Hania (Crete) - 7th to 9th of May 2008

We arrived at Kissamos port, Crete, at 9pm after an 8 hour ferry from Githio. On the ferry we stumbled across some German backpackers who were heading into the town of Hania (aka "Xania" or "Chania") so we shared a cab for the 30 minute drive east. Arriving in a new town at 10pm with nowhere to stay was a bit of a worry, but thankfully we found a great location in the old venetian part of town which had plenty of available accommodation. Hania has the cutest little old harbour and cobbled streets but is actually a pretty big city. Our full day at Hania was spent walking the 16km trek through the Samaria Gorge, the longest in Europe. Starting with an 8.30 bus to the top (1200m above sea level and pretty cold, but not as cold as it would be in the snow in winter) the walk took us 5 hours down to the sea where we got picked up by a ferry and dropped further down the coast (where there were actually roads) for a two hour bus ride home to Hania. Needless to say after such a long day we crashed as soon as we were back!

The following day we explored Hania in the morning and went through the naval museum. The museum had a section on the Battle of Crete in 1941 when the Germans invaded Crete, and had a section on New Zealand's Maori Battalion that helped defend the island. We went to a local minimart where the owner asked where we were from and on hearing we were from NZ gave us both (plus himself) a shot of Ouzo and in his broken English tried to explain how the New Zealanders stood shoulder to shoulder with the Cretans while the English, Americans and others retreated.

Githio - 6th to 7th of May 2008

Githio, sometimes written "Yithio", is southwest Peloponnese, around 6 hours from Olympia (and another three busses, the first one being 6.30am). While we were mainly there to catch a ferry to Crete the following day, Githio is actually a pleasant little seaside town, seemingly away from the crowds. Only one ferry goes from Githio to Crete every week, so once again our luck was in! With not much to do, we spent the afternoon strolling about and reading our books, and even got a sleep in (to 9.30am) the next day before our 1pm ferry to Crete - a real treat!

Olympia - 5th to 6th of May 2008

Six hours and three different busses from Nafplio around the top of the Peloponnese back through Corinth, we arrived in the small town of Olympia. Because of the obvious attraction, modern Olympia is a town sprung up solely to cater for the tourist market. We arrived at the site of Ancient Olympia an hour before closing, so it is just as well that the site is surprisingly small, maybe only 300 metres by 300 metres with a stadium tacked on the side. The ruins themselves are still very awesome and even cooler visiting in an olympic year. The stadium is still very much in its original shape, with even the original start and finish lines still intact.

Notice the pillars still in the position they fell:

Nafplio - 4th to 5th of May 2008

We got a nice early 7.30 bus from Athens to Corinth (an hour and a half), but then changed our minds once there and decided to continue further south to Nafplio (another hour). Our first experience of the Peloponnese was most impressive, the old streets, fortresses and waterfront of Nafplio making for a very enjoyable afternoon of strolling around.

Notice the fortresses up on the hilltops:

Athens - 3rd to 4th of May 2008

Arriving Athens at 7am we only had one thought: find some accommodation and sleep! At about lunch time with some new found energy we spent the afternoon doing some "personal admin" and having a wonder around the streets of Athens, including the food markets and some of the ruins in the centre of town. Deciding to leave most of the exploring to later in the tour, we had a very relaxing day!

Thessaloniki - 2nd of May

We arrived in Thessaloniki after a three hour train ride northeast from Kalabaka to find that the trains to Athens were booked out for the next 2 days and we had planned to leave the following day. After a brief stress, we found the bus station which had plenty of busses available for that day and the following. The only issue being that it was a 6 hour bus! We decided to do the overnight bus thing to try and minimise the time wasted in transit so we had about 12 hours in Thessaloniki to see the place. Thessaloniki is Greece's second biggest city after Athens so we strolled the main street and spent a few hours relaxing on the waterfront before a superb authentic Greek meal with live music.

Kalabaka/Meteora - 1st to 2nd of May 2008

A further three hours inland by bus is a small town of Kalabaka. Its main attraction is the nearby monestaries at Meteora that sit upon huge rocks in the otherwise flat plains of the surrounding region. We spent a few hours bush walking through the forests in between the rocks, and went up to one of the monestaries. We were lucky enough to have some awesome weather which made for some spectacular photos.

Ioannina - 30th of April to 1st of May 2008

Ioannina is central mainland Greece. From Corfu its a two hour ferry to Igoumenitsa (on the mainland) followed by a three hour bus east. Ioannina is a town nestled on the side of a lake, it is suprisingly big, and even has its own university. Jutting out from the city on a small peninsula into the lake is an old walled castle, so that kept us busy for a while walking through the ruins and walking around the walls.

Corfu - 29th to 30th of April 2008

Corfu is one of Greece's Ionian islands, just west of the mainland. We arrived Corfu 5am local time and literally did not know whether to turn left or right off the boat. Because we were unsure if we could even get on our ferry, we didn't book anywhere to stay. Luckily a hostel we had heard of was picking some other people up so we ran for that minivan after half an hour of aimless walking around in the dark.

The hostel is geared up for early morning arrivials, so we were able to check in at 8am and have breakfast. Because we had some sleep on the ferry we were able to get straight into it, so hired a quad bike and went into Corfu town and explored some of the island, although it is huge. Corfu town is really pretty and very Italian like - we were quite at home! It has a pretty waterfront dominated by an old fortress, and cute little streets.

Adriatic Sea - 28th to 29th of April 2008

We haven't lost too many days to travelling, but unfortunately the 28th was a write-off. Starting with an 8am 75 minute bus ride from Atrani to Salerno to meet a 10am train to Brindisi, arriving at 3pm. Brindisi is on Italy's east coast, basically nothing but a port town, and we arriving hoping we could buy a ticket on that evening's sailing (no sailings for two days after). Fortunately our luck was in and we got the ticket we wanted for a small 2 berth cabin on the 7pm sailing, due to arrive Corfu, Greece at 5am Greek time (4am Italy time). We were awefully grateful to have our cabin and to have got some sleep as we saw some people get off the ferry who sat in airline style seats for the whole 9 hour crossing. Not pretty!