(written 16/4/2006, in Ohrid, Macedonia, by
Liz)
We had our sleeping bags with us, so at least we could get a bit comfy, but I ended up sleeping with my head on our backpack, as it has all our important things in it, and I didn't want anyone taking things while we were asleep.
We were woken at 3am by one of the ferry crew who was asking if we were getting off at Igoumenítsa, the first stop, but as we weren't we lay back down and tried to get some more sleep.
In the morning, we had breakfast on the boat, and waited impatiently for the boat to get to Pátra.
We arrived an hour late, and it had been a 15 hour ferry trip - we were glad to get off. But we were, in fact, in
Greece!!
I'm not sure if it was the diesel fumes from the boat (we had spent the last hour or so outside and it smelt strongly of fumes), or sleeping at an odd angle on the backpack, but I developed an awful headache. I thought as we were off the boat and in fresh air that it might get better, but it didn't, and I felt terrible.
We drove through Pátra and found a supermarket where I tried to help Tim pick out a few things, but ended up going and sitting in the car.
I really wanted to be excited about being in a new country, but decided that all I really wanted was to lie down somewhere and go to sleep.
We drove back through Pátra and out, heading east along the coast.
I gave some vague directions and then Tim drove us to our destination, learning along the way that the Greeks aren't quite as mad on the road as the Italians, but they are fond of turning two-lane roads into four-lane roads, by driving with half their car in the emergency lane. It really is no wonder that Greece has the highest road toll fatalities in Europe, we saw some hugely dangerous overtaking manouvours on the roads in Greece.
Anyway, we made it to Diakoftó, and Tim found a hotel for us while I sat in the car. Hotel found, I went in and passed out on the bed for a few hours, while Tim went out and about, exploring the little village, and finding a café to get himself a coffee.
When I woke up, I had a sore head, but felt much better than I had earlier.
We went for a slow walk, stopped for coffee by the train station and watched a train come and go.
A while later, we went to the ticket office to get train tickets for the next day, but the two tickets selling men made us wait for fifteen minutes while they dealt with two trains that went past. I guess they don't have very busy days (it's a tiny village), so they have to make the most of any trains that go through.
Finally, we had two return tickets for the 6.53am train to Kalávrita the next morning (the other two trains later in the day had sold out).
Dinner was at a Souvlaki bar, where we ate two big platefuls of gyros (pronounced yeeros) - grilled meat with sliced tomato and onions and chips, all covered in delicious tzatziki, before heading back to our hotel room for the night.