Heading Northwest Across Greece

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You never know who you might run into when traveling. But, to meet up with friends on the little Greek island of Paros would seem to be statistically impossible. They were heading south on the ferry and we were heading north. But, our paths managed to cross on the same day in Paros. It was fun to share dinner and travel stories while making plans for future destinations.

The best part of Paros, was our day trip to Antiparos. It is a short 15 minute ferry ride to a very quite and picturesque island. It is so small and quiet that we rented an ATV and did the 12 miles of drivable road to explore the island. Along the way we passed the new house that Tom Hanks just built. At least we think we found the right one. Other than that it was a lovely coastal ride of beautiful mountain vistas , striking beaches, and the beautiful deep blue sea.

When we left Paros we took a ferry to Piraeus, the port town of Athens. Once there, we had the pleasant experience of running into two very friendly bus drivers that gave us free trips through Athens in our endeavor to get to the correct bus station to get a bus to Nafplion. After several hours of traveling on boats and buses we arrived in Nafplion and were so pleased to see that it was still the beautiful little artists' community that we remembered. Our two days there were spent strolling the streets, climbing the 999 stairs to the castle, doing the Promenade around the Old Town peninsula, and enjoying the great artist shops and good food.

From Nafplion we took the bus and headed across the Peloponnesian Peninsula to the town of Patras where we were to catch the ferry to Corfu. All went well on the first bus, but on the second leg of the trip things got interesting. About an hour into the 3 hour trip we encountered a forest fire that proceeded to jump the highway and close the road. So, with flames shooting up into the air as the pine trees burned our bus driver quickly turned the bus around on the cliffside two lane highway. We then back tracked, connected with the old coastal road and arrived in Patras late but safe.

Our midnight ferry out of Patras delivered us to Corfu at 6:45 a.m. The island of Corfu is one that we have always enjoyed and on this visit it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. It seemed dirty and neglected. The traffic has increased tremendously and all the drivers speed through the streets with no regard for the pedestrians. Happily, the beach at Paleokastritsas was still lovely and we found other good walks and activities to enjoy.

One of our days in Corfu was spent doing a day trip to Albania. It was a most interesting day and will be the topic of the next blog. Once we left Corfu our traveling pace increased and we have done as many as 4 countries in 3 days. We are now on the island of Hvar off the coast of Croatia. It is a lovely island, but we are already missing the ambieance of the Greek islands.

All is well with both of us and we are enjoying the hot, dry summer.

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Photos

Step aside, Danica!
ATVing on the island of Antiparos. Our maximum speed was 25mph!!

Oia, Santorini
Some leftover photos from our last days in Santorini.

Comments

[Jody]

breath taking
As always, your photos of Greece just take my breath away~ What a neat trip! Love that you ran into your friends on the ferry as well. Hugs Jody

[Dorothy]

You are an artist
Loved the breath taking photos, want to go there, love you lots Dorothy