Long days at port & sea
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2011
1
17
24
Trip End
Aug 10, 2011
Where I stayed
ANEK Lines Sophocles V. ferry from Patras to Venice
Patras, Peloponnese, Greece
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Now according to Google Maps, the port of Patras is in the centre of town, near a lot of things you can do during a day of waiting. However, what no one or no website tells you is that ferries are now running out of a new port, which is far from town and in the middle of nowhere! So even though we saved ourselves the long, hot walk through town again with our bags, unfortunately we were VERY early for our ferry (by 10 hours!), and didn't really have any options aside from staying in the new air con waiting room on benches. There was a duty free shop, and vending machines, but that was really it. Cam and I did venture out at one point in the afternoon, and were able to walk through the dodgy area, through the fence hole, and about 1km to get to a Goody’s (Greek fast food) and be able to get some lunch (and take some food back for Jude & Dave). So that was about it for us that day – reading, waiting, sitting, wandering building & massive empty port, etc. etc. for many hours. Finally we spotted the boat on the horizon, and at about 10:30 we were able to get on… but of course the rooms weren’t ready yet! After a bit of a confusion about where reception actually was, we were finally able to get our keys, dropped our bags off, grab some kai, and finally leave the day of waiting behind. A day on the water properly relaxing tomorrow!
Monday 25 July 2011
On ANEK lines boat Sophocles V.
Today we woke up at some port, assuming it may be Corfu. We had a full day of sailing ahead of us, and thought it was quite early to reach Venice yet! Cam and I went to the lounge for some coffee and laughed when the server presented us with the "heese pie, and hom and heese pie" – I think that’s what I ordered! ;) It was nice all day to wander around the ship (looking at all the random deck sleepers, dog kennel, walking around sleeping bags, hammocks, etc), read on the top deck in the nice sun, relax in the inside seats to balance too much sun, have gyros for lunch, and just watch the ocean and land masses roll on by. That evening we had dinner in the ship restaurant, many bread rolls included, and even received free bottles of Grecian olive oil when we finished! Introduced Dave & Jude to the cinematic genius of 'Kung Fu Panda’ before calling it a night ;)
