What the hell is Keian doing in Patras?!

The cruise ship to Patras was not as luxurious as our previous cruise ship but it still came fully equipped with a bar and pool. The only two things that really matte on a cruise ship I think. Our sleeping quarters made us feel like we on the Titanic in the low class quarters. We were on the deck in our sleeping bags with a few other people just hanging out in the open with everyone else. We were a little nervous to leave our stuff unattended right away but we got over that real quick. We didn’t like to wait around while others in our group were out walking around.

The best part about this cruise wad the old men that we got to watch in the bar late that night. They were Greek natives in there fifties doing a traditional Greek dance in the middle of the disco tech. The Greek kids were kind of annoyed at the situation but Linds and I loved every second of it. Also, we couldn’t believe how young the kids on the dance floor were. They must have been in there early teens, like 13-15. It was bizarre. It made me feel really old for my age. Thank goodness for the elderly gentlemen doing the heel slap dance. We didn’t hang around for too long. We went to our deck to get some sleep on the cold hard steel mattress we had. 

The ship hit up a few spots before Patras. I’m not sure why we chose Patras for our stop but we did. Most people got off the boat at Corfu. From the boat, it seemed like an amazing place to be. We decided to ride it out though and get to Patras. Upon our arrival we were stoked. I had heard so many good things about Greece that it was hard not to be excited. We loaded our packs into the lockers at the ticket office building and met a couple of Canadians while getting our day packs together. They were wondering what the heck we were doing in Patras instead other heading to Santorini r Athens or something like that. This gave us an idea of what Patras was going to be like. To sum up things in a few sentences, we left the docks and headed off to find a hostel. Well, Brandon and I wanted to stay at a hostel and Lindsey and Ramsey just wanted to sleep on the ground somewhere. We said screw that and Brandon and myself found a hostel and unloaded our stuff. We then got some food at a fast food kebab joint and hit up the internet café for a few hours. Brandon and I went back to the hostel and fell asleep watching Roxanne with Steve Martin. I had never seen it before. I’ll have to finish it sometime.

We were woken up by Lindsey and Ramsey who were both real tired from sleeping out on the docks where the ferry had dropped us off. They took over our beds in a hurry but didn’t make it too far since we had to get checked out right away. We decided that Patras just wasn’t the place we wanted to be so we got a train to Athens. While waiting at the station to get on our train Linds saw a guy we had met in Barcelona, Keian. We couldn’t believe it! He had taken a ferry over as well and was heading to Athens as well. He caught the train before we did so we couldn’t catch a ride with him. No matter. I was just happy to be getting out of Patras.

When we arrived to Athens, it was dark outside and we had no clue where to go. Once again, Linds and Ramsey wanted to crash somewhere outside and Brandon and I was not having it. There is a big difference between camping and being homeless. Although I have had my homeless moments I did not want to be a bum on this certain occasion. Once again, Brandon and I found a hostel o crash in. The coolest part about arriving in Athens was that they were having a celebration for the opening of the new Acropolis museum which included all sorts of light shows and music going on around the city near Acropolis hill. The acropolis hill itself was amazing! It was beautiful the way they had it lit up.

In the one day we had in Athens I saw the Acropolis and the ancient Agora with Ramsey and Brandon while Lindsey went and found a hostel. I split up from the group for the day to do my own thing and ended meeting up with Hillary, a girl that I met when we ran into Keian at the train station. She had come to Greece on the same ferry as Keian. She was coincidentally staying at the same hostel as Brandon and I. She told me that she only had the one night and was leaving the next day to see the Greek Aisles. She and I went for a stroll through the city and ate some lovely Greek food. I got to try moussaka for the first time. I was please although she swore that it wasn’t the “real deal”. Afterwards, we were presented with an amazing sunset on acropolis hill. There were a few other people around as well to witness the wonderful sky colors. When I got back to the hostel I played guitar with a couple of Aussie girls who were in mine and Brandon’s room, had a few drinks with some other Americans and then went to bed.

We checked out the following morning and headed to the train station to get back to Patras to catch our ferry out. We decided that Sicily was a must see and jumped ferry abroad. Back at sea once again.