MONDAY 25th JUNE 2012

OVERNIGHT FERRY

The Louis Olympia docked at about 4am which was a pretty rude awakening, but we had to be out of the cabin by 7.00am anyway, so we went up for a quick brekky at quarter to six and then having packed all our bags yesterday arvo (our cases were collected during the night) joined our group ready for disembarking at the designated time and place! With over fifteen hundred people getting off our ship at once and with about six ships doing the same, things were pretty hectic, but Anne had us reunited with our luggage and onto our coach inside half an hour! Top stuff!
We then went back to the Novotel to get the rest of our cases and once joined by a guide, did a city tour which ended at the Parthenon! The city tour was again a reminder of Greece's problems and was a forgettable experience!!!!! No need to further elaborate apart from a brief stop at the Arena which was interesting!
Once we reached the madhouse that was the bus park at the foot of the huge hill which the Parthenon and Acropolis is perched on, we had a choice: brave the century heat and walk half a kilometre to see the ruins or pike out and have a coffee at a local cafe! We could see the ruins were covered in scaffold due to cleaning being carried out, and not being in a ruins frame of mind Mumsie and I chose to coffee - finding a beaut air conditioned place with great coffee, a friendly host and free wifi!!! So we spent the two hours sipping coffee and catching up with all the news and gossip from home!
It was supposed to be a three hour drive to Patras to catch our overnight ferry back to Italy, but an hour away from the port we stopped for a break and the coach driver noticed water streaming from the back of the coach! An inspection by the driver revealed a leak in the condenser tank of the air conditioner and he informed us we were going no further! Our ferry was due to sail at four o'clock and it was now two forty five! Victor made frantic phone calls and we were told a replacement bus would pick us up in twenty minutes! We unpacked all the cases and got them ready to reload but twenty minutes turned in thirty, then forty and our hopes of getting the ferry faded fast! At last another coach arrived and with all hands on deck we quickly loaded the cases and jumped on board! It was a much smaller coach and we had to put cases in the aisle to get them all on and the aircon could barely cope but we hit the road and the elderly driver put the foot down!
There are a few people in our group that only ever think of themselves, but luckily most are good Aussies and rise up when confronted with a problem - so when a couple started to complain about the space in the coach and the heat, a few well chosen words were said to basically tell them to harden up!!!! We were so lucky that the breakdown occurred at the stop and not on the side of the road, at least we had a cool place to wait!
A series of speed restrictions and some heavy traffic slowed our pace but the driver kept his foot down and we careered past trucks and cars with no fear at all, with Victor in contact with the ferry company promising we would not be too late!
Our boarding passes were waiting as we screeched to a halt at the terminal as we grabbed our cases and threw them onto the transit buses, a quick whip round getting the old driver a fistful of Euro for his trouble!!!!
The crew on the ferry were closing the doors as we raced on and by the time we had reached our deck we were sailing!!!
The ferry was actually quite new and to our surprise the cabins we were allocated were great - nearly as good as the ones on our cruise! With sweat dripping off us we found the nearest bar and toasted our good timing and thanking the ferry mob for waiting for us!
Then it was time to unpack, have a shower and rest before they served us dinner! Later we went on deck as the ferry stopped at Igoumenista to take on about thirty trucks and thirty five cars plus a few passengers! After watching the process in the beaut cool air and seeing the hotel we stayed at sitting on the edge of the wharf area, we went to our cabins and enjoyed a great nights sleep, relishing in the fact that we do not have to be anywhere tomorrow morning!