A Pinay in Europe

After a two-week stay in Manila, Philippines, I flew direct to Athens where H was waiting for me at the airport.  It was our plan to do a seven-day driving holiday in the Greek Peloponnese, something he has been dreaming to do for a long time.  But since we were in Athens, we took the opportunity of seeing what this most ancient city has to offer, and of course, the Acropolis was on the top of the list.  It was a poignant moment for both of us, seeing with our very own eyes the ruins of the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena constructed around 400BC!  As we walked around the Acropolis, more archaelogical finds are scattered everywhere! Even on the way to this rocky hill as well as in the surrounds of the city, sites of diggings are just in every corner!  Athens is truly an open air museum and they are still continuously stumbling upon ancient ruins as they dig  underground for infrastructure like the Metro.  With this mammoth task of sorting out and archiving this historic pieces of the past, I just hope that they don’t get nicked by souvenir-hunting tourists, as they are just scattered everywhere on the site without any security camera or guards looking….

That Sunday we were there,  the 2,500th anniversary of the Athens Marathon was held.  More than 12,000 people from around the world joined in the race.  Too bad we were too exhausted the previous day doing our own marathon sightseeing so we were not able to watch it.  Anyway, story goes that in 490BC, the Athenian army defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. A messenger called Pheidippides ran the 42km (26 miles) to Athens to announce the victory. Hence, the origin of the word, “Marathon”.

 After Athens, we drove straight to the Peloponnese and visited the mindblowing Corinth Canal and a 3,000 year old amphitheater that was discovered only in the late 19th century.  It was buried in soil and overgrown with trees and nobody could have imagined that it was a sacred site for pilgrims wanting the miracle of healing.  We also went to the Methana penisula, renowned for its 32 volcanoes!  I wonder if the word “Methana” originated there because as soon as we got into the town, we could smell sulfuric gas and the water by the port is whitish due to the gas that is continously spewed from the volcanoes.  They are apparently dormant, the last volcanic eruption occurred in 230BC.  Although the town is quiet in the winter, it gets very crowded in the summer, mainly Athenians who come here to seek the healing powers of the gaseous waters.

We still have 5 days left and plenty more stopover sites.  Photos shall be available as soon as I get a wifi connection. 

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Yours truly will disappear again in a couple of days, doing another trip that could be added into our “Amazing Journeys” book!

Here’s a summary of those amazing trips we have made during the last 7 years:

- Towing a caravan from Scotland to the south of France where we filled it to the brim of household stuff (that was when H sold his UK house and had to empty it of its contents)

- Towing a 5-meter boat from the south of France to Corfu, Greece. We had to have a trailer especially made for it, went to pick it up from Besançon close to the Swiss border, then towed it to the south, had a crane lift the boat onto the trailer, then towed it to Venice, took the 24-hour ferry trip to Corfu, and now it’s happily moored there.

- Doing the “mammoth journey” last February when we drove the car from Paris to the south where it was overloaded to the roof of our household stuff from both the UK and Paris. “The UK” because we emptied my pa-in-law’s house that time before he went to the Nursing Home. So the car was so packed that passing motorists would stare at us twice and police stopping us at the border threatening to weigh the car if we exceeded the allowable limit !! Luckily, they took pity on us and let us go

The mammoth journey

This time, we will tow our caravan to Corfu in Greece, a caravan whose fitness to be pulled for the six hour journey to Venice, where the ferry port is, and the 24 hour sea crossing to Corfu remains to be seen as it was parked for almost 7 years in the garden, unmoving!
We had a choice:
- to either smash it to pieces which we don’t have the heart to do and besides, it will still cost us a fortune and too much hassle
- or sell it for One Euro just to get rid of it easily but it’s complicated since it is British-registered parked in French territory.

After months of contemplation, evaluation, calculation, this is what we have decided:
We will drive it to Corfu and make it as our home for the entire six weeks of our stay.  Then we keep it there permanently so that everytime we want to go for a Greek holiday, we have a mobile home to go to. 

H bought a British car at eBay!
Now, now, don’t laugh.  He is actually driving it as I type, a 1998 Peugeot estate and it’s impeccable! For it’s price of 850GBP, he believes it was an excellent buy. The seller is a car trader in the UK and his eBay history is as impeccable as the car. The car will serve as our UK car as well because hiring one is not only expensive but impractical, especially when you have to return it to the car hire company at 4pm but your flight home is at 4am the next day. So last time we stayed and slept at the airport like in the movie, “The Terminal”..oh so much boo-boo to tell and I wouldn’t be able to finish this story if I keep going on and on.

07 June 2009

Here is the caravan which we towed from the south of France to Venice! This baby is really amazing! It ran smoothly in the autoroute, we just love it! 

Corfu, here we come!

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