Crete, Greece & Italy update

This is a quick entry as battery is low on the computer

12/5/09

We followed the coast road towards Iraklion to catch the ferry to Piraeus. Every bend or turn exposed a different but magnificent view. One minute you were overlooking the ocean and the next a valley.

When we came down the hill towards Spili there were an unbelievable amount of hot houses where they grow the vegetables. Obviously fruit and vegetables are a big export market for Crete. The drive continued through the agricultural area and driving through these towns was an experience as there were tractors going down the street, cars double parked on either side of the road and vehicles going the wrong way. Fortunately we navigated through this mayhem unscathed.

That night was another night sleeping with waterfront views and going to sleep listening to Sam playing his saxophone and another guy at the restaurant playing the bagpipes.

13/5/09

Today was our last day in Crete. We were all at the ferry terminal well before the designated time as we had all been lost so many times that we were scared we would miss the ferry.

One of the guys had his bonnet up and was working on the engine in the ferry carpark. This vehicle did not make it up the ramp of the ferry and had to be towed on and off the ferry. Another had a busted spring which he hoped to get fixed when he arrived at Athens.

This ferry was nowhere near as nice as the ferry we came over to Crete on and we ended up lying on our blankets on the floor trying to sleep.

14/5/09

Jim and I left the yard and let the GPS do all the work. She behaved beautifully and guided us out of Athens without a hitch. Apparently some of the others had trouble getting on to the freeway and got horribly lost. We drove from Athens to Korinthos and stopped and saw the Corinth Canal. Unfortunately there were no boats in the canal.

The drive down to our campsite was another picturesque drive along the edge of a hill overlooking the ocean. You can see why the tourists like to come to Greece for the water and sunshine although the pollution is dreadful.

We found our campsite without too many hassles and felt quite relieved when we arrived.
There was a magnificent bridge close to our caravan park which links the two mainlands together. We also walked around the ruins of the Rion Fortress which was surrounded by a moat.

15/5/09

Piraeus to Ancona

Our last ferry ride of the trip. This was a huge port area and we had to be careful as there were a few gypsies wandering around.

Waiting to board the ferry turned out to be quite exciting.

We were standing by our vehicles when we saw a bus driver yelling at a stowaway that had got under his truck. The driver said that there are a lot of illegal immigrants from Iraq and Iran who try to get into and under the vehicles to leave Greece. We saw quite a few small and dirty guys looking under trucks to see if there was anywhere they could hide. We sat in a position where we could see our vehicles to make sure that no one tried to hide in them.

The Mottrams turned up and said that they had an illegal immigrant jump in the back of their truck when they were outside the Port. Apparently they were set up as a group of them wandered across the road in front of Dave and when he slowed down one jumped in the back. As they drove along people kept pointing to their truck and they thought there must have been something wrong so they stopped the truck. A guy came to their window and told them that someone had jumped into the back of their truck. Dave and Maggie jumped out and ran down each side of the truck and got the guy out. He was on the floor between the bed and the cupboards.

Dave then took off and saw another guy running after him to jump on board. Dave could not speed up as there was traffic in front so he put his foot on the brake and the immigrant slammed into the back of his truck hurting his nose. All along the port there is a high fence with barbed wire on the top and the illegal immigrants peer through the fence trying to get a ride. Security scares them away every so often but they soon reappear.

Mike O’Sullivan got out his tripod and camera and was interviewing Dave about his little adventure when the Port security came over and asked Mike whether he had permission to film in the Port. He did not speak English very well and called up another security officer. The first guy wanted to take Mike away for questioning but the second one spoke to Mike for awhile and then said he was able to go. We thought that we would have to leave Mike in Piraeus for awhile!!

Then it was time to load the vehicles on the ferry. As they were going on the ferry security officers were checking the back of the vehicles for stowaways. When Lang drove up the security officer checked the back of Lang’s vehicle and saw a foot poking out from under the blankets so he prodded around and out came a stowaway. Apparently the look on Lang’s face was one of shock horror. Lang had been telling everyone all afternoon to watch their vehicles in case anyone jumed in!! Leisa has it on film so it will be interesting to see at a later date.

Fortunately we were able to get deck camping so we slept in our van on the deck specially allocated for deck camping. It is mostly open so there is a nice fresh breeze blowing through to take away all the fumes. We could lie in our beds and see the ocean through our side windows.

Well we arrived in Ancona at around 12.30pm the next day. We were joined by Herman Pfauter who then attempted to guide us out of Ancona in convoy. Well the convoy went to pieces in a matter of minutes and so began our usual nightmare of navigating and getting lost. We must have all been strung out around northern Italy except for those who managed to follow Herman. The caravan park that we had hoped to stay in that night was not open so we were told to go to Urbino to that caravan park.

Well that was another adventure and soon we found that we were lost again. We stopped and asked people a few times but they did not speak very good English so with a lot of gesturing headed in the general direction. We wound our way through the most beautiful countryside through hills and fields. Everything was lovely and green and the flowers so colourful. The houses are so old that it is like stepping back in time. Italy has a lovely feel to it and I can see why people come and live here.

We finally arrived at the beautiful walled city of Urbino where there was some important event happening as there were police, people in uniform and a lot of other people gathered around.

Today our destination was Scarfaria so we left the campsite around 8.00am along a very mountainous and picturesque road.

There were lots of restaurants and little villages along the way. As it was Sunday the shops were closed but the restaurants were busy. There were so many motorbikes and they went flying past us. Also what was quite amazing was that there were also a lot of bicycles

Members of the local Military Club met us at Scarfaria and arranged for us to park in the main street which is normally closed on Sunday. A lot of picture taking and then Military Club escorted us in convoy to our caravan park and joined us later for drinks.