nafplion and leave the CBD at 6.30am. There are 33 people on the tour bus. We stop at the towns of Tempe and Lamir for toilet stops and then drive to Corinth down near the Pelopannese and get there around 3pm. We stop and have something to eat near the Isthmus Canal. There were 2 big restaurants closed near Isthmus Canal, and the same near Tempe. Perhaps the people are not travelling by bus or car as much, and the restaurants can not make it financial viable to stay open. We then drive on to Nafplion, a city further south and went on a little motorised tourist train that took you around the town for 4 Euro. We then had a little walk around Nafplion and left around 8.30pm to go to Tolo, a small village by the sea, where we stayed
Corinth Canal
This is the view from the bus when we crossed the Corinth Canal at the Paradise Lost Hotel. We walked to a small taverna and had our evening meal, and then we had some icecream. First time in Greece, as the weather was too cold up in Salonika. But people were eating outside in Nafplion and the people seemed happy and enjoying the comparatively balmy weather of 19C. Very uplifting. The city was clean and had the atmosphere found on the Greek islands. After the icecream, we went into a jewellery shop and one lady came out of the shop and said, “I heard you speaking Greek, so if you need any help, I will help translate” She was from England but had lived in Tolo 22 years, after getting married to a Greek guy and had 3 kids. She spoke Greek very well, and the lady in the jewellery shop was her friend. We ended up buying two bracelets there.
Sunday 26th Feb We have breakfast, which was included in the tour price. Cereal, yoghurt, cold meats and cheese, scrambled egg and little hot dogs. Juice was available and the coffee was one of those Nescafe machines where you pressed the required button to get your coffee, chocolate, etc. Michael
Pruned trees near Corinth Canal
The trees seemed to be pruned with a flat top, perhaps to give more shade. got it first and then I said I wanted a second cup, so took our cups and saucers over in my two hands. The first one was fine, but the second one I forgot that I had a saucer under the cup and lifted the cup up to put under the spout and of course the saucer shattered to the floor and broke into a hundred pieces. The waitress was very understanding, but all the people in the hotel’s restaurant looked around. The next day at breakfast, I told the waitress, that I would be extra careful and she said that it is viewed as good luck if you break something. Well at that rate, I should be a millionaire with all my breakages.
We left at 8.30 am to go to Patra and got there around 12.30pm. The weather was summer like, being 19C in Patra. The Carnivale Parade is the largest in Greece, with many floats and groups of people dressed in costumes. The people looking at the parade also got into the spirit of things, with the whole families dressed up in costumes. The parade was supposed to start at 2,30pm, but was delayed by some
Gum trees lining road
Near Corinth, you would think you were back in Australia, with the gum trees. protesters till 3pm. They were protesting about the cuts Greece has to endure to get the bailout from the Eu. So only after they left, did the parade of the floats commence. Lovely uplifting music to a Salsa beat was broadcast on big street speakers. We stayed till 4pm when we were supposed to find the tour bus and leave Patra. Before the parade started, we had some souvlaki and walked around the town and took photos of the people in costumes who were walking to the assembly area or just dressed up as part of the fun. There is a big bridge which opened in 2004 and is the biggest in the world, as told by our tour guide, piping the one in Turkey by some metres. It is 2.2 km in length. It costs 60 Euro to travel one way on the bridge, but if you live or work on the other side, then you pay a discounted ticket of 35 Euro instead. Our bus hostess Despina said that in a short time, after the parade finished, it would take 1.5 hours to get out of the city, with so many tourists, buses and cars. We drove
Kites for sale on roadside
A public holiday 27th Feb, and a selection of brightly coloured kites were available for purchase and use. back the 150km to our hotel in Tolo and later the bus took people to Nafplion for a meal or to look at the shops. Then we saw some of the people from our tour and they said why don’t we go with them to a restaurant close by, so 16 of us went there and they put the tables together and we ate. They had a guitar and bouzouki musician who played and sang and sang “Thessaloniki Mou” for us. It is a song about Thessaloniki, as the title suggests. I asked Michael to go up and ask them if they knew it and they played it. Because we took up the centre of the taverna, more people came in and sat on the side tables. It seemed our group was good for business, but think the waiters were amused by our group, especially one guy called Pantiyotis who would sing on the bus, using the microphone. So he sang when the musician were having a break. The group also did some Greek dancing, so it was really nice. The bus driver and hostess were with the group and we had to get back to the bus by
The little island near Nafplion
Just fortuitous that the fishing boat was passing when I was taking this photo. 10.30pm-so the driver could get some sleep for our trip tomorrow back to Salonika.
Monday 27th Feb We leave at 8am for Epidaurus, the big ancient open air theatre about 30 kms from Tolo. We had been before in 2004 when Michael’s cousin Andreas took us there. But as today was a public holiday ( Katharh Deftera) it was free entrance. This Monday is the last one before the 40 days of Lent start, so families take the opportunity to get together and fly kites. There were kites for sale on some corners, but the weather was not conducive for such activities, as cold and rainy. So left Epidaurus at 9.30am to head back to Corinth. A wild almond tree was in blossom close to the theatre. We went past Corinth and then north to Thiva, so bypassing Athens. When we got to Thiva, the city was having its annual festival, called The Blahikos Gamos ( the Blahi Wedding) where the groom from one Blahi village is married to a woman from a neighbouring village.( The bride was a man dressed as a woman in traditional clothing) There were 3 horses and each were pulling brightly decorated
A balcony garden in Nafplion
A little big of greenery lifts the spirits carts. The people were dressed in traditional costume, and some had a woollen overcoat (Kapa) which looked like felted wool and would have been warm. The temp was 6 C and raining, so freezing. We went into a café nearby and ordered some hot coffee, spoke to some of the locals and took some photos of some of them. We got one man’s address to send him a photo which we had taken. He had a wooden trumpet (Zournas) type thing. We only stopped there about 1.5 hours and then had to find the tour bus, as difficult for our driver to find a park in the hilly city. But we eventually found him and it took me a while to warm up inside the bus, after getting wet from the rain and wind.
We stopped at Tempe, about half way between Salonika and Athens and the wind was so fierce, the parked bus started rocking from side to side and some of the big restaurants lost power. The big transport trucks were all lined up outside Tempe. They can not use the road after dark till dawn, to reduce the road accidents. This is on long weekends
A window painting in Nafplion
This painting was on a shop window, hence the flash light reflection I think. Food trucks are exempt from this restriction on travelling times. We get back to Salonika at 8.15pm and get home at 9.45pm. The bus driver George, about in his 30’s said he really enjoyed having us on the trip and if we were to stay in Greece, he reckons he would be taking us each Saturday on a trip, as we did not whinge and took photos and were interested in everything
Tuesday 28th Feb Today is Mama’s birthday. We don’t say anything when I change the date on the pull off calendar. But after breakfast I go down to the local bakery and buy a chocolate torte and bring it in with the candle when the coffee ladies are here. So a surprise for Mama.
Wed 29th Feb We then went into the city and it snowed very lightly as we were walking past the local school to the bus, but in the city it snowed more consistently, although the snow, melted when it hit the road. I noticed a flower vendor selling bulb flowers like daffodils and hyacinths and the polyanthus planted by the Salonika council looked very cheerful. We have started
Icecream for Sale
In Tolo, we had our first icecream during the four months in Greece saying our goodbye’s to our friends and relatives as only two more weeks in Greece. The blind mice or moles are enjoying the lettuce plants, eating 9 of them so far.
Friday 2nd March At the local street market we see strawberries for the first time, apart from the specialised fruit shops in the city: 2.50 Euro for 1 kilo.
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