2007-Nov-20 - A Blur of Travel

The trip from Turkey to Pozzala was abit of a blur although everything seemed to piece together quite nicely. Bloody exhausting though!! The ferry left Cesme at 5:30pm after a beautiful sunny day, arrived at Chios (a Greek Island) at 6:30, and then it was a wait until 10:30pm for a ferry to the Greek mainland. Slept in a passageway for the night as all the seats had been taken (I was traveling "deck cargo" class) lol. After a not too bad a sleep - finally getting to use the sleeping bag! and the Med was like glass - we arrived at 5:30am in Athens. My very short stay here consisted of port views and a long distant view of downtown Athens and the temple thing on top of the hill from the train but left few endearing memories other than that of a dirty, dusty, drab looking place. Then it was on to Petra (the Greek eastern port) via two connecting trains, about 5 hrs away, and another ferry contection to Brindise, Italy, later that night. This port was a rather seedy affair and I was glad I wasn't waiting around to long as it didn't look the safest place to spend time after dark. There were all these young arab guys hanging around the streets boardering the port, and everynow and again some of them would try and make a dash over the fence to get into the ferry area. The port police would then rush them (if they saw them) and then these guys would be vaulting back over the fence, back to the street. This little game went on for the couple of hours while I was waiting to board. Talking to a security guard later he explained that they were trying to stow away on trucks in the port so as to get to Italy. Then they head up to Germany and England to "sell their organs" on the blackmarket - or so he reckoned anyway! Why they dont just build higher fences and save all the hassel Im not sure.

Once on the ferry it was another night in the passage, but with a considerably rougher trip this time, and we arrived on the "heel of Italy" just as the sun was rising. Over the next 30 odd hours it was another 3 train connections, two more seedy waiting rooms, an over nighter in a train seat and a further ferry crossing, before I finally arrived at Palermo, Sicily. A total of 3000 kms covered in just under 100 hrs of constant travel - God that shower was good at the hotel. Along the way, I did met up with this delightful young kiwi lady though whose company I quite enjoyed for the next little while. She spoke Italian too which saved a bit of time in finding things and we shared a lot of similar ideas on things in general. Its meeting people off the cuff like this that are the true gems of travel :).

If Sicily is anything to go by, Italy is an expensive but very enjoyable place to stay. The food here (especially the pasteries) are just out of this world and the "culinery culture" is something worth emulating!! although the lack of Internet access is a pain. I have also discovered that there are 3 prices for coffee and eats at the cafe's - expensive to sit outside at a sidewalk table, dear to sit in the cafe itself but cheaper to stand at the bar and drink and eat standing up like the locals do!! However "cheaper" is in relation to the euro prices and I try to avoid even thinking about what Im spending in NZ dollars!! Accomadation is EXPENSIVE but thank goodness it is generally winter rates in most places but even this is still costing $NZ40 a night for a dorm room.

From Palermo it was off to Agrigento to see the Valley of Temples (Greek), and a great place to just and sit and contemplate that Homer may have sat at the same place composing his "Iliad of Troy" long ago. I had thought to have a few days at the small vilage of San Leone to unwind abit but unfortunately the beaches here are all rocks, and the sun and sand respite I was looking for didnt eventuate. So it was off the next day to Catania to try for a ferry to Malta but then found the only sailing for the week was full. Another half day of "riding the rails" got me here (Pozzalao) and with fingers crossed I hope to be on my way again tomorrow for 10 days in the sun (or bar!!) doing nothing in Malta :).