Day 37 – Paris, London

Arriving in to Bercy station 40 minutes late, time is short to cross Paris in time for the 1113 Eurostar service to London. We walk to Gare de Lyon, travel two stops along RER Line D to Gare du Nord, and make check-in with not much time to spare. We buy some coffee and before we have drunk it the boarding call is made.

The train is on time, we are soon back in Blighty, and at 1229 we reach the end of the line, and the Study Tour. Now the hard work of preparing the research paper and a presentation to the CIBSE Council begins…

Day 36 – Bologna

Today is at leisure before the final push for home. Bologna may not enjoy the reputation of Rome, Venice or Siena but it is a lovely city in which to spend a relaxing day. It is famed for its extensive arcades, 45 km long in total.

 

   

 

At 2150 we collect our backpacks and walk to the station in good time for the 2231 sleeper train to Paris.

Day 35 – Bari, Bologna

We disembark at 1023, rather later than the published 0900 arrival. There’s no passport check or other formalities of any kind. It’s not exactly a pedestrian-friendly exit from the port but we’re soon meandering through the pleasant old town, past the castle and up towards the station.

 

We hunt in vain for a cafe with outdoor seating and wi-fi but at least the coffee is predictably good. Before too long it’s time to head to the station for the 1258 departure to Bologna.

 

The train is fast, modern and spacious and quiet until we reach Ancona. We arrive in Bologna on time at 1094, walk in to our hotel, and go for dinner.

Day 34 – Athens, Patras

Another replacement bus service to look forward to, this time between Kiato and Patras, where it appears the narrow gauge railway is being replaced with standard gauge.

Yesterday we bought our tickets and booked our seats on the 0806 service from Athens Larisis. The trains speeds towards Kiato on the standard gauge track completed in 2006, crossing the impressively deep and narrow Corinth canal too quickly to take a photo.

The switch to road transport is uneventful and we head west along the coast where perhaps the most notable sight is the Rion-Antirion bridge that crosses the Corinth strait, connecting Peloponnese with mainland Greece. Completed for the 2004 Olympic games it is the longest cable stayed bridge in the world with a continuous deck of 2,250 m, longer than the Golden Gate bridge (1,966 m).

Shortly afterwards we arrive in to Patras, a little late. We have been told it holds little interest for the traveller, and since I have blogging to catch up with, we settle in to the cafe between the station and Gate 3, from where the ferry to Bari departs.

We board at 1530 for the 1730 departure. It feels like the holiday season is over, with few passengers, mainly long-distance lorry drivers.

Day 33 – Athens

After spending the morning online in a cafe near the hotel we explore the Acropolis. The ongoing restoration work detract somewhat from it as an archaeological site but the ascent is impressive and the views far and wide.

The ancient Greeks considerable contribution to water engineering included inventing the Archimedes screw to lift water and aqueducts to move it, later superseded by pipework following the terrain of the land and relying on the siphon principle, discovered by the world’s first hydraulic engineer, the aptly named Hero.

 

 

Day 32 – Patmos, Pireaus, Athens

We welcome in the new day in a bar in Skala. At 0130 we head around to the port and join several hundred people and a few dozen cars queuing for the ferry.

At 0235 a bright light on the horizon prompts some murmuring. Even as it grows nearer and becomes several lights it looks far too small to be the overnight ferry but just in time it grows in to a large ship and slowly turns through 90° to dock.

It docks at 0245 and we board to discover bodies everywhere. There are no cabins available so we need to choose a patch of floor. Deciding the space near the entrance where tickets are being checked would become vacated once everyone had boarded, we hang around for a while and though someone else has the same idea we get a decent spot in which to manage 5-6 hours of bad sleep under the fluorescent glare.

Arriving two hours late we find that there’s no metro from Pireaus due to engineering works. We follow some other disorientated tourists rather than the non-existent signs and find the replacement buses a couple of hundred metres along the other side of the main road, discreetly tucked away in a side street. We leave soon after boarding and arrive at Faliro station, where we can complete our journey to central Athens.

We are staying in the pleasant Plaka district, which has a relaxed and sociable if touristy atmosphere. We spend the afternoon wandering the locale, returning to watch the sunset from the hotel’s roof garden before heading out for refreshment.

Day 31 – Patmos

Patmos suffers from water shortage and relies on imports from the mainland and other islands. Whilst the focus needs to be on managing as well as meeting demand, the island may in the not-too-distant future benefit from zero-carbon desalination. A floating, autonomous desalination unit, powered solely by wind energy is being trialled by a start-up company that emerged from a research project at a Greek university and is now seeking partners for “scaling up” and commercial deployment of the technology.

Being the weekend research opportunities are a little limited, so we swap bikes for a moped and explore north part of the island, returning to Grikos late in the afternoon to collect our belongings. We spend the evening in Skala, blogging on the beach, followed by dinner and drinks, all the while watching the clock slowly tick towards 0155.

Day 30 – Rhodes, Patmos

The Dodecanese Express hydrofoil departs Rhodes on time at 0830, calling at Symi, Kos, Kalymnos, Leros, Lipsi en route to its final destination Patmos, where we plan to stay for two days.

We arrive on time at 1340 and are met by our hosts from the Grikos Hotel, who take our bags while we set about trying to organise leaving the island. Unable to book the Blue Star ferry before arriving in Greece and advised by a Rhodes travel agent that it was full, we are anxious to secure our route home.

A helpful travel agent with excellent English confirms that it is full, mainly with Athenians returning from their summer holidays. It is particularly busy this year due to a reduction in the number of ferries each week.

There is an alternative, leaving at 0155 on Sunday morning. Perhaps the timetabling was inspired by Syrian rail travel. However it is also full, though our chances are rated at 50/50. We can be added to the “waiting list” but will not be contacted, so need to regularly pop in to the travel agency to see whether space has become available. Not exactly how we wish to spend our time but the alternative is to turn up for the Blue Star and cry, which sometimes works apparently.

We have lunch and consider more radical exit routes via Kos or Samos, possibly involving the heresy of flying. Returning to the travel agent to explore these options further we are delighted to discover two places on the 0155 ferry have just become available.

Able to relax again we hire bikes and explore the south part of the island.

 

Day 29 – Marmaris, Rhodes

In the morning we take the opportunity to catch up with blogging and email. Later we walk around to the marina and have lunch, which is the best meal we have had for a long time.

Attempting to locate the port in the absence of any signage we take a wrong turn and end up slightly late for check-in at 1500. Not that it matters, as we sit and wait in covered, external seating area for the ticket office to open at 1530. Once we have our boarding pass we wait until 1550 for security and immigration to open. We are then held in the duty free shop (which has no seating) for 40 minutes before eventually boarding. There is no explanation for the 55 minutes delay but a local tells me this is fairly typical.

Fortunately the crossing is only an hour, as we are cooped up in a strange, small boat without much view through the mean, heavily tinted, salt-encrusted portholes. Moreover Turkish transport entertainment plumbs new depths, with the Showgirl Kylie broadcast fortunately barely audible over the labouring engine.

We get a little lost hunting for our accommodation but it’s a good introduction compact, historic Rhodes Town. It’s a little quieter than we envisaged but there’s a relaxed vibe and we enjoy another good meal.

Day 28 – Büyükkonuk, Kyrenia, Alanya, Antalya, Marmaris

Today is the weak link in our meticulous itinerary. We need to arrive at Marmaris port by 1500 tomorrow for the ferry to Rhodes. We were unable to book the coach travel across southwest Turkey online and, since we were therefore unsure how far we would get, we didn’t book any accommodation either.

After enjoying another tasty breakfast at Lois and Ismail’s we are a little late departing Büyükkonuk but we arrive in Kyrenia in plenty of time for the ferry. We can return the hire car by leaving it at the port, unlocked with the key under the rubber mat in driver’s footwell, a common practice in these parts apparently.

Having collected the tickets and paid the port tax we wait in the departure lounge for a while and then pass through security, pay another mystery tax, and have our passports inspected. The catamaran departs on time and though the sea appears calm it’s a bouncy crossing and we arrive an hour late.

 

After a quick trip to a cashpoint we take a taxi to the otogar, where we establish that the only bus going to Antalya leaves in eight minutes. We buy tickets and provisions and the smart Mercedes coach departs on time. We are forced to endure more Turkish television, some kind of Jurassic Park spoof this time it seems.

The reason the 130 km journey is scheduled to take two hours soon becomes apparent as we crawl along the free-flowing dual carriageways, the driver repeatedly hooting to announce his presence and collecting passengers at random locations en route.

Shortly after 1730 the coach arrives at the impressive Antalya bus station. There’s an information point with friendly and apparently impartial advice. We are shown which sales desk to go to, where we discover we are in luck: there’s a coach at 1830 going all the way through to Marmaris, albeit not arriving until 0030. We have time to buy provisions and to book a hotel online.

It’s another well-appointed Mercedes coach, complete with free wi-fi. We climb slowly out of Antalya in to a spectacular mountain landscape. The shadows gradually lengthen and it falls dark. I fatefully remark on the lack of television. At a 25 minute refreshment break we enjoy the 17 °C mountain air, the coolest we have experienced since leaving the UK.

After a brief stop in Fethiye we continue to Marmaris, arriving early. We take a taxi to the hotel. The driver is the nicest so far, speaking good English and being very helpful. He asks what we’re up to and, just when we are expecting an offer to collect us and take us to the port tomorrow, he tells us we can easily hail one in the street outside the hotel or better still just walk, and he explains the back route through the marina.

We weren’t expecting to make it all the way through to Marmaris, so we’re very pleased at the prospect of a relaxing day tomorrow. The only downside has been passing through Anlanya so quickly we miss what is reputed to be the only brewpub in Turkey.