Greece

Duration: 9 days, 8 nights

Location: Greece

Budget: €1500

Miles Travelled: 2,000

Just over a short week in and around the Athens and the main island. The trip starts with a few days in Athens to complete the marathon before heading North to Meteora.

After visiting the monastery we head to the island of Zakynthos for some sight seeing and then back to the main land before heading south towards Athens again.

We stop on the way at Delphi and visit Athens for a final day before heading back home to Ireland.

Day One – 5th November 2004 – Departure/Arrival
Ok so we are off again on another trip and nothing says you are on an epic trip like an early start. So we are up at 05:00. Oh yeah, early start. We had an early flight out of Shannon to London Heathrow at 07:40. We packed the gear bags with the runners and running gear as well as some lucozade and fig role bars and then got in the taxi at 05:45. We left for the airport with a stop off to collect another companion – Derek. We got to his place at 06:00 and arrived at the airport at 06:30. We checked in then and proceeded to the duty free lobby where we met another two of our friends – Eamonn and Bryan. Now we had everyone. We could get on the plane and head to Athens to partake in the original marathon – the race from the town of Marathon to Athens city centre finishing in the stadium.

In the terminal in Heathrow as we proceeded to our departure gate we happened upon a Christmas time – now for this time of year it was a little strange and early so we got a few pictures and then headed on to the gate. The in flight movie was The Terminal with Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta Jones. It was a good show and worth a watch. We landed in Athens Airport at 18:00 hours and got through customs and baggage reclaim by 18:45. We then headed to the train platform that would take us to the city centre. Another friend of ours – Chrysa, was meeting us here. I remember well Dereks word as we waited for the tickets to be bought “Lovely country this! A very welcoming people!”

We bought a group ticket that allowed three people to use the ticket to get to the city centre .It was cheaper than getting single tickets and the student cards only work for students from the local universities and not international students. Train time to the outskirts of the metro took about 30 minutes and another 15 minutes to get to our metro stop. After we made our way to the city centre we got off at Syntagma Square. This stop – on the blue line – dropped us just outside the Parliament house. We then walked down to our hotel for the next two days – Hotel Amalia. We checked in to the three rooms – Eamonn and Bryan. Derek and Paddy and Mike and Kevin. We then proceeded to get something to eat – we got the metro to Metaxourgio and walked from here to a good Italian restaurant chain called La Pasteria. The lads all got some pasta into the system for the upcoming marathon on Sunday morning. There was a really good dessert that was a chocolate brownie smothered in chocolate sauce – Eamonn was the only one that could finish it – the man.

Day Two – 6th November 2004 – Sightseeing/Registration
9:30am and everyone is up. The lads are going sightseeing as that is thing to do when it Athens. Kevin meets some friends for coffee and Derek has a meeting with some esteemed colleagues. Eamonn Mike Paddy and Bryan head to the Akropolis to look around and see Athens from a height. The day is cloudy but dry and the temperature is probably around 19 degrees Celsius with a high humidity factor. Atop the Akropolis there is the temple of Athena – the Parthenon. This allows a great panoramic view of current day Athens. There is a museum with plenty of greek artefacts housed within – including a head of Alexander.  Nearby there is a street that is a running track – accommodating some nice little coffee houses that are very famous in Athens.

The afternoon is spent finding the Caravel Hotel so that we can register for the race the following day. Unfortunately the location does not have ant sort of expo for the runners to look around and purchase goods. We arrived at the hotel; we got our champion chip, t-shirt, towel and number. Then we headed to Kolonaki in order to get some more pasta. There was a nice statue of a running man – which we named Dave – made of green glass – and he was moving fast!!

Around 3pm we finally got a place to eat in the Pasteria restaurant – seemingly 3 in the afternoon is prime time for the greeks to have their lunch – and the restaurants are pretty full at that time. We got a good feed of food and then met another friend of ours – Fay. We headed to the supermarket and got some provisions for the following morning – namely energy drinks and chocolate and bin bags – something that was going to keep us warm at the start line while we waited for the gun to go off.

Later that evening we went to a nice coffee place near Syntagma square and had a coffee with another two friends of ours – Athina and Yanni. We chatted and talked and went home to bed nice and early as we had an early start the following morning.

Day Three – 7th November 2004 – Marathon Day
An early start – up at 05:30 and the restaurant was not open so we ate what we bought the day before in the supermarket. The buses were leaving from the finishing stadium between 6 and 6:30 am so we had to be sure to be on one of these buses. We walked form the hotel to the stadium and it was less than a ten-minute walk. It was cold out but we had our bin bags so we were not too cold. We got on the bus and headed to Marathon. It took over an hour to get to the start line – 42 km away. We travelled the route that we would be running less than three hours later. We looked around at the start line but most people took shelter in a building near the back of the running track. Toilets were accessible here and the potential to warm up and loosen out muscles. We lined up a little after 09:00 and at 09:30 the gun sounded and close to 2,500 people started on the long journey home.

The official deadline for runners to finish and receive a medal was 6 hours. We traversed the course with style and panache with hails of “Calimera” to the local supporters that were out to see us on our way. Eamonn did a great run and a personal best of 3 hours 20 mins. Bryan was closer to 4 hours and the rest of us got across the line in around 5hours 30 minutes. The team held fast and finished together – even though some of us were a little faster to get across the line than others.
After the race we went back to the hotel and got a quick shower and then went out for some food. We got something to eat and walked around the streets to look in some of the shop windows. It was a good way to get rid of some of the lactic acid build up from the run earlier in the day. We got to bed early that night in order to get some rest after our long but rewarding day. Indeed we were now truly Olympians!

Day Four – 8th November 2004 – Northward Bound
Monday morning at 10:10 and we head from the hotel to the airport in order to rent a car and do some driving around this great little country. The airport was the easiest solution to renting a car as the place was easily accessible by train and this was preferable to driving in Athens City Centre. No offence to the greeks but they are crazy drivers – nearly as bad as the Italians – must be a Mediterranean thing. There was a heavy case of thunder and lightning during the night – and really heavy rain – but most of the lads slept through it. Kevin Eamonn and Bryan were woken by it but Mike Paddy and Derek were out for the count – so you decide who you want on your team when you are out on safari .Eamonn and Bryan headed back to Ireland today and work tomorrow. We were fortunate to have a few more days free to see some sites outside of Athens.

Took the metro/train to the airport from Syntagma. The airport metro/train has a sign of an aeroplane on the side of the car. It leaves roughly around 20 past the hour and 5 to the hour – each hour. Travel time to the airport was 45 minutes. Due to the thunder and lightning during the night there were more rain showers during the day. We had used up all our luck the day before on the race but no one really complained as we were happy.

We rented a Ford Focus for 3 days to see Meteora, Zakynthos and Delphi. We left the airport with our newly purchased map – a must seeing as the car did not have GPS. We took the national road north to Thessolonika and Mount Olympus.

We arrived in a place called Larissa around 16:40 that evening as the sun was starting to set. We could see Mount Olympus shrouded in cloud cover as we purchased some fuel. We got some pictures as it was the closest that we were going to get before night fell. We then headed to the town on Calampaha. This town is situated 3km from the famous monasteries of Meteora. We stayed in a hotel called Sakellaridi. We checked in and headed down town to get something to eat. Derek and Mike headed out to look in some shops as Paddy and Kevin rested and ordered some food. We got a great big pizza each and enjoyed our food as it was the first bite to eat that we had had since breakfast earlier that morning.

We headed back to the hotel and watched Rambo 3 on the tele before turning the lights out and getting some sleep.

Day Five – 9th November 2004 – Meteora
Ok we got up ay 8am. It was clear outside with few clouds but there was a nice chill in the air. There was no one else at breakfast as they had all already finished and left. The plan for the day was to see the monasteries of Meteora and then head on the Zakynthos. Now there are 13 monasteries in the Meteora so we did not plan to see them all – just three of the main ones and then head on our way to the port to get the ferry to Zakynthos.

The first monastery that we saw was the Holy Trinity. These same monasteries were used in the James Bond Movie – For Your Eyes Only –staring Roger Moore. The next monastery that we went to see was the monastery of Metamorphosis or Great Metereon. Unfortunately this monastery is closed on Tuesday so we had to head down to the monastery of Varum – closeby to the monastery of Metamorphosis. We entered in here and saw some amazing sites and views of the picturesque landscape surrounding these monasteries. We saw the pulley systems that are installed and used to haul goods up into the monastery from below and used to lower material from the monastery to the waiting public. Outside the monastery there are plenty of market stalls selling souvenirs to the tourists.

Back in the town of Calampaha we found a LIDL shop so we entered here and bought some food for the long journey ahead to get to the port for the 5 o clock ferry crossing. We departed the town at 11:30 and headed due west for the port. The roads were curving and the profile was steep – there were so many twists and turns in the road that I reckon it could qualify as a formula one course. In the first two hours we travelled 80km. It was then that we knew that we were going to be in a little trouble getting to the port on time. Luckily there was a 9pm ferry crossing as well that would allow us to get on to Zakynthos around 11pm.

We passed along a view point of Mount Olympus again that permitted some more snaps from a different angle offered to us two days ago.

We kept travelling westwards and took the new bridge that open only recently –within the past 18 months. Normally one would have to get a ferry across and drive on to the port at killea to get to Zakynthos. Now the new toll bridge was open it was faster and easier to get across. The cost of using the toll was 9.70 euro.

After crossing the bridge we headed for Rio and Patra- bypassing this and heading on for Kilini. When we got here we bought out our ticket for the ferry and went back in to town to get something to eat as we were early for the 9 o clock sailing.

We got some typical greek food – fried cheese and pork and chicken slouvaki. Then we boarded the ferry and found some good couches so we could rest up before the crossing. Derek fell into a deep sleep and we found it very hard to wake him when we got the Zakynthos. We were welcomed to the island by some friends and went to where we were staying. Went to bed at 11:30pm.

Day Six – 10th November 2004 – Zakynthos/Zante
We were all woken by the sound of a jackhammer going at 07:30. We had planned on getting a bit more of a rest or lie in but that was not meant to be. It was wet and dark outside with some heavy clouds threatening rain but we kept our spirits high and headed outside in search of some breakfast.
We found a nice little café on the main street that served us a good breakfast for a reasonable price. Once we had finished here we were ready to go exploring the island for the day. Luckily the place was nearly deserted as the tourist season had finished in September so the only people on the island were locals. According to the locals Zakynthos is referred to as Zante. A lot of the places that we drove to or through were closed up and there was no activity to be seen in or around the vicinity.

It is a hilly little island but the first place that we came upon that was nice and scenic was the Blue Cave. After this we stopped at St. Nicholas Port and got some pictures of the landscape.

We then proceeded to the famous shipwreck on Zakynthos – similar to that seen in the movie – Captain Corellis Mandolin. Cobalt blue waters, white sandy beaches, a shipwreck 1000ft below us and rain hitting us in the face, what a setting. There is the option to get a boat out from one of the local nearby ports and sail in to the bay but due to the time of year of our arrival this was not possible. All the boats that ran this service were either out fishing or not plying their trade at this quiet time of the year.

On the way back to Zakynthos we passed some bee hives just off the main road and encountered our fair share of goats and such crossing the roads – out here they own the place and not the drivers.
Ate in a place called Pizza Pizza back in town as it was too wet to do anything else.

Day Seven – 11th November 2004 – Zakynthos-Delphi-Athens
We got up at 06:30 and headed down to the port at 07:00. We bought our ticket and boarded the 08:00 sailing back for the mainland. Waltzing Mathilde was the song of the day for today as Derek had found the lyrics of this is one of the magazines that he was reading. We got back to Kilini at 09:00 and started the drive back to Athens via Delphi. We crossed back over the toll bridge and headed southeast towards Delphi – the UNESCO world heritage site. After consulting the Oracle at Delphi we were told that it was looking good for Garry to go on the Silk Route this summer.

We missed some turn offs getting back to the airport to drop the car off and had to go through Glyfada in the end but we got there without too much trouble. Glyfada is a beach sort area to the east of Athens. We had to go through the city centre to get to Glyfada and from there go to the airport. We picked the worst time of the day to come back in to Athens but thankfully we made it through without any incidents. Upo returning the car we had to pay for some extra fuel so a note is to get some fuel before heading back to the airport as there are no petrol stations inside the airport. We met the girls later on for a night out in some of the pubs around the area we were staying – the main place being the Taj Mahal. This place had some belly dancers and smoking pipes as some of its main attractions.

Day Eight – 12th November 2004 – Athens
10:00 Friday morning and back in Athens. The plans for the day is to go to the National History Museum and then the flea market. Also headed to the museum of art and Culture. Looked in some of the shops in Monasteraki and did some shopping there.
Took it easy for the afternoon and got some food. Then headed out that night to a coffee house to get some caffine and then onto a place called Club 22. Played some good music and we danced the night away here till 4 o clock. Then we headed to Taj Mahal and danced here till 6:30 and then home to get some sleep.

Day Nine – 13th November 2004 – Heading Home
We got up at 11:20 and packed the bags. Got 4 hours sleep and then headed to the airport to fly home at 14:55. At 19:15 we were in London Heathrow waiting in the connection lounge for our connecting flight. At 21:50 we were back home – where is all started 9 days earlier. And for symmetry we finished the video the same way as we started it – with a picture of the map of Greece 