SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

I forgot to post Carnival pictures yesterday -

We managed to make contact with our family who had been a bit anxious while we had been shipboard because our phones had not worked.  This had not surprised us because they kept bleeping and welcoming us to various countries …  so we were Welcomed to Italy, Iceland (?), Albania and finally Greece.  Speaking person-to-person with my folks was reassuring and we felt a bit less out on a limb.

After a gargantuan breakfast in Patras, we set off down Greek motorways, which were much more reassuring as we had half a chance of reading the passing signs and understanding what they all meant.

I spied a patch of blue sky and imagined learning the Greek language well enough to explain to one of the village people what – a piece of blue sky big enough to make a sailor a pair of trousers – actually meant.  I think it best to leave that for the time being as it would be well beyond my current capabilities.  The road from Patras to Piraeus is a marvellous new venture but the tolls were a fraction of those we paid in France and Italy.  We could see new tunnels through the mountains being constructed and primed by K – I did see the Corinth canal as we whizzed over it and marvelled that cruise ships could actually pass through it.  I also had a good look about and imagined where ancient Corinth fitted in with all the high rise buildings and rather run of the mill concrete architecture of modern day Corinth.  I wondered what St Paul would have made of it and what the Corinth of his day looked like when he penned his epistle to the Corinthians.

We arrived at Piraeus at noon and the patch of blue had expanded to take in the whole sky. On the motorway approach to the town, a street market/boot fair was going on and cars were parked all the way down the motorway for about a mile with people walking back and forth with goods for sale and shopping bags stuffed with produce.  I was again clinging on for grim death and thought “this could only happen in Greece”!!

Hurrah our first sunny day of the trip and I thankfully took my coat off but realised there was no space in the car to put it anywhere.    We stopped at the port café where Kimon had a much needed ice-cold beer while we waited to board our third ferry boat  – believe me, he certainly deserved it!