Kos

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Sunday, 11th January, 2009, continued.

Spoke to our families this morning. All is well at home, apparently pretty cold and a heavy frost last night.

We settled in one of the bars and the ship left at three o'clock.

As we left Piraeus and went out to sea, we could see a large number of various types of vessels, that were just anchored. I had seen something recently about the global economy having an effect on Greek Shipping and that ships were currently laid up, so I assume these were they.

The ship's wireless internet service time was purchased through the tills and it didn't seem to be working. I noticed when I had a look at wireless network, that the provider was the same as on Anek Lines and I had a little time left, and was able to log in and update the blog and look at a few things.

We bought some drinks and snacks along the way. The arrival time being 0330 hours, all we had to do was while away the hours, until then.

We read, did Suduko puzzles, played games on the computer and the time slowly drifted by.

We both fell asleep now and again, and at about eight o'clock, although neither of us was very hungry, decided that we ought to have something to eat.

The ship was bouncing and rolling a little, and one or two people looked green. But we headed for the self-service restaurant and we both had something simple, beef patties and chips, with some water to drink, €12.30.

This filled a hole and kept us going for the time being. We both then settled down on the lounge sofa's to try and get some sleep.

The ferry had a couple of stops before Kos, I had fallen asleep and missed the first stop at midnight, Then dozed again, was awake for our next stop at Kalymnos, which all happened fairly quickly.

We could see the lights of Kos and just before three thirty, we were called to go to the cars. Disembarkation was over quickly and we literally drove outside the port gates and parked. Our intention being to hopefully sleep in the car, until a reasonable time to do things in the morning.

Activity died down for a short while, then picked up again as the other Blue Star Ferry, Blue Star 2, was due in at 0430 hours. So people were dropped off and arrived to catch the ferry. The ship arrived and disembarked cars and passengers. At some stage shortly after that the ship loaded and sailed, I had fallen asleep and the ship sailed without my seeing it go.

Pat and I both slept on and off, I think I woke about three times, adjusted my position and went to sleep again each time.

The sun rose about seven thirty and it was straight ahead of us when it did so. It was great to see, and the sky was really clear, so it was a beautiful sight.

I fell asleep one last time and woke at nine o'clock. It was a good time to move and we drove a short way to another parking spot.

We had holidayed in Kos about five years ago and visited Kos Town, so we were vaguely familiar with the lay out and where to go.

Our objectives were to find a toilet, have some coffee, and then find somewhere to sleep.

The weather was glorious, with the sun shining. We walked along the Port area, and then detoured into the town. We found a cafe open and sat outside basking in the sun. The visits to the cafe toilet were undertaken quickly, and with the magic of all of this, the sun and caffeine, we gradually came to life.

We had another coffee, because it was all so pleasant. Then ambled around, generally keeping an eye out for open Hotels.

What we did find was a stationery shop and Pat had been looking for some ink cartridges for her fountain pen, which they were able to provide, result.

We saw one or two Hotels, but one had caught my eye, because it overlooked the harbour and the sun was shining on the balconies on the front of it. My only thought was that it might be expensive, because of it's location. So we had a closer look as we walked past, and it looked open. It was still quite early, so we kept walking for a while, and did a loop round to walk along the beach as we came back.

It was nearly ten thirty and we were back at the Hotel, so went in. It had rooms available and we asked for one on the front, they only had twins on the front, but we had a look and accepted it because of the balcony and view. The room was €45.00 per night, with breakfast, a lot cheaper than I had expected.

We walked back to the car, sorted our bags out for taking stuff into the hotel and drove back. We were able to park outside and went up to the room.

Next priority was to bathe, and rest for a while. We have just had two nights on a ferry, and although the first night we had a cabin, we were up really early. We were kicking around the Port the next day and straight onto another ferry. So we were both, what could be described politely as “not clean” and also very tired.

I had a bath first and felt much more like a human being, Pat then had a soak for what seemed a very long time.

Our room has some good views out over the harbour, Pat sat outside for a while, and out temperature gauge said 18°C, in the shade.

We had both sufficiently recovered and we were both hungry. We left about one thirty and did a little exploring.

We walked back round to the Port to get our bearings in daylight, and then into the town. We didn't see a suitable restaurant, until we came to a grill place, called Avlogyros. We ordered a Greek salad, an El Greco and a Hippocrates. The salad came first and we ate that until the main courses arrived. The El Greco, was gyros, chicken fillet and pork chop. The Hippocrates was gyros, souvlaki, beef steak, both with salad, chips and pitta bread. Both were substantial dishes and neither of us finished them. We were stuffed. Total, with drinks, €32.10.

We then ambled back to the room and were back at four thirty.

The Hotel has wireless internet in the reception area, so will do some surfing later.

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Photos

Piraeus
Ships laid up off the coast at Piraeus

Kos Town
View from our balcony

Kos Town
View from our balcony

Kos Town
Our car, the beast, showing off the many ferry companies travelled in Greece