Sunday 26th May 2019
The plan today was to visit some nearby white villages but we awoke to moderate rain and enthusiasm for venturing out waned. A chat in passing with our nearest neighbours, and now new friends, Nick & Helmi from the Netherlands, resulted in a protracted coffee morning session.
The coffee morning continued, and, once the sun had passed the yardarm, turned into a beer and gin & tonic drinking session and a lovely chat about any subject that came up, of course, including Brexit 🙂
Nick & I did sneak off to watch the Monaco Grand Prix for a couple of hours too 🙂
Monday 27th May 2019
With a ferry to catch from Bari at 19:30 we had successfully arranged a late, 14:00hr, checkout from the excellent Camping Pineta al Mare. A casual pack up of the caravan and a walk on the beach meant we were saying our goodbyes bang on time and ready to roll.
We parted from new friends Nick & Helmi with an offer to visit when we next pass by, an offer I’m sure we’ll take up.
With plenty of time, and only 90km, to reach Bari Ferry Terminal we stopped off to top up the LPG in the caravan. We have been told its around €1 a litre in Greece as opposed to 60 cents here.
Towing Kilometres – Today: 92 Cumulative: 31,390
Two full tanks will be more than enough for our time in Greece.
Back on the road it wasn’t long before we witnessed another fine example of Italian driver lane discipline 🙂
Italian Driving
After a port entry fail in Bari, at the coach entrance, we eventually found the correct place and had tickets and placards for car & caravan in hand in very short time. We were told that loading for our 19:30hr departure would start at 17:00, so we had an hour or so to wait.
We passed some of that time consuming a white chocolate Magnum each, at a record breaking price of €3 each!!
Almost bang on time, we were amongst the first on board.
Bari – Patras ferry
We soon went to investigate the ship. The facilities are very smart and the restaurant had a very good choice of food. We had a coffee and then went up on deck to watch the fascinating ritual that is loading the trucks on board.
The skill of the drivers in reversing their vehicles within inches of each other on a tight deck is quite amazing. In hindsight I wish I had done a time lapse video. As it was, I was distracted by a passing waiter who brought us beer 🙂
After loading we made our way to the still quiet restaurant and had dinner. Moussaka for Kim, pork tenderloin for me. No real shock on the prices, with the exception of the wine at €15 for a half sized bottle. It was nice wine however 🙂
By this time the boat was heaving with people so we retreated to our ‘cabin’ i.e. caravan and watched a couple of DVDs before retiring.
Neither of us slept well. The dog kennels were nearby & one of the dogs, which I pictured as having muscles like Popeye, made the occasional attempt to break the stainless steel door off its hinges and of course that set off all the other dogs barking.
The sea felt quite rough and noisy at times too.
Tuesday 28th May 2019
We were woken very early when the ship stopped at Igoumenitsa where most of the trucks, and half of the motorhomes, got off.
We sat up on deck for some time this morning, in splendid weather, watching the Ionian Sea & its islands pass by.
There were many sailing vessels and the odd cruise liner to watch but unfortunately none of the marine mammals we had hoped to see.
We docked in Patras exactly on schedule and after a casual unloading, (we were the last vehicle off), we made our way out onto Greek roads for the first time.
The driving experience was good. Faster traffic expects you to move onto the hard shoulder to allow them to pass, but they give you a wide berth and pass promptly and safely when able. It was an easier journey than any we had taken in Italy 🙂
Towing Kilometres – Today: 83 Cumulative: 31,473
We had chosen a Camping Card site, Camping Ionian Beach, about an hour south of Patras to be our base for around a week. We can visit Ancient Olympia Archeological Site easily from here and relax in what turns out to be an excellent choice of camp site.