On to Budapest!

Our ferry to Athens left at 11:00pm and we had booked a four-berth cabin for the overnight trip. As usual, Geoff slept all the way and did not notice the big swell on the open sea (as reported to him by Deb the next morning). Alex, as per form, loved the ferry trip and enjoyed the exciting and new experience of the cabin. On arrival in Piraeus at 6:30 the next morning, we caught the x96 to the airport (E. Venizelos) where we spent the day wandering about waiting for our Malev flight to Budapest that afternoon.

Malev airlines were very pleasant, with most of the passengers seeming to be students making their way home after a trip to Greece, with many tearful farewells at Ferihegy airport. After retrieving our bags, we got in line for the very organised (so it seemed) taxi booking process where lined up at a kiosk an got a ticket which we would then use to get the correct cab for the correct fare to the correct destination. Well, at the least the destination and fare was correct. Our taxi driver described this process as "a misery", but he proved far from it and proved quite entertaining as we looked up the directions for how to get to our apartment on Ulazlo utca. On arrival, we weren't sure of the building since it looked quite drab and run down from the outside (chez eastern bloc), but our host, Dorka was waiting and we made our way up the shaky lift to the 7th floor to our "Design Apartment". We were pleasantly surprised at the modern and fully renovated top floor flat, roomy and completely renovated with a terrace! And with high speed wi-fi, just doesn't get any better than that.

Budapest was the antithesis of Greece - cold, rainy and well, not Greece. But frankly, we welcomed the new look and feel, and felt quite at home in our new digs.

Crete

We have been in Crete now for 10 days and tomorrow we head to Athens to catch a plane to Hungary for the next leg of our "Grand Tour".

I think we have used this time for lazy days by the pool and to contemplate the last 2 months and our time in Greece. We have had some interesting food experiences and near misses whilst here. While at Sfakaki, we headed up to the mountains for sight seeing and bit of lunch. The environment in the mountains was in stark contrast to the warmer coast, with cool air and breath-taking mountain views. We pulled into a little Taverna which had advertised itself shamelessly along the roads near Amari, where it seemed the dish of the day was something our host referred to as "lambs stomach stew" (through means of much sign language, since our Greek did not extend much beyond "Yassus"). After a tour of the kitchen and seeing the afore-mentioned stew with our own eyes, we decided to decline and went for the zuchinni keftedes which we noticed were being prepared in the plastic wash bowl next to the stew. These turned out to be wonderful and we left with fond memories of that place. Although I'm not so sure the brave souls who had already ordered the lambs stomach felt the same way.

Our final leg in Crete was spent in Chania at Lefka apartments. I would recommend these, very comfortable, modern with a nice pool and bar area, and welcoming and friendly hosts to match - Andreas and Anna. On Andreas' recommendation, we took a drive up into the mountains, through a lovely gorge until we reach Theriso where we would find a Taverna that would serve us smoked pork, lamb chops and staka (a goat's milk concoction).

Where are we going to stay now we are in Crete?

Alkionis

Our accommodation plans for Crete had not been entirely successful. We were booked into Lefka apartments from the 23rd, but had nowhere to stay until then. So the plan became: set out from Iraklio and see what we could find. The first place that looked appealing was Bali Beach (not that one, the other one), set in a picturesque bay with beautiful water and peaceful outlook. We stopped for lunch and were pleasantly surprised at the high quality of the greek menu (food that is, not the menu itself). Given the prices, this made it arguably the best value we had had in Greece.

There were a couple of hotels with rooms all with a balcony view of the bay, but sadly no vacancies. So we headed onward to Sfekaki where we looked for Alkionis apartments, which we had researched on the net. Finding places in Greece is not so easy (see earlier blog), but we always seem to follow our nose and stumble upon the very place we are looking for. This was the case with Alkionis which we spotted from the highway as we flew by. At 55 euros a night, they were pretty good value, although not as clean as most places, it was roomy and had a great view of the ocean.

On the down side, the beach was not clean either, with the sand and water having lots of sticks and other debri; and the beds (OMG); the beds were small and had bedboards which squeaked so much we were afraid to move, and so getting a good night's sleep was a challenge.

Upgrade me

Early start this morning to catch the ferry Preveli (ANEK Lines) to Crete leaving at 5:00 am. We are now more experienced at packing our bags and carrying them on and off ferries and quickly found seats in the economy lounge at the rear of the boat on deck 6. You can get coffees and snacks in the lounge and we settled in with a coffee, coke and toasted ham sandwiches. But not satisfied with the seats we had, we went looking to upgrade so moved to a window seat and then again to a smaller lounge near the dining room to take advantage of the power plug we found there - which meant we could use the computer, surf the net and recharge iPhones and iPods (very important).

It was a particularly long trip from Rhodes to Iraklio in Crete, stopping at Karpathos, Kassos and Sitia port in Crete, with each stop taking about 45 minutes to unload and load passengers, trucks and cars. All up, the trip took about 11 hours and we arrived in Iraklio around 6:00pm. We were pumped and ready to walk to the hotel we had booked and had backpacks on and were ready to roll. Once on dry land however, we took the first available taxi for the 400 metre trip to the hotel.

Iraklio Port

The Lato Boutique hotel in Iraklio looked pretty nice and we found we had been upgraded to their suite with a sea view (whoo hoo!) overlooking the port. Very nice, with Alex having his own room with surround windows and and balcony access. The bed was kingsize, and a real one at that - not two singles pushed together. Oh happy day. We were pretty tired and so after freshening up, went up to the terrace and enjoyed some of the better greek food we had experienced, along with a local rose.

Next morning, picked up our rental car for use while on Crete and found we had been upgraded once again. Instead of the Peugeot 207, we were given a 308, so more room, more power and better A/C.

All Rhodes lead to ...

Today we left Kos and travelled to Rhodes by catamaran (Dodecanese seaways). We had checked out at 10:00am, but the "cat" was not scheduled to leave until 4:30, so we spent the day sitting around the hotel playing pool and sitting in a cafe sipping "frappes". These are a cold coffee drink made with powdered coffee, water, evaporated milk and sugar. Pretty nice, but somewhat risky if you have been avoiding tap water for most of the trip.

Rhodes Harbour

The short trip (2 hours) to Rhodes was welcome since it had been a long day and we enjoyed relaxing in the "airplane" seats. When we arrived, we ran the gauntlet of offers for hotels and made our way through the Marina Gate in the fortified wall of the old town to have a beer, and decide on how to get to our hotel (The Angela Suites and Lobby); which, technically was not booked because we had not received a reply from them. After a couple of phone calls, we confirmed the booking and grabbed a taxi. It's funny how hotels look so much better on the web site than they do in real life. This one did not impress at first, austere, showing its age and the rooms not really clean. And, true to form, we were escorted to our apartment at the back of the hotel, furthest from the lobby where no WiFi signal could be detected. But, look beneath the surface, and we discovered that the rooms have cabled broadband, so we could hook up our little Netcomm travel router and serve up our own WiFi. So iPods and iPhones are go. Also, our hosts were very friendly, and helpful, and offered free coffee and cake each morning for breakfast.

That night, we also discovered the hotel was close to the beach (not as close as the web site claims), and close to a thriving restaurant precinct. We decided on Indian, "Om" (yes as in the chant) and I have to say the restaurant was first-class. They also served varieties of tea and serverd beer from a Greek micro brewery ("Craft").

Buggies of Death

Today we hired two beach buggies ("Bug Riders" - 250cc), with the plan being to do some sightseeing and find a nice beach. I have to say, these are not really road-worthy over 5km/hr, and pretty scary on the bumpy edges of main roads with cars whizzing by (who needs helmets, or seat belts for that matter). But, intrepid as ever, we headed out of town to the Asclepion (everywhere has one it seems), and then to Tigaki to have lunch and swim at a sandy beach. The restaurant was pretty good (Ifestos), and well located on the road running by the beach which was well serviced by boardwalks, banana lounges and umbrellas. Found a nice place for a swim and the water was quite warm, but a bit dirty from sand. The wind was strong, and there were some waves, and we could see Turkey in the distance.

The Port of Kos

Kos and Fortress

The ferry trip from Samos was very pleasant (Blue Star, The Diagorus), and Alex was in an exceptionally happy mood - in spite of suffering from a head cold for two days. The ferry had WiFi and so we were well set to pass the time with iPods, Laptops etc. Arrived at Kos port around 5:30pm, donned backpacks and promptly set out for the Imperial Hotel, the location of which we had scoped out previously. What we didn't reckon on was that the ferry deposited us at another dock than we had anticipated and we found ourselves having to navigate from the other side of the harbour before we got back on track towards the hotel. The extra distance, combined with the weight of the packs, took its toll by the time we reached the hotel. But luckily, Kos seems to be a much flatter island than Samos, so we didn't have to cope with steep climbs. We quickly took possession of our apartment and then the pool and our aches floated away with us in the water.

That night, we explored the town looking for a place to have dinner and discovered what we suspect is the only Chinese Restaurant in the Greek islands. Always a little wary of cravings for food we had missed while travelling, we hoped it wasn't going to be spaghetti substituting for noodles, but the food was excellent.

Kos is more of a tourist town/island than Samos, with a bustling port full of tavernas, tourists (mostly from Germany it seemed) and many boats offering day trips to Bodrum in Turkey which we could see off in the distance across the sea from Kos port.

E-Ship 1

The port is dominated by the remains of the old city wall and fortress constructed by the Knights of Saint John and the next day we struck out for a tour. Before setting off, we had lunch at the Fikos Taverna, so named because of the huge fig tree under which it sat. It was there we noticed a strange looking ship in the harbour - the E-Ship 1, which we recognised as a wind turbine vessel with rotorsails to increase efficiency. A quick check on the web revealed the ship was constructed in Germany and had its maiden voyage in August this year.  It was delivering components for the construction of wind turbines in the Greek islands. We had seen many of these on Samos and Chios and also in Turkey and many of the islands we had passed along the way.

Off to Kos

Today is our last day in Samos we leave by ferry tomorrow for Kos. We are planning on staying there for four days and then jumping another ferry to Rodos (Rhodes). Stay there for a few days and then head for Crete. We are planning on staying just outside Chania for about 9 days (need to get some Eurail tickets delivered).

Chania

Ferry hopping is very easy here in the Greek Islands. Things are pretty close together once you are out amongst them. The trip back to Athens from Crete is an overnight one (a bit longer - we'll get a cabin to sleep in).
Alex has been counting down the days to Kos since we picked up the tickets about 10 days ago. He'll want to know what to count down to next once we get there.

African Agenda

Just finished making all the arrangements for our trip to Africa. Thankful we had the internet, how else could it have been done? This leg of the odyssey is looking very exciting and we thank Vanessa at go2africa for all her advice and help. Just don't ask how much this cost...

19Oct - 2Nov Nairobi, Kenya

A 6-day safari arranged in Amboseli and Masai Mara national parks. The safari details are here. Staying at the Fairview Hotel whilst in Nairobi and haven't worked out yet what else we will do - the national museum here holds all the original fossils for early human ancestors mentioned specifically in Richard Dawkins book we both just read.

2Nov- 19Nov Windhoek, Namibia (via Johannesburg)

Self-drive itinerary planned and booked in a Nissan Navara (of all things) most roads are gravel but good quality (go figure)

This tour includes famous stopovers like the Waterberg Plateau and Etosha national parks. Other strangely named places like: Swakopmund, Damaraland and the famous Sossusvlei dunes. 

19Nov- 27Nov Okavango Delta, Botswana

There are several small charter flights here (which Geoff is less than happy about)

Small but commercial flight (Air Namibia) from Windhoek to Maun then a charter flight to the Central Kalahari Desert and a place called Nxai Pan. It appears all the lodges here are all expenses included and very expensive.

Next charter flight via Maun to Xugana Island Lodge for a couple of days then another charter flight to Savute Safari Lodge (they have their own airstrips) both in the Okavango Delta and finally a charter flight to Chobe national park.

27Nov- 30Nov Livingstone, Zambia

Apparently we can get a lift to the border crossing and a visa should be no problem (yeh right). We get to see Victoria Falls from the Zambian side because the other side is Zimbabwe and we won't go there on the advice of the Australian Government. Stanley Safari Lodge in an open cottage looks very plush to me. Although all the other accommodation looks just as open and just as good - see the list below if you are interested.

30Nov- 1Dec Johannesburg, South Africa

Back to JoBurg for a little rest before our flight back to Australia.

All this sounds pretty good to us. We are getting excited and we still have 3 weeks in Greece and 3 weeks in Europe (still to plan) before we get there!

Accommodation in Africa - these places are amazing and varied:

    Kenya

Porini Camp and Kicheche Bush Camp

    Namibia

Waterberg Camp, Anderssons Camp, Palmwag Lodge, Camp Kipwe,
Cape Cross Lodge, The Stiltz, Kulala Desert Lodge, Olive Grove

    Botswana

Nxai Pan, Xugana Island Lodge, Savute Safari Lodge

Chobe Game Lodge

    Zambia

Stanley Safari Lodge