June 2021 Distance: 3700km Vehicle: VW Caddy
During the pandemic we had the audacity to attempt a trip to Greece, again. This time there were a number of burocratic hurdles that had to be overcome, skipping either one of them would have deemed this trip impossible and brought it to an abrupt stop. We had to do a PCR test for Italy and Greece not older that 3 days when crossing the border. That meant that we had to do to test the day we left, in order to be legal when crossing into Italy, but also when crossing into Greece by ferry 2 days later.
Wed 19/05: I did my test on a Wednesday morning and we set of on Wednesday evening after a hard day's work. Unfortunaltey late in the evening I still hadn't received me confirmation, which is sent by email. Murhpy started knocking on the back door when, just 30mins before the border to Italy the email came and the result was (the most important and stessful email of my life) "result: negative". Good thing is: in Italy no one bothered checking anyone's pcr test or anything else of that matter, so we cruised through all the way to Parma, had a quick walkabout in the town, slept in a parking lot, and woke up early the next day.
Thu 20/05: a few hours drive and we were in Porto di Ancona. We thought that we had arrived early, ca. 1,5 hours before feparture, and went for ann early check-in, oh how wrong we were. It took over 1,5 hours to check in with all the paperwork needed to be checked at the cashiere for ever passenger individually. On the quese we saw a sign that said "log in your details for travelling to Greece" so I quickly went online and filled in the "passenger locator form" on my smartphone. A few useless clicks and we checked in at 13:20, when the ferry was supposed to leave at 13:30 and there were still 15 people in the queue behind me. To my surprise I later found out that they all made it on board with only 30mins delay. We were officially on the ferry and ready for our next adventure.
Fr. 21/05: Ca. 20 hours on a boring ferry and we were in Igoumenitsa. A quick but useless covid-test and we were free to go. Next stop: Meteora:
Wed 19/05: I did my test on a Wednesday morning and we set of on Wednesday evening after a hard day's work. Unfortunaltey late in the evening I still hadn't received me confirmation, which is sent by email. Murhpy started knocking on the back door when, just 30mins before the border to Italy the email came and the result was (the most important and stessful email of my life) "result: negative". Good thing is: in Italy no one bothered checking anyone's pcr test or anything else of that matter, so we cruised through all the way to Parma, had a quick walkabout in the town, slept in a parking lot, and woke up early the next day.
Thu 20/05: a few hours drive and we were in Porto di Ancona. We thought that we had arrived early, ca. 1,5 hours before feparture, and went for ann early check-in, oh how wrong we were. It took over 1,5 hours to check in with all the paperwork needed to be checked at the cashiere for ever passenger individually. On the quese we saw a sign that said "log in your details for travelling to Greece" so I quickly went online and filled in the "passenger locator form" on my smartphone. A few useless clicks and we checked in at 13:20, when the ferry was supposed to leave at 13:30 and there were still 15 people in the queue behind me. To my surprise I later found out that they all made it on board with only 30mins delay. We were officially on the ferry and ready for our next adventure.
Fr. 21/05: Ca. 20 hours on a boring ferry and we were in Igoumenitsa. A quick but useless covid-test and we were free to go. Next stop: Meteora:
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A quick stop at Athens to visit brother, wife & daughter, unfortunately only for one night, and off we were to Piraeus to catch a ferry to Crete.
If you ever visit Athens, don't forget to visit Lycabettus, for great panoramic views of the city, park here GPS 37.9837, 23.7454 and then walk direction SW to the cafeteria called "Sky bar". |
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In Crete we busted our ass to build this Pergola for my parent's cars. It took a lot more effort than we thought, but the end result was awesome. How did we do it? In a nutshell: buy wood, cut wood, paint wood, connect wood, place cover, finished. Pictures below:
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Here are my parets approving the yellow-submarine, and of course the pergola we built for them. We said our goodbyes and were on our way.
P.S. why is my dad wearing sandals with socks? I thought only Dutch and Germans did that...? |
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A quick stop at Chania, then to Elafonisi, my favourite beach, then back to Chania. We hopped on a ferry at ? and arrived at Kythera island 4 hours later.
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The island of Kythera:
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A 1 hour ferry and we were on the Peloponnese. We then headed to Monemvasia. A few hours drive direction NW and we were in Olympia, pictures below: |
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After Olympia we headed to Kalamia, West Peloponnese. At Kalamia the roads splits in two:
- to the left you will find a beach full of german camper vans and you can sleep for free (here)
- to the right there is an organised camping called Melissa (here). Since we hadn't showered in a few days, I was suddenly feeling less stingy and decided to stay at the organised facilities. The next day I thorooughly enjoyed the feeling of warm water and much needed soap. I then went to the reception and explained that I had arrived late the nigth before and wanted to pay for the night. The guy at the reception took a piece of paper, wrote the number "12" on it, circled it and gave it to me. I understood that I have to park the van at Nr 12. I said that I would like to pay now as I wanted to leave soon. He said "yes 12"... as in 12 Euros! OK this is the cheapest place ever, 2 people 1 car Sum = 12 Euros. So I happily paid and left, but not before entering the shop to buy much needed water and (even more important) you guessed it... toilette paper. How did people live before this great invention...?
The next stop was Lefkas island. We took some pictures, did some kite-surfing, and ate fine food. Pictures below:
- to the left you will find a beach full of german camper vans and you can sleep for free (here)
- to the right there is an organised camping called Melissa (here). Since we hadn't showered in a few days, I was suddenly feeling less stingy and decided to stay at the organised facilities. The next day I thorooughly enjoyed the feeling of warm water and much needed soap. I then went to the reception and explained that I had arrived late the nigth before and wanted to pay for the night. The guy at the reception took a piece of paper, wrote the number "12" on it, circled it and gave it to me. I understood that I have to park the van at Nr 12. I said that I would like to pay now as I wanted to leave soon. He said "yes 12"... as in 12 Euros! OK this is the cheapest place ever, 2 people 1 car Sum = 12 Euros. So I happily paid and left, but not before entering the shop to buy much needed water and (even more important) you guessed it... toilette paper. How did people live before this great invention...?
The next stop was Lefkas island. We took some pictures, did some kite-surfing, and ate fine food. Pictures below:
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An hour's drive north and we were in Parga (picture right) Then off to Igoumenitsa, ferry to Ancona, and the sad return to Zurich :-( Till next year my dudes. |
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