Next up was the Acropolis Museum https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/ One could easily spend multiple days there. Thousands of pieces from many the smallest glass beads to massive marble monuments. It's an astonishing feat to document and organize these pieces. We were baked and had to take a break for a snack. Even after a short rest, we were finding new rooms leading into more. There was honestly not enough time to stop and read everything but rather just skim by. A return trip here is needed and over multiple days with plenty of coffee.
Michelle wanted to join me on one of my longer random walks and we could not have picked a better day. There is no need to pay for tours or to enter many of the beautiful sites. One can spend an entire day simply walking randomly around enjoying the history and culture all for free. Even in the most random of places you will find an excavation site below an existing building that is now deemed protected. I came across an interesting bike trailer and just had to talk to the owner. From afar it looked professional but up close you could see it is homemade. He indicated it was made of poly carbonate which looked a lot like corrugated plastic. He indicated he rode around only locally for it but for sure it was easily a home on wheels.
After a nice stay in our second Greece home, it was time to arrange for our trip to Italy. A few days earlier we had visited the train station to activate our Eurail passes. It was now time to use them for our first train ride. Our research determined the most logical ferry to Italy departed from Patras Greece and arrived in Bari at 9:30 AM. Getting to Patra's took a little close inspection but we figured it out. There was no direct train route but rather a train from Greece Main station to Kianto and then a bus to Patra's. I get so nervous with these trips simply because of the magnitude of stuff we carry. I crossed my fingers we had space to reserve our stuff and our butts. The person at the train station confirmed our plans were correct and with our Eurail pass, the trip was completely free. Yay. The ordering of the ferry from Patra's for Bari was super easy online. We had no issues with selecting a 3 person cabin for this journey.
We arranged a taxi with a Greece taxi App and arrived with plenty of time before our train arrived. We had time to visit a bathroom, grab a few snack items and even film a cute mommy cat carrying around her little kitten. The train was moderately crowded and some of our items were crammed at our feet but it was a very safe and pretty journey. We saw much of Greece was left to return too. At the train station, we got clear direction where to walk and our bus driver kindly told us the side of the bus where we were to store our larger bags. It was a relief to have a larger tourist bus with such large storage. We relaxed in our reserved seats and awaited our final stop of Patras. I had heard that from the bus station, the Port of Patra's required a short bus or shuttle. We asked for shuttle information but found none. We were directed to using the local bus which was ok. Once in the bus things got a little confusing. The driver spoke no English but appeared to understand where we were going so we sat down. A ticket checking person soon hopped on and suspected we needed help. Without us knowing he found a rider who spoke english. She approached us asking where we were heading. I indicated the Patras Port and thought that information was passed onto the driver. We soon passed our stop and the driver kept going. Bummer. I had to literally show him the ticket and the company name before he finally understood. It looked like a 1 KM walk to the bus stop and who knew how far to the port. We walked the entire way to the bus stop and it looked like it would be quite a bit more to the Port. A taxi driver saved us once again and revealed probably another 1.5 KM's saved. Well worth the 7 Euro fair. Finally at the Port we confirmed our tickets, received our boarding pass and cabin ticket and had a few hours to chill before boarding. I had heard this port is popular for illegal immigrants. They can come in aboard ships from other countries and run to hop rides abroad departing vehicles. The Ports perimeters are secured with very 2 very high barbed fences and a barbed moat. Those escaping war torn countries have to deal with that. We wave a lot of work to do don't we?
Near boarding time we lined up for the security stuff. A line eventually let to a grumpy looking passport checker dude. Passed him we worked our way to a soon to be overwhelmed baggage scanner. The lineup soon clogged and she had to call for help. We waited 15 minutes to be scanned while behind us people appeared to simply skip the line and bypass the scan. It's like they have never done this before. I guess they were trained by the same personnel from the Moscow airport. After that silliness we were on the final leg of our Greece journey, a short shuttle ride to our Ferry. It was pretty nice to finally board our final vehicle to Italy. The ferry we had was mainly to carry trucks it appeared. The cabin section was much smaller. After boarding and a few escalator rides we were greeted by an assistant who led us to our cabin. We were lucky enough to be facing the front of the ship. The cabin was a great size for us. Michelle wanted to secure a table on the ship so we quickly dumped our stuff and headed out. We were to find we had a huge choice. Very few people had boarded at Patra's. It was nice to have a 6 PM beer as we pulled away. The girls played cards while I blogged. The upper deck offered an excellent view as it was open enough to allow a helipad. Michelle and I watched the sunset and chose soon after to head to bed. We let KT hang out by herself as she was writing postcards. We slept like champs. I recall waking up around midnight where the ferry stopped at the final Greece port of Igoumenitsa. I'm pretty sure I heard lot's of loading going on. As we were pulling into Bari at 9:30 AM, we had plenty of time for photos, breakfast, packing and chilling. We noted the ferry vehicle deck had swelled from 6 to probably 40 trucks. It makes sense that cargo is trucked first to Igoumenitsa as it is cheaper. On walking around we saw lots of people sleeping in little hideaways on the carpeted staircases. I suspect these are the truck drivers. Perhaps they are not paid nor can afford for a bed. We were nice to not disturb them with slamming doors. We packed and grabbed all our gear waiting in the cafeteria and watched Bari Italy get larger as we approached. Getting off the ferry was simple enough and we were surprised to find no awaiting Taxi's nor security or immigration. Instead we followed other disembarking travelers like sheep on the very poorly set up signage. We eventually made our way to a bus stop which was really difficult to decipher. Our cells did not work in Italy so we were blind. Oh I love that. A bus came and left as nobody boarded it. Everyone else waiting at the station seemed as confused as us. I watched a bunch of girls simply walk to a more public space probably hoping for a taxi. It's all we need, a simple taxi. We had to walk quite a bit and actually ask the ferry company's front desk to call us one. That was kinda fun. Finally a friendly taxi showed up and we were moving. I had booked an AirBnB that was very close to the train station. All we needed is a ride bout 2 KM's to the station. Bam that was kinda easy. We had about 1.5 hours to kill and found a coffee shop at the train station that was perfect. The pizza and sandwiches they served were awesome. Our AirBnB host was not available and originally she indicated she would send her father who cannot speak English. I was ready with my pocket talk and headed out by myself to get the key. Leaving the girls in a safe dry place with food and bathrooms nearby is much better than what might lie ahead. Our AirBnB host's boyfriend showed up right on time and quickly showed me the place. We had a huge room in a shared place. It was great and seriously only an 8 minute walk to any train. I returned to get the girls and we were soon all settled in.
Some movie links
Greece 2 Walk through
Greece 2 Elevator
