Thursday 2nd June 2011 – Camping on Board, ANEK Hellenic Spirit

There was no great hurry this morning so we had a relaxed start before we got the van ready for the voyage. We went to say goodbye to Manolis and to pay for the four nights. The list price was a very reasonable €18.60 per night but Manolis insisted on giving us not only a discount but also some of his excellent wine. He is very generous and a genuinely nice guy.
We did a little more shopping in Paralia Akrata, picking up some Greek specialities, especially some frozen pittas that the Greeks use for their giros pitta. I resisted the temptation to buy a frozen octopus much as I would like to try cooking one.
On our way to Patras we crossed over the new national road and spotted an archaeological dig in full swing by the road. We parked off the road and walked down and asked permission to visit the site. We were given a personal escort by one of the archaeologists who then gave us a tour of the site and its history. They believe that it was a Roman public building from the 2nd century AD but they have found a 2nd century BC building underneath and are in the process of establishing the chronology at the moment. It is a large building – half of it is under the new road and was excavated before the road was built. The walls are very thick and strong, suggesting that it was an important structure and probably associated with other buildings in close proximity. The archaeologists are hoping to get permission to excavate further up the hill where they expect to find other buildings. Because the excavation results have not been published, I wasn't allowed to take photographs but although the excavation was very interesting, the photographs would not have been. We thanked the archaeologists very much for spending the time with us and headed on towards Patras.
We had intended to look for a site at Helike but we understood from the archaeologist that there was nothing to see. The dig is at the bottom of a very deep pit that floods regularly and there is no public access. Still it is a very interesting site occupied from Prehistoric to Roman times and destroyed by an earthquake when the land dropped considerably and the town was inundated by the sea. This has lead to some suggestions that it was the site of Atlantis. One to keep an eye on for developments in the excavations and possibly visit at some time, probably a long time in the future.
We stopped at the very pleasant seaside resort of Lampiri where we strolled along the beach and found a taverna to have lunch looking over the Gulf of Corinth.
Arriving at Patras I parked in the passenger ferry car park and guarded the van whilst Jane checked us in. There are many illegal immigrants here and they patrolled the area looking for an opportunity to get into a vehicle so that they could get to Italy. The only time that they disappeared was when a police motorbike patrolled the car park. When we drove to the berth to wait for embarkation, we saw many of they looking through the fence at the motorhomes and lorries. Before and during embarkation lorries and motorhomes were searched, including ours. One campervan was searched twice, probably because the German owner had very long hair and looked like an ageing hippie!
The Greek organisation of the loading of the vehicles was chaotic unlike the very organised loading at Ancona. There were very few vehicles to load but this didn't stop them from being totally indecisive when telling us where to drive and park. The last two times that we had used 'camping on board' we were very lucky, being placed on the side of the ship with a view straight out on the sea. It was wonderful to be able to open the blinds in the morning to see the sea rushing by and the islands and mainland in the distance. This time we had two rows of vans between us and the sea but it was only a few steps to see the view.
We spent time on the upper decks watching Patras falling rapidly behind us and watching the eastern coast of Greece go past as we headed north. The ANEK ship the Hellenic Spirit also has a lovely air-conditioned lounge at the bow end that has panoramic views over the sea. As the voyage was so quiet, it was easy to find seats where we could relax and drink in the lovely views, trying to guess what islands and parts of the mainland we were passing.
Photos: The leaving of Akrata Beach – Jane with Manolis; The leaving of Greece – The Hellenic Spirit leaves Patras in its wake.