Lecce to Athens - 29 July to 2 August

29th July 2008

Summary: Big travel day - Positano->Sorrento->Naples->Caserta->Lecce

Spent basically the whole day travelling today. Was feeling quite wiped out - I think a combination of the heat and stair climb with 10kg pack. Fortunately I was partially revived by 1L of gatorade by the time I heard the news that our Lecce hotel had lost our booking. One of us remained calm under pressure (readers may vote for who they think this was). Arrived in Lecce at 19:45 expecting to wander around for a few hours looking for a hotel. Fortunately the first one we tried had a spare room. G was pleased it was no worse than his Islamabad hotel which had geckos on the walls. We didn't have unexpected flora or fauna, just nice views of the train tracks. After checking in went out for a great dinner and a quick explore and obligatory gelato.

Practicalities: 11:20am bus to Sorrento, Circumvesuviana train to Naples, train to Caserta, another train to Lecce, arriving 19:45. Ended up staying at Hotel Capelli, room 21.

Food: had our fornightly meat intake at a great little osteria, La Vecchia Osteria - great antipasti, Lecce-style sausages and grilled lamb with rosemary.

30th July 2008

Summary: Lecce, overnight ferry to Igoumenitsa (Greece)

Had a relaxed day wandering Lecce, enjoying the baroque architecture. Unfortunately most of the churches were closed so we could only admire the facades. Lecce became a ghost town after lunch as all the locals had their siesta. Headed to Brindisi for our ferry, which seemed like a pleasant enough town as far as transport hubs go. The port itself was much more set up for vehicles than foot passengers. We wallked through vast expanses of tarmac to get to the boat, horrified to find 4 contiki busloads also boarding. Currently blogging on deck. Hope we can sleep on the "aircraft style" seats (the contiki groups stole all the beds!).

Practicalities: 21:30-08:00 (+1 day) ferry to Igoumenitsa

Food: back to the same osteria for antipasti and pasta for lunch. Rather strange Lecce'an bread for dinner filled with olives and sundried tomatoes.

31st July 2008

Summary: Ioannina, drive through Pindhos ranges, Kalambaka, Kastraki

Not a lot of sleep overnight due to uncomfortable seats, TV watchers, loud conversations at 3am, and a 5am stop in Corfu. I challenged G to remain cheerful for the day - no sense of humour failures all round fortunately. Clambered bleary-eyed onto deck to enjoy our first sighting of Greece to the tune of Greek music. Had pleasant mountain scenery on our bus ride to Ioannina, where we stopped to explore the town. Wandered through a market where we bought some fruit and got a complementary greek lesson from the friendly fruit sellers. Walked to the lake which was looking rather choppy but unfortunately there wasn't enough time to catch the ferry to Nissi Island to visit the monasteries. Explored the Kastro which had Ottoman buildings such as a library, bathhouse and mosques, and checked out the Byzantine museum. After lunch hopped on the bus to Kalambaka which was an unexpected highlight (how exciting does a 3 hr bus ride sound). I had been planning to catch up on some sleep but spent most of the trip gawking at the stunning Pindhos mountain range, the Katara pass, and then the monoliths of Meteora. The roads were good though rather windy. It was like Amalfi without the sea. Also spoke to some backpackers from Canada and Germany. They were all young and had run out of money so they were camping. We felt a bit bourgeois admitting to staying in hotels. Alighted in Kalambaka and after an efficient trip to the train station to buy tickets to Athens we then wasted an hour waiting in the wrong "main" square for the wrong bookshop to open in order to buy a hiking map (Rough Guide maps are poor/non-existent, as are Greek street signs). Eventually gave up and started walking to Kastraki, at which point we discovered the correct square. So at least we got our map. Finally made it to our hotel (of course at the opposite end of town) where we were given a great room and balcony with panoramic views of the rocks. Went for dinner and then had a really good night's sleep.

Practicalities: Arrived 7.15am in Igoumenista and made the 8:15-10am bus to Ioannina. 2-5pm bus to Kalambaka. Stayed at Doupiani House, room 18.

Food: lunch at Stin Ithaki on the lakeside at Ioannina - courgette patties, eggplant salad, chicken pie and pork kebab. Dinner just north of the church in Kastraki - tzaziki, cucumber and tomato salad, stuffed tomatoes/peppers, moussaka.

1st August 2008

Summary: hiking to monasteries of Meteora

As soon as we appeared for breakfast the hotel owner put on the same music track as we heard on the boat. Wondering how many times we will hear this tune. Got a fairly early start to avoid the heat, hiking to the first monastery (Megalou Meteorou) in about 1 hr. The monoliths looked much less daunting close up (or we were just much fitter). There was no one else on the hiking trails (except for a turtle) but when we got to the monastery hoards of tourists appeared. Explored the church (Greek Orthodox with lots of frescoes of beheadings), refectory, and ossuary. Nice enough but way too many tourists around. The hike and scenery were definitely the highlights. By the time we left there was a massive queue of tourists waiting to get in. Wandered down the road to the next monastery (Varlaam) for more of the same. Noticed that the priests had little cable cars to get around. After Varlaam we followed the Rough Guide's suggestion of going through the ravine to get to the next monastery instead of walking along the road. What was meant to take 35 min took 1.5 hrs with many wrong turns, deadends, scrapes on thorns and clambering up/down small cliffs which we though was the path but wasn't. We did manage to purchase a dishwasher for our new tenants though (on the mobile of course). Luckily we weren't feeling the lethargy of previous days, and the heat was surprisingly bearable, though perhaps it's was simply that when faced with a life-threatening situation we forgot about such trivial discomforts (Maslow's Heirarchy). Finally made it to the road and the next monastery (Roussanou). Decided to call it a day and walked back to Kastraki along a dry stream bed. Didn't walk past a single tourist in 5 hours of hiking.

Food: lunch at the the same tavern as the previous night (almost the same food too :)). Dinner at a tavern closer to home with a cute little grey kitten that sat on Geoff's lap.

2nd August 2008

Summary: Athens

Apparently taxi drivers don't operate so early in the morning so we had to wake up at 5:20am and do a 35 min trek down to Kalambaka in the darkness. Snoozed and enjoyed the scenery on the train journey - not quite Pindhos ranges but still very nice. Slept off the early start after lunch then went for a walk around Plaka, full of pedestrianised streets, mostly lined with tourist shops and restaurants, though not completely overwhelmed with tourists fortunately. Checked out the Roman Forum and Tower of the Winds, and walked back to the hotel past Hadrian's library. G went to mass at the cathedral nearby with a group of kiwi pilgrims. Keep having to make spitting noises at G every time he looks at me to ward off the evil blue-eyed curse (local superstition). Thought of the day is why bidets aren't as popular in Greece as in Italy? You can't flush loo paper here, have to put it in the bin.

Practicalities: 6:33-11:15am train to Athens and short metro ride to our hotel. Stayed at Central Hotel, room 610 - nice, modern and...central. Bugger to look up on the internet.

Food: Fried rice and noodles (inspired by Sonya and Ross) at a noodle bar near the hotel. Cheese and salami plus Greek wine on our balcony. Preparing our own meal is now almost as expensive as eating out.

Errata: Today's bizarre afternoon siesta dream sequence was the destruction of the Macquarie Bank building in Sydney in an earthquake (G) and a bus going over a cliff (J). G finished Peter Green's Alexander the Great and has decided to reread it. Alexander's empire stretched from modern day Greece to Kyrgyzstan which is pretty much the region we will cover. J has managed one chapter on The Great Game - a good achievement