To take the stress out of this day, we had opted to camp quite close to Igoumenitsa already. So we had time to waste. First, we hang around Sofas beach camping until 1pm. Then, we had a really late and long lunch. Afterwards, we checked in at the port in Igoumenitsa which didn’t take long at all. What now? Shopping, cleaning the car and some ice cream later, we decided to stay on a campground for half a night and get up at 4am istead of hanging around the port parking lot trying to get some sleep in the car.
We took our time in the morning as we were so close tot he ferry port already. It gave the kids an opportunity to make some new friends to play football and Uno with
Number 3 was very happy about it
Our go-to food: Greek salad as a starter and lots of other yummy foods
The Agent was a fan of the mashed potatoes with garlic. It was just nice sitting so close to the ocean and hanging out
Grocery shopping for the ferry. We were determined to bring more of our own food and avoid the greasy and expensive fast food
As a last minute measure, Flo cleaned the Sahara sand off the car
Number 3 found the same train model as his own in the window of a toy shop! Ut was not for sale. I asked.
This was in a bakery in Igoumenitsa on thursday afternoon. The Greek orthodox Easter just started and would be happening on Friday till Monday. There were so many Easter-themed baked goods
Being about 3km from the port, we had time to have coffee and ice cream in a little cafe
Super shiny car
Having checked in already (including the cabin keys!) and being told to be at the port at 5am, we decided to stay at a campground for half a night instead of trying to sleep in our car.
Again, having a place to put your things (and yourselves) while waiting made things a lot easier. Plus, we got another walk along a beach.
Sending some pictures hom from our last evening in Greece
Today was a bit of an odd day as we didn’t have a plan. Well, we’d actually had a great plan but it fell apart last night. Our plan was to go to Diakopto and ride the train through a gorge as a surprise for Number 3. Last night, we learned that the train hasn’t operated since February. Anyhow, we decided to go there anyway and walk along the tracks. According to the Lonely Planet this is a thing people do even when the train is operating.
So we walked the tracks for a while, had lunch and turned back. From Diakopto, we drove towards Athens which we will visit tomorrow. On the way, Flo wanted to look at the Canal of Corinth, just as a human-made feature. It turned out to be quite cool plus, it had a great bakery right next to it.
We had a lovely morning in camp. Unfortunately, the kids’ play companion from last night slept in until we left.
Oh, behind a palm tree! Let’s sneak up…
Number 3 sitting at the water’s edge, content with his thoughts
The kids digging a hole for play
Excitement about train cars!
The old cars were just left on the tracks and were vandalized a little. Not as much as I would’ve guessed though
The old steam engine (rack and pinion, says Flo)
The Agent in the driver’s seat
The train cars in the back are the “new” ones, usually operating on the tracks
The start of the tracks. We were sure there was no train going
On the way in, the Agent was’t too convinced about walking the tracks. She did her own thing.
Number 3 playing locomotive on the tracks
Pretty steep
The surrounding stone walls were fukll of caves and holes
We just made this track-side nook our lunch place
There’s a lot of great Greek snack food, like pies filled with spinach or cheese. You just buy it in a bakery and you’re set for lunch
On the way back, the Agent was allowed to be the locomotive
Someone was really tired from all the walking and pretending to be a train
You can cross in a car or on foot
This bridge is right before the canal goes out to the gulf. It is submergable, if ships want to use the canal
It’s a bit nuts, isn’t it? They just took out so much rock here.
The pink platform in the middle is to bungy jump off it 😉
Right in the distance, you should be able to see the submergable bridge!
Yep. it`s pretty high!
Fascinating stuff for Number 3
A building advertising “Bakery box” and “Coffee box” must be right up our alley. Snack time!
Number 3 found this sign to be hilarious. Especially since there was a dog around….but not in the parking spot.
AoE drinking cocoa over the canal of Corinth
There is a city camp in Athens but we didn’t get a spot. When I called they told me to try again in 1 1/2 months. So we camped 38km northeast of Athens.
The campsite had a bit of a roof so we sat under it and Flo cooked dinner
The light had already turned a bit hazy during dinner and afterwards, it just looked like apocalypse struck. My first thought was a fire somewhere.
In the end, it turned out to be another incident of Sahara sand. For here on, there was sand everywhere and we kept seeing people trying to clean it off.
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