Bari (Italy) to Athens (Greece)

5 July - 9 July 2010

We caught a train from Napoli to Bari - had to make a quick change at Caserta, but all went well.

We were expecting Bari to be a bit of a backwater - a sleepy port town. It is sleepy, but by no means a backwater. The main street had more designer label shops than we had seen in Rome and Napoli combined! Great for shopping.

Spaghetti for lunch!!!

Italian Parking

We only had one night in Bari - just enough time to unpack, wash clothes and pack them up again - so we headed out for a nice dinner in the Piazza del Ferrarese.

We have been eating out at restaurants a lot - some good, some not so good... At any given restaurant (unless the food is totally rubbish), the difference between a good night and a great night are the people running the joint. On this one night in Bari we were lucky enough to choose a restaurant (can't remember the name!!) run by Francesco - a very nice man, fluent in Italian, Russian, English and French. Dinner was fantastic! Francesco was the sole waiter, and kept everything running very smoothly...

While we were in Bari we explored the local castle, Castello Svevo - very nice.

Castello Svevo, Bari

Bari backstreets

Goodbye Bari!

From Bari we spent a night on the ferry which was a little uncomfortable as we could only get aircraft seats for the night which would have been okay but the world cup soccer match was on late and they didn't turn the television and lights off until late - we were all a little tired the next day.

Wasn't that fast....

We arrived at Patras, Greece, a few hours by train away from Athens at lunchtime. We were to catch a train, but when we arrived at the train station with all the other travellers we were told that the line to Athens was closed and we had to wait a couple of hours for a bus. The bus ride was enjoyable until we all felt a little woosy by the bus driver taking all the back streets of Greece.

Patras, Greece

Our first day exploring Athens lead us to the Acropolis which was amazing!!! Lily and Charlotte really enjoyed walking around the Mars Hill which has a beautiful view of Athens, it is also made out of marble rock which was really fun to slide down (mum did not appreciate Lily sliding down wearing her new white shorts!). then had a traditional Greek lunch finished with the ever favourite Italian gelati (in Greece!).


We spent another day in Athens which was made up of eating Greek food and shopping for new shoes for the girls and birthday presents for mum and dad. Then we were to spend a night on the ferry to Lesvos which is a Greek Island and then another ferry to Ayvalik which is in Turkey. More soon.....