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Arriving into Athens would continue a very long travel day. We did get some sleep but a shower was required to put us at 70%. It was 6:00 AM and the port was filled with people coming and going. Our next stop was the bus station located somewhere in Athens for a six hour ride to Olympia and the Temple of Zeus. We asked around and could not get a definite answer on what bus to take. Walking around for a few blocks we found the main road and waited for a bus. Scooter kept asking the locals what bus to take and somehow we managed to get on the right bus. This bus was filled with people going to work and we had no idea when we should get off. We were hoping the bus went to the bus station which would make sense. This bus, however, drove by the bus station and our fellow passengers tried to tell us to get off. When it became apparent the bus was not turning around we rang the bell and unloaded onto the street.
Scooter can be a real pain if he has not had his morning shower and he was a little on edge this morning. We still didn't know if that was the bus station we passed but walking back was the only way to find out. This was not a modern bus station and the fact that everything was in Greek made it a little tough. They did not have a direct bus to Olympia which meant we would have to travel to the closest town and take a local bus. I purchased tickets and we walked around looking for our bus. The ruins closed at 3:00 PM and our bus was scheduled to arrive at 1:00 PM. This was turning out to be a very long day.
Olympia was a cute little town and we probably would have spent the night but we had to get to Rome in two days. A short walk from the center of Olympia is the ancient city of Olympia. It was here that the original Olympic games were held. The Olympic games was a time when all war was stopped and athletes from the Greek states assembled to complete for honor and glory. After the Olympic games ended everyone was free to go back to fighting. The temple of Zeus was built in 450 BC and was considered to be not fitting for the greatest of Gods. The Athenian sculptor Pheidias was assigned the task to create the greatest statue Greece had ever seen. The statue when completed was 40 ft tall and the sitting Zeus head reached the ceiling. This use of space was out of character for the Greeks and it was this imagery that made the work an ancient wonder of the world. In the first century AD an attempt was made to move the statue to Rome. It was so large the attempt was abandon when the scaffolding built collapsed. In 391 AD the Olympic games were banned by the Roman Emperor Theodosius because of the Pagan practices it represented. The statue was moved to Constantinople (Istanbul) by a group of wealthy Greeks. The statue was destroyed by fire in the 5th century BC. The temples and buildings were destroyed and nothing remains today but ruins. The museum has an excellent collection of statues but for some reason we could not even find mention or an artist rendering of the Zeus statue. Don't they know it was an Ancient Wonder of the World.
We now are ready to move and we decide to take the train from Pirgos a short fifteen minute taxi ride from Olympia. The train ride from Pirgos to the Port of Patras takes about three hours and neither one of us wanted to take the bus. Arriving at the train station we had a little language barrier combined with a little rudeness from the guy behind the glass. Scooter wanted to buy two tickets and verify the time of departure. He wrote down Patras and the time we thought it was leaving on a sheet of paper followed by a question mark. He presented the paper to the guy behind the glass and got completely ignored. Scooter sat back down and we figured we would try again. We did notice the guy was equally rude to other passengers so we didn't feel bad. One guy from Nigeria was getting really ignored until he barked at the guy in Greek. The guy behind the glass realized he was getting cursed at in his own language he became a little more attentive. Scooter asked the guy from Nigeria for a little help and a few minutes later we had two tickets. The guy from Nigeria lived in Patras and had been working in Athens for a couple of years. He said learning the language was tough and trying to read or write it was impossible. We were grateful he had mastered the language to our benefit. He said it always amazes him to see this kind of work attitude among Greeks. In Nigeria if you behave like this you would get run off. We took his word for it.
The port of Patras is the main link between Greece and Italy but has a brief stopover at the island of Corfu. The train drops us off at the port area and we stop in a travel agent to buy a ticket on a midnight ferry. This would be another overnight ferry ride, which means we will be traveling for over 48 hours with out a hotel room or shower. We are getting tired which means usually translates to bitchy. It is best to be silent during these times because nothing either of us says or does is the right thing. We grab a bite to eat at the Europa Cafe which was the nicest place we could find. The place is setup for the traveler and serves cafeteria style food. Scooter talked to the owner about the Internet which was a thing of curiosity for her. She said last year the only questions she got were about faxing and mailing post cards. Now the only question she gets is where is the Internet Cafe or do you have HotMail? She will be setting it up as soon as she figures out what it is.
It pays to ask around about what boat leaves when. You usually have numerous options on different ferries and some are nicer than others. We got lucky because our ferry was as big as a cruise ship complete with a night club and numerous restaurants. We had to wait awhile for the ferry to unload a hundred tractor trailers and got to watch numerous arguments between the Italians and Greeks. It didn't help that a couple hundred people were watching the trucks back down the ramp with only a few feet to spare. The drivers were very concerned about running over somebody. I was amazed that nobody did. Scooter went ahead looking for a spot for us to sleep. It was once again a free for all and he picked the second floor corner of the disco. It was very nice and clean but did not seem like a wise choice. Before you knew it every other hallway and staircase was taken. We took showers and got cleaned up and visited the bar for some sleeping potion. Scooter was excited because they had Seagrams whiskey and four or five later he was ready for bed. The only problem was that our location was a disco. We wanted to setup our air mattress in the corner and go to sleep but we were worried about getting kicked out. A look around gave us the answer because everyone else was asleep. We woke up the next morning and departed for the island of Corfu.
We could have kept going to Italy but Corfu, a northern island in the Ionian Sea, seemed like a good idea. We planned on camping but the thought of a bed and a shower was really calling us. The island of Corfu is famous because almost every country in Europe has invaded it and it is the home of the Pink Palace. The Pink Palace was our destination and we got on the Pink Bus for a thirty minute ride to the other side of the island for a 20$ room. The Pink Palace has nothing to do with history but it is famous or rather infamous. The place is a nonstop organized party. We unload from the bus and head down to the restaurant on the beach. Our host greets us and they immediately start passing out pink colored ouzo. If you have had ouzo before you know it is normally cloudy and white but somehow they turned theirs into the color pink.
Scooter and I are a little anxious about getting a room and so are the other 80 people sitting in the lobby. The host gives a run down on the place and basically tells everyone to relax and have a good time. It is 8:30 AM and they are passing out as much ouzo as you can drink on the house. They have a nice formula working because I am ready to party and so is everyone else. It is a little hard to figure out how they make money because it is $10 a person for a room including breakfast and dinner. Today's activities include a volleyball tournament between countries and the winner has the honor of drinking a large pitcher of pink ouzo in the shortest time possible. I am proud to say the old record was just shattered by a group of Americans who finished an enormous pitcher of the pink poison in 7 seconds. This did not go over very well with the guys from New Zealand and Australia. They are proud of their drinking abilities and could not let a bunch of Americans have an honor that would soon belong to them. The guys from New Zealand decided to start practicing and thirty minutes later they were wasted. More to this story.
Checking in at the front desk was an educational experience in customer service and business savvy. They gladly take credit cards and point out to the group that you can use whatever maxed- out credit card you have because they do not have a computer to verify it. Scooter thought this was a little silly and asked the real story when we checked in. It turns out they had electronic verification and almost every credit card got declined because it was at its limit. This cost them a lot of money at the bar/nightclub so they got rid of it. Now they process everything manually and still get paid by the credit card companies. A group of Italians had a problem because their credit cards did not have the raised letters that is required for the manual imprint. The only solution was an expensive taxi ride into town and the use of an ATM. They were out of money and could not pay for a taxi so the hotel loaned them money and told them to have a good time. Scooter and I were very impressed with the entire process.
After checking into our beach front room, it was a room with a bed and bathroom we trekked back to our morning meeting spot to sign up for some activities. The room was exactly what I was expecting for the amount we paid. It turns out that one of the guys from New Zealand had a train wreck with the bottle of Ouzo. It is now 9:15 in the morning and according to eyewitness accounts the Kiwi was just sitting there and lost it. He started to babble, see strange things and then lost control of his lower bodily functions. This guy was in trouble but his friends decided to carry him down to the water. The problem with this was they were just as drunk as he was. We witnessed the attempt of bringing him down the stairs and the crossing of the rocks to the ocean. This guy needed an ambulance and his friends were going to stick him in ice cold water. Scooter saw someone from the hotel and ask if they had called for a doctor. She informed him that her boyfriend was a lifeguard and knew what he was doing OK.
They have numerous activities and at first we just wanted to sleep but the ouzo had a nice effect because we signed up on the noon boat for cliff diving. How could we not go cliff diving? A short boat ride later we got dropped off in the middle of the bay at a natural rock formation. The Pink Palace was ready for our group with ice cold $1 beers and the first person to jump naked off the 60 foot cliff got a free one. We had a group of around thirty people all trying to get up the courage to climb up to the top and jump. It was a lively group and it did not take long before someone jumped off the forty foot cliff. The sixty foot cliff would require some bravery and a few more beers. I worked up my courage and swam over to the cliff to begin my climb. Scooter wanted to film so he stayed on the little sunning island next to the cliffs. After swimming over I tried to climb up the rock. You have to use hand and foot holds and for some reason I couldn't do it. I lost my nerve and swam back upset with myself about chickening out. Scooter tried to get me to go again and this time he would help me up but I lost my courage. Scooter swam over to the forty foot cliff and jumped a couple of times. He was not real interested in the sixty foot jump. Quite a few of the jumpers were not very good at aerodynamics and had some rough re-entries. They all started to compare black and blue marks. We did get a show from the guys wanting the most attention and a free beer. Jumping naked off the sixty foot cliff requires you to keep your legs together and a protective seal around the family jewels. A couple also decided to jump naked together, how romantic. We spent about three hours on the rock and before we left the Pink Palace guy talked the guys into a group naked plunge. It was quite the sight watching twenty guys take off their suits on top of a sixty foot plunge. Scooter of course had to video the whole thing.
Back at the Pink Palace we take a much needed nap and prepare for dinner. We decide that we are going to catch the midnight ferry to Italy so our stay at the Pink Palace will be a brief 12 hours but well worth it. The main money maker of the Pink Palace is the large disco which serves drinks into the early morning. A word of caution to female travelers who plan a trip to the Pink Palace be very careful. The place is filled with Greek, Italian, American, Kiwi and Australian men who have had a lot to drink. The number of guys exceeds the number of women which makes for aggressive drunk men. The really weird part is that none of the hotel rooms have locks on the doors which makes it easy for someone to enter your room. We talked to more than one upset female travelers who awoke in the middle of the night to find a naked guy in the room. We give the Pink Palace a bug thumbs up for a great party atmosphere but it helps to be careful.
We boarded our midnight ferry to Brindisi, Italy which would then require a five hour train ride to Rome. The last three days had been full on travel and we could not wait to check into a hotel in Rome. The ferry was full but we were now ferry veterans and had no problem setting up on the deck of the boat. With our green bags on the ground, air mattress, and sleep sack setup, the next thing we knew we were in Italy.
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| This page last changed on 27-Apr-2006 23:29:49 EDT by 70.171.24.221. |
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