9/7 Saturday
We
had no trouble walking down the hill with our packs for a few blocks to the bus
stop, and only waited for five minutes before our bus came along. At 7am, the
bus was nearly empty. The bus station seemed so far away and remote when we
arrived at night last Monday, but now we can see that it’s just outside of the
city center, actually very convenient.
The
trip across Greece goes smoothly, no stops. We are surprised at mountainous the
country is, quite rugged and beautiful. The highway runs through one tunnel
after another, some of them very long, and with only a few hundred feet to the
next one. It’s like being in a subway. It must have been a long and difficult
road to build.
When
we arrive at the ferry port town of Igoumenitsa, Bob calls our hotel, Holiday
Zigos, and the owner comes right away to pick us up. We’re just a few blocks away
and right across the street from the ferry to Italy. We have a little
apartment, not just a hotel room. Joanna, his wife, brings us a platter of
fresh fruit and cold bottled water to welcome us.
We
walk over to the port to scope out our ferry for tomorrow. We’re leaving at
6am, or 6:30, or 5:30, it seems to “depend.” One ticket agent tells us to come
two hours ahead for our five am boat. We wouldn’t need our hotel after all if
we were just up all night for the boat. Another woman tells us we can check in
Sunday at 9pm, and be at the ferry for a 5am departure, a more manageable
situation, despite the early hour.
So,
that accomplished, we walk along the waterfront to explore our little city of
Igoumenitsa. It’s ferociously hot and everything is shut down for the
afternoon. We do find a pleasant waterside café for an iced tea break, but the
hoped-for beach is too far off to even be seen. There doesn’t seem to be much
available as a local bus or taxi, either. We give up and walk back along a
block landward, where there are more shops (closed) and cafes, restaurants and
bakeries. It seems like quite a tourist destination with dozens and dozens of
tavernas and such, but there’s not a soul to be seem at the moment.
We
just give up, totally overheated, and go home to our hotel to shower and wait
for sunset. When it finally arrives, it becomes beautifully cool and breezy.
There’s a nice restaurant near our hotel with wooden tables and checkered
tablecloths, where we sit outside and enjoy a plate of grilled sardines for
dinner.
1 Video Included
Bus Thessaloniki to Igoumenitsa
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