Patras, Peloponnes, Greece – 1/2014
Our overnight passage from Ancona, Italy to Patras, Greece in our little mini cabin, listening to the drone of the ship’s engine all night, reminded us why we have never taken an ocean cruise. Returning to our truck, while we waited for a few semi tractor-trailers to move out, we brewed a fresh pot of coffee. That reminded us why we travel in a self-contained camper.
We were running on fumes. With diesel fuel it Italy going for about €1.675 a liter, ($8.78/gallon), we were looking forward to filling up in Greece. Rob and Nina had told us that they had seen it for as low as €1.28. We found a little mom and pops station that had it for €1.23, ($6.44/gallon), and we filled up everything including our spare cans on the back. The bill was over €500, (about $700), which made the owner smile. Must have been his biggest sale all week.
Getting out of town without going through town was the next challenge and for a change, our Garmin did a pretty good job of leading us to the beautiful new Carilaos Trikoupis bridge that spans the Gulf of Corinth. This is the longest multi-span cable-stayed bridge in the World. Getting to the on-ramp was quite an exciting adventure of side roads and rows of orange pylons going every which way.
It was late afternoon so our goal was simply to find a safe parking place for the night and take a deep breath of Mediterranean air. Spotting the small fishing village Monastiraki from the highway, we took a chance and wound our way down to the shore where we found the perfect, flat, quiet parking spot right next to the fishing docks. It was a secret we had learned many years ago. Little harbors always have flat places for fishermen to park their trucks and trailers. There is often fresh water nearby and a beautiful view in the morning.
Not really feeling like cooking this night we spotted the cute Full Moon Taverna (www.panseloinos.gr) half a block from the harbor where we were made very welcome by the owner, Chrisoula Farmaki, who happened to speak English. Soon we were sipping Ouzo and enjoying fresh feta cheese and wonderfully plump Kalamata olives. Already we knew we were going to like this country.
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- Following a herd of semi trucks we exited the ferry and started a new adventure.
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- The new Carilaos Trikoupis bridge that spans the Gulf of Corinth was a beautiful piece of engineering.
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- It was quite a surprise to see snow in the mountains of Greece.
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- In the small fishing village Monastiraki we found the perfect, flat, quiet parking spot right next to the fishing docks.
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- Walking up to the cute New Moon Taverna near the harbor we enjoyed our first night in Greece with a glass of Ouzo with some fresh feta cheese and wonderfully plump, Kalamata olives.
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- Monastiraki was a classic little fishing village. Fishermen cleaned their catch and worked on their nets in the morning.
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- No big fish factory ships here. Fishing was done the old fashion way with little wooden boats.
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- Welcome to Greece! This flag would be flying for the next month.
Our overnight passage from Ancona, Italy to Patras, Greece in our little mini cabin, listening to the drone of… http://t.co/ZwD2dD3agO
Yay- so excited we’ve arrived at the Greek portion of the blog! I got your sweet package in the mail yesterday. Thank you for thinking of me in Istanbul! Looking forward to reading more about your adventures. xo Beth