GREECE TO SPAIN

Monday 14^th December

We leave this camp and head to Igoumenitsa to get the ferry and the weather was sunny. We have a long way to go but make good pace. As if the rubbish is not bad enough we also pass a number of dead animals on the side of the road but mainly dogs and reflects both the number of feral dogs and the inability of the people to clear them whether through ignorance or will. Can’t understand it and very sad as life here is not revered for them. We decide on the coast road as we have a bit of time up our sleeve as we found out the ferry would be delayed for 3 hours which is a bit of a pain but out of our hands. We realise this may make things a bit tight for getting to Spain to see our friends Rob & Sue before they head off to England but can only do our best. We also decide to get our tickets from Italy to Spain when we are at the port in Cvitavecchia and not online which turns out to be the right decision.

The trip is quite good and scenery wise interesting.  We drive through an interesting area where the road is hardly wide enough for two vehicles with the vegetation having grown in on the side and no one seems to care whether it is cut back to enable cars to pass or not.  The road conditions in this part also leave a lot to be desired and we avoid pot holes whilst trying to avoid oncoming cars.  We arrive in Igoumenista in the early afternoon and find the ticket office. We sort of know the lie of the land as we saw this port on the way down and it looked quite nice so decided to embark from here instead of Patras. The office didn’t open till later on so we drove back up town, parked and walked down a bit to the town area and had a look around and a coffee. We then went back to the office and booked in then decided to drive the van into town to get a few supplies as we didn’t want to walk for miles with bags of groceries.

It was hard to find the store as it was very built up area narrow streets and for a Wednesday very hectic. We stocked up then found a better park on the main drag where we could take up a few parks without jutting out. Anything goes here obviously and everyone parks everywhere pretty much wherever they want. They even park right behind other parked cars to get coffee or have a feed and bad luck if you want to leave. The road here is 2 car wide so no problem with traffic flow. I can’t help but think the police would have a field day if this happened in Oz and the $$$ they would make but the police don’t do anything as it seems to work. There a heaps of eateries, cafes, creperies,  etc along the main drag and they are all open so must be a popular holiday destination and if this is how it is at this time of the year then god help what the summer is like. WEe eat a local salad and kebaby thing at a café which is cheap and really fills us up (we get far more than expected). We head back to the van luckily the parked car is not quite behind us so we can get out. We get to the port and find the entrance and try to work out where to go even though we know we have to end up at gate 12. A security guy lets us know which line to get into behind the trucks but then makes us go around the gate and stops us for a customs- police check. We are quite surprised as it is late but they make us open the van up and the storage area. While I am unloading all our crap out of the storage area we have to haul things out of the van as well. Vicki talks to the security guy who seems nice and chats with us. Apparently they are looking for drugs as Greece is a popular conduit for heroin, hash and dope from the Middle East, Ukraine , Russia and whereabouts. The other guy is not as friendly and acts like we are guilty as hell and starts pulling everything out of drawers, Cupboards, under the bed etc. He starts to try to pull our roof apart as, because of previous damp problems, looks a bit loose and Vicki says “Hey mate don’t destroy our roof it is only damp damage” but he just tells her to get out but thankfully moves on. I have to move all our stuff out of the storage area and I am trying to help but doesn’t want it preferring to just throw stuff everywhere. Prick and so OTT!!.

He finds some of our prescription drugs and starts quizzing us as if a packet of my Viagra makes me a drug addict and Vicki’s Panadeine with codeine in it a junkie. He gets over someone maybe a doctor who says nah just paracetamol so no problem. Good thing they didn’t find our other pill stash but shows how stupid the whole exercise is cos if I was bringing in stuff it wouldn’t be anywhere they looked (Maybe with the shit & piss in the toilet cartridge?? Or inside the spare wheel.) However they did say they caught a couple with a baby that had kgs of dope so it does happen. If I was carrying quantities I think would be travelling by road not risking a customs search. After half our stuff was everywhere the nicer guy did say they had a dog so I mentioned we would have preferred the dog sniffing out the van instead of the mess but no go. Then he says they do so many of these that they can usually spot the guilty ones after a few minutes talking to them and we didn’t fit the bill so go figure. I realise they are only doing their job but would be happier if they were searching for bombs or terrorists which does affect us or maybe they have a quota they have to search regardless. Anyway after an hour of searching we start putting things back and it takes us a while to restore the van as things can only go where they go as we have good system of storage. It is only later we see the foot prints on toilet and the face off the heater. The funny part was when they had a moment of panic when they saw all our runners under the bed and thought it was refugees hiding there! Anyway all good in the end we thanked them for their vigilance and parked up to wait for the ferry which we knew would be a while.

It started to get cold and we didn’t want to sleep so sat and read. At least we had gas for a cuppa. A ferry came in which we thought was ours but not to be and ours didn’t come in till 4am. Prior to this I went for a walk to get the stiffness out and noticed the cars had Trieste destination cards on their dashes and freaked that we were in the wrong lane and went running back to Vicki saying we must be on the other ferry as they were loading but then saw other cars with Ancona so stopped panicking. Anyway we board the ferry at last and luckily get to hook up the power to the van to our batteries and take our bags, pillows and blankets to our cabin which turns out to be the same as our previous one with noisy aircon but comfy and we are worn out so crash till lunch which was leftover greek salad from the café last nite so saved some $$.

We sat around and read , had a couple of drinks (wine snuck up from our room) and disembarked into Ancona around 6pm. We were going to find somewhere close but we had contingency plans and had sussed out camperstops at various distances from the city. I was driving and felt fresh so we decided to hit the highway and see how far we could get. We went left following a truck instead of right where the cop was directing  – whoops- never mind too late now and we are following our bibles direction so keep following the trucks as surely he is going where want to go. We get on the highway across the country and end up at a camper stop after a couple of hours in a cool place which is a popular caving tourist destination (pretty & colourful at nite with all the xmas decorations up) so we find the stop but it is a little bit out of town and deserted so head back to town and find a hotel car park that looks secure and park up for the nite. All is quiet that nite so we sleep quite well, have brekky then head off at 9.30am and it shows -1c so must have been -3c overnite. It is well worth making the effort to get away from the port last nite as the extra kms under the belt are gold and always makes the following days travels easier and less stressful.

The countryside across to Civitevechia is nice and varied and the villages even from the parts of the highway we are on are interesting, but then after Greece any countryside would be. There are villages nestled into the hills with castles and churches and our previous negative image of northern Italy is soon forgotten but we are reminded when we pass a bigger city and the smog and pollution is more obvious. We get to the port of Civitevechia and get a glimpse of the port which in the past was an important Roman bastion and you can still see some of the original walls as well as the relatively newer fort. We check out the ticket office that doesn’t open till 4.30 so have our again late lunch then head into town which is short walk. It is a very pretty town/city and we are glad we have an hour or 2 to look around. The walls are awesome and some great history with the large seaside promenade very popular with great outlooks over the marina, beaches and walkways. We walk up the promenade and back and then into the closer part of town and window shop while being serenaded by piped xmas music which reminds us that chrissy is just around the corner. We go to book with Grimaldi Line on the phone but for some reason it is 100euro more expensive than online even though the salesman says no way can that be the case. So we hang up saying we will get back if we have no joy. Online we get a junior suite with a window to see the sea and TV as well as king size bed at the much cheaper price so pays to shop around. We head back to the van and again have the wait to board the ferry. Even though we were delayed we are only a day behind our original time frame to get to Torrevechia so are happy to board around 8.30pm and departed around 10.30. Overall our estimation of Italy has risen from when we first saw earlier on the toll road past Milan and Turin and maybe a visit may happen one day.

As we sort ourselves out on the ship unfortunately I (Vicki) start to get severe pain in my side which reminds me of Switzerland.  I wont go into the whole gory details but this lasts the entire time on the ship and beyond which really spoils it for both of us.  I have some very strong pain killers which I have to take just to be able to manage a walk up to the café for the meals we ordered and paid for online.  I have no idea what is going on and at one stage I had the ships doctor give me an injection to help ease the pain.  Anyway the cabin was cool having a double bed, tv and a porthole to look out of.  It doesn’t really matter having a window but at least during the day if you are lying in your room you can let the daylight in and get an idea of what the time is. The time really passes slowly with what is happening, but Scot enjoys being able to watch some sport and news on tv whilst we wait to arrive in Spain.

We are early getting into port which is a bonus.  Rob and Sue leave in a days time so if we get ourselves halfway down to Torreveija (prounounced Torrebe ecka) we may see them before they leave. So off the ship we drive and then try to find our way out.  I tell Scot just to follow the truck in front which is what we normally do as that always seems to at least get you out of the port and onto a highway.  So off following this truck and on the map it is really difficult to figure out how to get out as the port is so huge.  It takes about 20 minutes of driving roads, roundabouts etc before we finally manage to reach the highway going south, so we are on our way.  Scot is ok to drive for a while so we get a couple of hundred kms down the road before we figure it is a good idea to find somewhere to stop.  We had flagged a couple of areas and we look for a campground or car park to park for the night.  This area is a bit different from others we have stayed and the narrow roads have no space to pull over on the side and even camps that are closed the gates are on the edge of the road so that is a no go.  We find a camp that has one gate still open but it looks like everyone is inside having a big party.  Scot parks in the middle of the road with hazards on and I go in to see if we can come in.  Finding no one really to talk to I find I can open the other gate so Scot drives in and eventually someone comes and we agree to just park out in the front car park for the night as this place is chokka block.  The party is a Christmas party with oldies having a ball dancing etc but we are both tired from a sleepless night that we don’t even notice the festivities and sleep.

We are up and gone the next morning – what a cheap campsite 7euro for the night, god we love Spain already!  We head out earlyish as we want to get down to Torrevieja as soon as possible.  We finally get to see some of the countryside we travelled past last night in the dark.  It is interesting with rather cool buildings in the towns we pass.  The countryside must be ok to grow a lot of stuff as Spain has a huge market share shipping veges and fruit all over Europe.  We make great time on the highway and get to Torrevieja about mid afternoon.  We easily find Rob ad Sues apartment they are staying in and knock on the door.  They are surprised we arrived at all as it was over 500kms down from Barcelona.  We had a great chat and Rob showed us some great freedom camping sites along the water front at Torrevieja before we headed back to their apartment and went out for an early dinner.  A lovely meal and very cheap.  They gave us free starters and a free baileys for the ladies and a liquor for the gents.  We had the van parked up in the side street so slept there for the night and met them for an early coffee before they departed for the airport.  We then made breakfast and drove off into the town to have a look around.

It is Sunday today, the 20th and we found an open supermarket.  We have fallen in love is all I can say.  The veges are so cheap and a great variety and fresh.  The other food is cheap and the amazing variety of brands etc is awesome.  We haven’t had it this good since Netherlands I think.  The alcohol is also great and cheap much to Scots delight.  We stock up on a few things and then head off to the campsite we need to check out.  It is at La Marina and about 20kms up the road.  It is a 5 star campsite and has a huge outside pool complex, a gym, indoor pool, huge spa with great water jets and bubble beds, steam room, sauna, Turkish bath, citris pool and cold plunge pool.  There are heaps of campers here and there are few sites left.  We think we had better choose a place today as the ones left will not last long at all.  So we walk around and pick a spot that we think will have a bit of sun and be relatively quiet.  We book that in and leave to go back to Torreveija for the night to freedom camp.  We park up on a spot that Rob had shown us yesterday where there are about 8 other campervans along with locals fishing off the rocks.  It is a lovely spot in the sun close to the town.

We meet a lovely couple in the GB van we are parked alongside and Nina and Bill come from Isle of Wight, although Nina is originally from Slovakia and co-incidentally from a little town of Piestany that we stayed in and had the folk night in the pub with a brewery.  Such a small world considering we didn’t stay at very many places in Slovakia.  We get on well and end up having drinks in their van until it is dinner time.  We don’t leave our van to go for a walk here as one couple said they were broken into a couple of nights before but luckily they have an alarm that sends a signal to their phone so nothing was taken.