Eastern Europe - Day 67,68 & 69 - Corfu & Athens, Greece

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We left Saranda in the morning and caught a ferry boat to Corfu, Greece! Finally out of Albania and back to the land of the Euro. It was actually quite a process getting out of Albania, involving many passport and ticket checks, in what were quite frankly the oddest of places. Although this was nothing compared to the passport control coming into Greece. One of our passengers is an Asian Australian who just happens to be living and working in Ireland. Well he got pulled off to one side and interogated for quite a while about what he was doing and whether or not he was illegally staying in the EU.

The ferry ride itself across the straight to Corfu actually took quite a while as we were heading towards Corfu town which is in the middle of the island, so once we arrived on land we headed off to the hotel to dump our bags as it was about 2pm. Also travelling from Albania to Greece involves a time zone change of an hour. So the very first thing that Barbara did was to shuttle us all off on an orientation tour of Corfu Town that culminated in a fast food lunch, Greek style. This was quite classic as we ended up eating at a place called 'Mic Mac' that was located right next door to McDonalds, but instead of burgers and the like it served gyros and souvlakis. Following our well deserved and needed feed we all headed off in different directions to explore the old town of Corfu a little bit more. Blue and I headed off for a wee wander around the shops and in one of the stores I managed to find a pottle of Total greek yoghurt with honey. Now this just has to be the food of the gods as it is the most delicious yoghurt known to man. Needless to say I just had to buy some and I also managed to talk Blue into trying it and she is now a total convert.

We were due to meet up with Barbara for Ouzo's at 5pm but when we looked at our watches we discovered that it was already 4:50pm and we were still in the middle of the old town. A long and hot walk then ensued to get us around to the restaurant where we were meant to be meeting up with Barbs and the rest of the group. However when we arrived there only Andrew, Stu and Annaleise were in residence. Even Barbara wasn't there. However most of them turned up over the space of the next couple of hours and we managed to wile the evening away with some ouzos and some lovely food.

The next day Blue and I decided to walk out to Anapolis and Kanoni Point and Mouse Island. This turned out to be a fantastic trip and on the way we discovered the location where Prince Philip was born in 1921. This turned out to be in a lovely park area that you didn't have to pay to get into so we wandered in and had a lovely walk around the gardens, and saw some old Greek ruins. We then had to back track to exit these gardens and continue on our walk to the point. All in all we probably walked for about 1 hour and when we got to the point we discovered something awful. And it wasn't the tourist buses that were pulling up at the same time at we arrived, it also wasn't the tourist tack shops and cafes that were on the point.... no it was worse than that. What we discovered on the point was a Starbucks shop. On Corfu!

Luckily we managed to avoid the fearful magnetic pull of the evil store and instead wandered down the hill to the beaches at the bottom where all the boats to mouse island leave from. However we had decided that we were going to swim over to the island, so after padlocking our backpacks to a handy shackle in the wharf we jumped into the water and dogpaddled our way across to the island. This was a fantastic swim and took us about 30 minutes. Because we didn't have any shoes on we decided to not get out on the island and therefore just turned around and dogpaddled our way back to the beach.

All of this exercise had made us pretty hungry by this point so we tootled back up the hill to have lunch in a local taverna that we had seen on our way down to the beach. One souvlaki later Blue popped herself on a bus back to the hotel, while I decided to walk on back. By the time we both arrived back at the hotel it was siesta time, and we quite gratefully availed ourselves of a shower and then a wee lie down (well actually I used the internet for 3 hours to try and decide where to go after my trip is finished).

After all the excitement of the day we couldn't bring ourselves to walk back into the old town for dinner and instead decided to head down to the restaurant that was practically next door to the hotel that Barbara had recommended. This turned out to be an inspired idea as the guy running the restaurant was lovely and seemed to take a shine to us because he gave Blue and I free ouzo, free watermelon and an amazing free cake for desert that was then followed up by a free round of Raki. We nearly had to be forklifted out of the restaurant.

The following day saw us having to catch a bus from Corfu to Athens. This meant getting down to the bus station nice and early so we could watch the show while the ticket conductor tried to work out how was going where, on what bus, with what bags and where all these things needed to be and go. It was rather amusing. The bus ride itself was going to be for 11 hours. However this wasn't as bad as it sounds as 1.5 of those hours were spent on a ferry boat getting from Corfu to the mainland. We also had another experience of getting things for free in Greece on the bus ride. When the bus stopped so that we could all get some food I went up to get two salads with 2 fifty euro notes, one for me and one for Blue. The guy behind the counter asked me if I had anything smaller and when I said that I hadn't he just waved me and the food away. This meant that I got two, 3.50 euro salads for nothing. Not bad really.

Although the bus ride wasn't too long it did still mean that when we finally arrived in Athens that all of us could only make it as far as the roof bar before we all sucumbed to starvation. The roof bar of the Apollo hotel was lovely as it was on the 7th floor and had a direct view of the Acropolis at sunset. Rather romantic actually, especially when you are there with a large tour group 😊 Our dinner on the top of the Apollo hotel was actually the leaving dinner for the tour. This meant that it was the end of my 6 week trip through eastern europe with Intrepid. I am not entirely sure what I am going to do without someone telling me what time to get up, where to eat and where to stand and sit at the bus station. Hopefully I manage to survive the next 3 weeks by myself until I am back in good old NZ.

The following day I was due to fly out of Athens at 19:00 to Munich. However Barbara then mentioned that she had been told that there was to be a stirke at the airport on that day. A brief panic ensued for all the people who were flying that day, however all the fears turned out to be baseless and there was no strike. However since my flight was at 19:00 I still had an entire day to spend in Athens. Most of the other people on the tour had never been to Athens before so they were all heading off to the Acropolis. I have of course already been to Athens twice before and had absolutely no desire to pay a large amount of money to go and stand in the blazing sun on the acropolis yet again, so instead myself, Barbara and Annaleise headed off to the new opened acropolis museum. This museum only opened in June 2009 so we were some of the first visitors to go. And the best thing of all was that the tickets were only 1 euro. Which I have to admit is all that the museum was really worth. I would be a little dissapointed if I had paid more than that to go to this museum. The best part of the museum are the gaps in it. These are the places were there should be statues, pediments and reliefs, but they are not there because countries like England have still not returned them to Athens after early explorers removed them from the Acropolis. It is sooooo subtlely passive agressive that it is brilliant.

After we had finished with the new museum Barbara left us and Annaleise and I just pottered around the Plaka area for a couple of hours taking in the vibe of the city and some of the merchandise of the shops. We then met up with Andrew, Stuart and Blue for a final farewell lunch, as well as an early birthday lunch for Annaleise. Then it was time to head back to the hotel to pick up my bags and head off to the airport for my flight to Munich. And on the bus I got more free stuff as well! The bus condutor told us that we couldn't buy tickets for the bus on the bus and sent us to the ticket booth. But at the booth there was this young women who was just taking forever to get her ticket and then to search through every pocket of her purse to find coins, and then to try and count out the coins one by one, after she had moved them all from hand to hand numerous times. The bus driver could see us standing and waiting to buy our tickets but he obviously needed to leave so he waved Annaleise and I back over and we ended up with a free bus ride to the airport. I have decided that Greece is my land of free things. Tomorrow Munich, I wonder if it will be the same.

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Comments

[Sandra Ade]

Amazing
Well you have had an amazing adventure and seen so many wonderful things and as you say you now will have to get used to be independent again and looking after yourself. We are looking forward to seeing you back home here and both K and C are looking forward to talking to you about South America. Candace has been given 4 months leave from work starting in November. K is also talking about getting upaid leave as well. Lots for you to think about and talk about. Please keep us in the loop over the next 3 weeks as we wonder if you are ok when you travel on your own. Love you precious Mumxxxooo