SEE BIKE ROUTE HERE
Arrived Patras at midnight. Mounted our tail and head lights, and rode off the ferry, along the port road with all the trucks till we found a hotel. The first one, and it was fine. Full breakfast and on the road by 9:30. We decided to ride about 40 k‘s to Ajion where we could catch a bus to Pireaus. The coastal hiway was pretty, but lots of traffic. In Ajion we tried to catch a bus, but could only get one to Athens. When we tried to get the bikes below, the loaders said ‘no space‘ even though there was plenty of room. After a bit of a fight, and being told to wait another hour, we realized the bus went away full. The ticket seller, who had gone home by now, had bumped our tickets to the next bus so he could get his friends or relatives on. Anyway, we got on the next bus, arriving in Athens at 5pm. We then found out the bus to Pireaus is a local bus. We had to carry our loaded bikes up a narrow spiral staircase about 20 meters above the 8 lane road to the other side. When the bus came, the driver smiled and said ‘no bikes‘, so, 6pm, Friday, rush hour in Athens and there‘s Tom and Sandra naviguessing our way to the ferry port. No map, no GPS, and no clue! Following the signs we arrive in Pireaus in about 45 min. No close calls, a few horn honks, no swearing, all good. We asked a guy on his motorbike for directions when we arrived and he told us to be very careful, Greek drivers are ‘crazy‘ We replied we just rode in from Athens and he laughed and shook his head, muttering something like ~you‘re crazy, not the Greeks!
Anyway, we made the ferry, which is an overnighter and expect to be in Chania by 7am. We saved 75 Euros by not getting a cabin, so we‘re just heading off to a nice dinner and bottle of wine onboard.
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| Waiting for our Bus |
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| Our first hotel |
