From Patras to Glyfa

After a 18 hour crossing, our ferry docked at Patras mid-afternoon on Saturday. We whiled away our time reading and playing cribbage, and we had our own cabin to sleep in. The ferry wasn’t very busy at all – mainly lorry drivers from Greece and Bulgaria. Overnight the crossing became a bit bumpy and the aircon wasn’t great, so we spent a while out on deck in the fresh air.

After what seemed like an eternity we were finally instructed to go to our vehicles and soon after we were driving through Patras and, after a brief call at a supermarket, we parked up for the night a little further along the coast.

We will be spending the next few weeks travelling around the Peloponnese – the part of the Greece that looks a bit like a cow’s udders – but before starting we thought we’d cross the Rion-Antirion bridge over to the northern part of the mainland for a couple of days and visit Missolonghi, so on Sunday morning we set off. We got a bit of a shock once we’d crossed the bridge as the toll for our van was €13.30, but it was the only option as the only other way of getting to Missolonghi would entail a 500 km drive.

Being a Sunday, much of Missolonghi was closed so we went to find our stop for the night. Unfortunately the satnav wanted to take us down an overgrown dirt track which we weren’t going to attempt. With no other places to stay, we decided to return to Patras and continue to the campsite at Glyfa, where we’d be spending Christmas.

The campsite is great – we have a spot overlooking the sea, just a few metres from the beach, so close that we can clearly hear the waves lapping. We’ve decided that we’ll stay here until the day after Boxing day, planning our route through the Peloponnese,and then move further round the coast.

Simon and Julia (thomsonstravels.co.uk)  have arrived, so we had an enjoyable evening last night swapping stories with them over a glass or two of wine, and tomorrow a couple more British vans are expected to arrive.

Mike