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\u2026 we explored the ship\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And settled down with a movie (Arrival) before bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We both had an unsettled night, even though we\u2019d gone for a more expensive cabin. There were thunderstorms overnight and the crossing was rough. We\u2019d been put at the front of the boat and on the 7th floor. So we were bouncing up and down quite a bit in the waves. All in all though, having a cabin was definitely a plus, and being able to lie down seemed to mean neither of us got any sea sickness in the swell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the morning the cabin crew were desperate to get everyone out of their berths ASAP, and so we handed in our room key to reception by about 8 – docking at 9. But we still had time for a coffee in the bar on deck 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was then a quick shop at the biggest supermarket Apple Maps was letting us see, Masoutis (\u039c\u03b1\u03c3\u03bf\u03cd\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2<\/em> – WTF) on the north side of Igoumenitsa. Not a huge store but well stocked for essentials and even a gluten free section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were scrabbling for something to do today and so parked the van on the sea front and went for a stroll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The storms that made our crossing so rough had clearly hit the town too. Many of the shoreline cafes were tarped up and so we found one of the \u201cnext row back\u201d cafes for a not-stand-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thought of the day: Landing in Greece is like being dropped into an advanced trigonometry lesson! All these \u03b1,\u03b2,\u03c6,\u03c8 everywhere! I\u2019m seriously having to stop at every word and try and figure out what letters it contains and then what the f\u2019 it might mean! #greecenoobie!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to today\u2026 We were torn between heading somewhere a few 10\u2019s of Km away and making a day of it vs getting to the campsite early for a decent pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After coffee and a BP refuel we plumped for heading to the campsite early. Which got us to Elena\u2019s Camping by about 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The campsite is right on the water front and was suffering from the same storms we\u2019d experienced on the boat\u2026 There was mud deposited on the driveways around the site and evidence of vans struggling to escape their pitches in the morning. The campsite \u201cmanager\u201d (?) said they hadn\u2019t had rain in 5 months, so wasn\u2019t complaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was nice when we showed up though\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were out on a pitch only 15m from the water. Lovely and scenic, but we\u2019re on a thoroughfare and would rather have had something a bit more private. We are next the the WiFi zone though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Loos and showers are plentiful and clean. There are loo seats too, hooray, but no loo paper, boo!.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The downside of our decision to hit the campsite early is that we\u2019re sort of stuck here. More thunderstorms have been rolling around this afternoon and there don\u2019t seem to be any coastal walks to head anywhere. It\u2019s also a bit too hilly to get the bikes out and go anywhere meaningful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We have another day to kill here tomorrow before our ferry on Thursday, so we\u2019re torn about whether to pack up the van in the morning and head out for the day or sit at the site and perhaps try and walk into the nearest village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Errrr\u2026 scratch that! <\/p>\n\n\n\n I wrote that last paragraph this afternoon before we\u2019d really sat down to think about what we were going to do tomorrow. And as luck would have it Sue pulled out the Ig. to Corfu ferry tickets and realized we\u2019re actually sailing tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aaarrrggghh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Somehow we\u2019d got it in our heads that we were sailing on the 12th, but no! It\u2019s the 11th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, we did what anyone would do in that situation, we went and did the washing up! <\/p>\n\n\n\n As we were pondering our options we decided to contact the apartment we have booked in Corfu and see if they could slot us in a day early. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One website contact form and a phone call later and that was arranged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Phew!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cat-a-strofe averted! <\/p>\n\n\n\n It hadn\u2019t become a panic, because for some unknown reason I don\u2019t panic anymore (one of the benefits of being retired and not giving a fetid-dingo\u2019s-kidney about anything), but we were starting to think we\u2019d have to wing one night in Corfu. But crisis averted and we have an additional night of luxury tomorrow instead of sleeping in a lay by!<\/p>\n\n\n\n To celebrate we went to the beach to watch the sunset\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 and on the way we bumped into the NZ couple I\u2019d given directions to the showers to earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are on a propa\u2019 adventure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re cycling from Brussels (though they live in London) to Georgia, Tbilisi. They\u2019d done Brussels to Sicily and were now heading through Greece and Turkey. And that\u2019s including a month off after the woman had been knocked off her bike and had to be taken to hospital to be stitched up. But that\u2019s not all, once they\u2019ve got to Georgia they\u2019re starting a new adventure and cycling from Nairobi to Cape Town! Respect!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\u2026 it\u2019ll be a reasonably early start to catch the 10:45 ferry to Corfu tomorrow instead of \u201cwasting\u201d a day here at Elena Camping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll be back in Igoumenitsa in about 11 days time, but we\u2019ll be in a \u201cheading home\u201d frame of mind. In the 12 hours we\u2019ve been in Greece, we\u2019ve found the roads to be cleaner and in better condition than in south-eastern Italy. The drivers are also much more considerate!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Side note on Fuel Prices: We\u2019ve seen a big range in fuel prices on the trip so far. The worst was over \u20ac2 a litre in Germany but has ranged from a countrywide cap of 1.39 in Croatia up to 1.6 in Italy. It\u2019s about 1.49 here in Greece it seems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harry has done bugger all today as John was catching up with the Apple keynote on iPhone 16 and Apple Watch series 10!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, we thought it would be a bit of a quiet day today, arriving in Igoumenitsa and setting up camp. But in the end we had a bit of a scramble to avert a disaster. In this next gripping installment of John and Sue do Europe\u2026 Over night, having left Ollie on the car deck\u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[53,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2024-summer-holiday-to-greece","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7058.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8yl38-2vF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9875,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/09\/22\/day-49-igoumenitsa-and-the-parrot-sketch\/","url_meta":{"origin":9651,"position":0},"title":"Day 49 – Igoumenitsa and the Parrot Sketch","author":"John Martin","date":"September 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"End of the seventh week and it\u2019s another travel day. After 10 days on Corfu (thoughts on Corfu at the end), we\u2019re on the homeward stretch now. It was an early start for Phil and Linda with a 5:45 taxi to Corfu airport. They had two flights today, one to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2024 Summer Holiday to Greece"","block_context":{"text":"2024 Summer Holiday to Greece","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/category\/travel\/2024-summer-holiday-to-greece\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7615.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7615.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7615.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7615.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7615.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7615.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9922,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/09\/24\/day-50-goodbye-greece-hello-italy\/","url_meta":{"origin":9651,"position":1},"title":"Day 50 – Goodbye Greece, hello Italy","author":"John Martin","date":"September 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"We had a 2PM ferry from Igoumenitsa to Brindisi today, so we were afforded another leisurely start. And of course what better way to start than a long chat with Helen and Jeremy. That\u2019s when we found out their van had been flooded in the port they had left the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2024 Summer Holiday to Greece"","block_context":{"text":"2024 Summer Holiday to Greece","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/category\/travel\/2024-summer-holiday-to-greece\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7726.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7726.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7726.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7726.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7726.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7726.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10470,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/10\/09\/day-65-home-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":9651,"position":2},"title":"Day 65 – Home Again","author":"John Martin","date":"October 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"And so our mini adventure ends. There\u2019s not much to say about the day itself and I\u2019ll leave the conclusions to further posts where I hope to pull some more considered thoughts together about the trip. However, for today, we did manage to get off from our one night stop\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2024 Summer Holiday to Greece"","block_context":{"text":"2024 Summer Holiday to Greece","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/category\/travel\/2024-summer-holiday-to-greece\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_8439.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_8439.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_8439.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_8439.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_8439.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_8439.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9669,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/09\/11\/day-38-corfu\/","url_meta":{"origin":9651,"position":3},"title":"Day 38 – Corfu","author":"John Martin","date":"September 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"After that bit of a scare yesterday, that we\u2019d got our dates mixed up, we were up early and packed away for the ferry to Corfu. Packing for Corfu Got a great piccie of the sea and campsite last night\u2026 Sea from Elena\u2019s Campsite Elena\u2019s Camping was fine for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2024 Summer Holiday to Greece"","block_context":{"text":"2024 Summer Holiday to Greece","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/category\/travel\/2024-summer-holiday-to-greece\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7095.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7095.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7095.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7095.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7095.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7095.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9850,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/09\/21\/day-48-avlaki-beach\/","url_meta":{"origin":9651,"position":4},"title":"Day 48 – Avlaki Beach","author":"John Martin","date":"September 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Last full day on Corfu and the weather has been much kinder - 27C, a refreshing breeze and no rain! We\u2019ve been told, by Yeota, the villa owner, that this sort of weather is very unusual. They might get a day of rain in September, but not this many days\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2024 Summer Holiday to Greece"","block_context":{"text":"2024 Summer Holiday to Greece","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/category\/travel\/2024-summer-holiday-to-greece\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7565-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7565-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7565-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7565-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7565-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7565-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9623,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/09\/09\/day-36-alberobello-ostuni-brindisi-and-ferry\/","url_meta":{"origin":9651,"position":5},"title":"Day 36 – Alberobello, Ostuni, Brindisi and Ferry","author":"John Martin","date":"September 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, we\u2019re either being very lucky with our weather predictions or we\u2019re should apply for a job at the Met. Office! After checking the forecast for today, we decided we didn\u2019t need to pack up the van last night. Apple Weather said 35% chance of rain at 10am, which would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2024 Summer Holiday to Greece"","block_context":{"text":"2024 Summer Holiday to Greece","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/category\/travel\/2024-summer-holiday-to-greece\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_20240909_184619_917-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_20240909_184619_917-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_20240909_184619_917-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_20240909_184619_917-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_20240909_184619_917-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9651"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9667,"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9651\/revisions\/9667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/img_7054.jpg\")
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