The Motherland!!!

Well morning finally made it and actually we got more sleep at the table than I thought we would. Actually felt a bit refreshed when I woke up around 6 am...the sight was still the same, blue water rolling by, still the same people in our area I'd mentioned late last night, and nothing open yet. I took a stroll around the deck to see if anything was going on or if the view was different from the other side....no, and no.

The deck bar finally opened around 7 or so so we had coffee and Greek pie. That got the day going and shortly after that I went to the bar inside our deck and purchased an internet card so I could stay in touch and check out the status of the blog...still blocked!

Finally decided to open the lap top and play solitaire for a while...did that till my battery ran down, then played on John's till his battery was out. Then sat in the chair and dozed off and on for a while. We finally made our first stop at a port in Greece...there bout 30 minutes, then off for the second stop in Corfu...there about the same length of time, then off for Patras. Finally...Patras, here we are...right on schedule after 30 hours at sea from Venice.

We stood in line to get off the boat and the line finally started moving, but they didn't turn on the escalators, had to tote those bags down two flights of stairs. Finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, waited for the gangplank to lower and off the boat we went. First place for anyone to meet us…there was John’s parents and brother to greet us. We made it through the crowd to the car and managed to get all our luggage in and we were off to the races!!! Literally….

We made it to the outskirts of Patras and to the highway connecting to Athens. It was a two lane road with shoulders on each side, but many times there would be two cars passing on the left at the same time. Seems like most everyone drove between the land and the shoulder because there was always someone that was going to pass you.

About halfway to Athens the road got wider, first four lanes then six as you could see Athens on the horizon…or at least the lights. Of course one of the FIRST sights recognizable to me was the Acropolis pearched high on the hill and lit at night. By now it was 11 pm and we were entering Athens. We stopped to get Gyros to take home for dinner. John had always said they eat early afternoon and late night….it was true.

The Gyros were delicious and the beer was cold. We visited till about 2am and John passed out the gifts he had picked up along the way, they we called it a night with plans for tomorrow mapped out.