Friday, 19 July 2019

Greece 2019...Athens

Leaving Naxos was a little gut wrenching and we left our amazing apartment on a beautiful sunny morning with our baggage in tow for the short stroll to the ferry along the waterfront. Big hugs and goodbyes from the Little Mix owners did nothing to make us feel any happier but needs must....it had to be done.
At the ferry terminal we met a NZ family, Mum, Dad and two children, from Timaru.....they were highly recognisable to us as they were all towing Kathmandu bags - different sizes of course - just like ours. They were taking a 6month trip through Europe, having permission to take the children out of school, to do this as a family. They had no particular plan in place of where and when just a rough outline of where their travels might take them. Their biggest surprise from this journey was the fact that in a few short weeks their children - one boy, one girl - had become confident, capable and outgoing a complete reversal of the children they were at the start. (Always knew travelling long term was the best kept secret of all time!!!!!)
Being the "experienced" ferry travellers that we were and also remembering, painfully, our previous mistakes we quickly offloaded our baggage to the "Piraeus hold" and made our way to the correct business class lounge (pat on the back please). The trip was a quick five hours to Piraeus Port made equally short by interesting conversation with a couple from Switzerland sitting at the table beside us. Getting off the ferry however was very different and difficult.....hundreds of people with the utmost urgency in their mindset and "it's all about me syndrome" balked any chance we had to getting within even a hair's  breadth of our luggage......would they give an inch?...no, not at all...it was very challenging.
With the masses disgorging on to the pier and spewing out onto the busy, congested streets of Piraeus, somewhere along the line we were spat out of this stew and decided enough was enough for the time being...... we stopped for a roadside beer. The metro was our next challenge to get us to Kalithea so better to wait until the spectacle died down rather than get mixed up in it again. OMG ...if only we had known what was ahead of us!!!!!
The metro was just a short walk from the street bar, buying a ticket was easy as all the crowds had dissipated and a train was just pulling into the station....all good. Got on board and got a seat.....all good. Somewhere along the line a local guy came along and squeezed into the seat behind me but, as I had no legroom because the man opposite me was man-spreading and lounging in his seat, I was forced to sit sideways in my seat with my backpack on my back. The man squeezed in beside me, said nothing and was quite happy but, the spreading man opposite in a loud voice really told me off!!!!! Let me say here that there is absolutely no etiquette or chivalry or awareness of others in Greece in the majority. Men, both young and old, will push past children and females in order to get a seat. People will not allow passengers off a train before they surge forward to get on - and here was this space-taking guy yelling at me about my small backpack!!!!!!! It wasn't long before we needed to get off so standing was my preference......which takes us to the next event.
Our station arrived and we both tried to get off with our luggage but nobody would move to let us through, people were getting on the train as well which meant there were two barriers to break. (These trains are all automated by the way so there is limited time). Eventually after really pushing, shoving and being pretty rude I managed to successfully get off onto the platform with Gary not too far behind but......with a rythmical beep and a loud swoosh the doors started to close. Gary shot out onto the platform but his pull along was clamped in the doors jaws like a vice!!!! Gary is on the platform pulling and tugging, a couple of women inside are trying to physically open the doors and all I can see is the train heading off into the tunnel with Gary's suitcase half in and half out of the train.....that's just as long as Gary let go of the handle or he would be accompanying it!!!!! However, with another swoosh the doors did reopen for a second attempt at Gary's bag but, with quick wit, he successfully pulled it onto the platform. We both looked at each other and thought....if the bag had been a person what then??
Moving on from this drama we trundled along the streets of Kalithea to our next accommodation.....a penthouse apartment overlooking the Parthenon.......don't even utter a word!!!!!!
Our very lovely male host Mike met us and showed us around the apartment which was very nice too but had seen better days in places. It was comfortable but provided nothing but space, furniture and bedding and a few toiletries left over from prior airb&b stays. Things that no traveller wants to buy at each stay such as washing up liquid, toilet paper, dish washing powder if a dishwasher is provided and washing powder if a washing machine is provided, just to be left behind half used should, I am sure, be provided. Also Airb&b - does that not indicate bed and breakfast? This apartment was devoid of anything like that, not even a change of bedding and we were there for 10 days.
Walking onto the balcony to see the fait du complete, the Parthenon, was a "slight" disappointment too as it quite obviously had been taken with a very large telephoto lens!!!!!
Nothing is ever as it seems and we need to keep telling ourselves this....it's a comfort at least.

Making plans to see as many of the historic sites we could whilst in Athens we first took the hop on hop off bus (the red one) which is good value for money and you pay for one day but get two days.
Athens city is obviously old, is covered in tagging every which way you look and most of its historical sites appear to have been built out!!!!! We didn't actually have high expectations here as the population of Athens alone equals the population of the whole of New Zealand  but given the small amount of history left in this vast city I would have thought they would have wanted to treasure it.......not just rely on the Parthenon to pull tourists!!!!!

I was going to have a day of documenting tagging as, to be honest, some of them are very artistic and clever.....until I saw the above. Part of us understands how the locals feel and understand we may be contributing to the problems of high rents etc.....on the other hand we also understand Greece has huge monetary issues and tourism brings in huge revenue for the country....as long as the operators pay their taxes of course???? Charges to enter any historic place now costs a fortune to be honest and little seems to be being spent on maintaining the historical structures, on the roads and footpaths or cleaning up the City in general.
For example.....The Arch of Hadrian looks wonderful in advertising photos but in reality is nothing like and is situated at the edge of a very busy main road. The area behind is more like a rubbish dump. From here you can view the Temple of Zeus which is supposedly set in a beautiful green landscape which now is just barren wasteland!!!!!
 
 
The Greek stadium in Athens, virtually rebuilt in modern materials for the 2004 Olympic games is very grand but has lost all of its historical value in the rebuild and no longer has the Olympic roof over it.
The Parthenon is absolute pandemonium with huge queues to initially buy tickets and then, once bought, huge queues to get in. To make matters worse it is even harder to get out. We decided to forgo joining the masses and going into the Parthenon instead opting to view the Parthenon from the Odeon of Herodes Atticus - an amphitheatre carved into the Acropolis rock face below the Parthenon - which still holds concerts for up to 5000 people during the Greek summertime. This was a quieter, cooler area, equally historical away from the crowds. We were treated to the sound of a musical rehearsal whilst we cooled off in the shade which was an added bonus.
We climbed the Areopagus - the Hill of Ares- just below the Parthenon and Gary was game enough to climb to the far side to see the view from there. The rock has become very slippery, as has the Parthenon, from the constant tracking of tourists because, of course, it is all marble. This makes any descent quite tricky as several tourists can confirm whilst we were there.
We watched a changing of the guard at Government House which also houses the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I have to admit their march is extremely funny to watch but very well coordinated....no wonder they have bulging quads. I will post a short video....judge for yourselves.....the Ministry of Funny Walks undoubtedly. Their dress has a great deal of history attached to it and is extremely complex....this must be their more day to day uniform as their ceremonial attire is white and much more flamboyant. (Sorry couldn't upload a video and this is the best photo).
The only area of Athens we found nice to wander through was the old area of Athens city called Plaka on the eastern slopes of the Acropolis. The narrow lanes here have preserved their characteristic old Greek flavour similar to Naxos but has been virtually taken over by tourism interests. No locals live here anymore.....unlike Naxos!!!
Athens also has a walking street full of cafes and restaurants where we actually found our favourite Greek  food....Gyros!!!! 2 Gyros plus 2 cans of coke (not something normally drunk but needed because of dehydration) were €6.40/$10.60nz. At the end of walking street the Red Cross were there in force giving out free water and juice because it was so, so hot 39° that day.

In essence Athens consists of: the Parthenon on top of and in the centre of the Acropolis, surrounded at the base by thousands of old and modern multistorey houses with a few historical features dotted around here and there and broken only by the occasional spot of a green park!!!!! The temperature in Athens were in the high 30°C range for most of our time here which in itself was quite debilitating and we found we could only tour the city in the morning or later in the evening.
This was ok as the metro in Athens is very well run - as long as you have no luggage - and easy to follow giving quick, cheap access to anywhere. The trains inside and out are smothered in graffiti and the chance of a seat highly unlikely but we found this way of travel suited us well.....we never felt unsafe.
Frustrated with our inability to be able to watch Wimbledon and knowing the cricket final was looming, we sort out an Aussie sports bar in Athens Gary had seen on Google......named the Athens Sports bar of all things!!!!! This turned out to be a great find and we were welcomed with open arms, recognised each time we turned up and quite spoiled really. Ouzo over ice was €2 and that was our choice of drink in Athens and they just kept them coming. The food was awesome too especially when the people you got to know overordered and asked us to join in!!!!!
The bar was chocka on finals night - some for cricket some for tennis - but seats were given up and offered to us at the bar by young English soccer players/cricket fans who were fascinated by our travels and the fact we came from New Zealand. We watched Wimbledon on one TV and cricket on the other 4 to start with then as the Wimbledon fans increased and the game progressed 2 TVs were devoted to Wimbledon and 3 to cricket.
After Djokovic won Wimbledon all eyes turned to cricket as that was really ramping up. The bar by this time was full of English cricket supporters and just a handful of New Zealand cricket supporters so just let your imagination run riot if you will.....most had been there drinking for at least 8 hours!!!!!
The result now is well known but the noise in that small bar when England were awarded the crown was electrifying. After a few photos with our new found friends...the young soccer lads from Nottingham....we made our escape to the metro and back to our penthouse apartment.....it was technically a penthouse because it was on the top floor but that was it's only claim to fame.
Tomorrow we had a big day ahead as we were flying from Athens to Goa in India.....a 2 day event......and it was way past midnight at that point.

In summary Athens didn't hit the mark for us unfortunately and we probably stayed a little too long but, in saying that, we wouldn't  have had the memorable experience of the Athens sports bar had we not!!!!

Life is just a game of checks and balances after all. Such fun!! X





Saturday, 13 July 2019

Greece 2019...Naxos

Super excited to be going to Naxos we decided to call an Uber taxi the next morning bright and early.... we discovered another young couple in the Lobby going to the same boat....so it was share time!!! 5.50€ between us was worth every cent and we each happily paid up in cash. A day later Gary discovered that Uber had also deducted the cost of the ride from his credit card?????
So anyway we walk into the bowels of the ferry which screams "chaos" every which way you look....Business Class means nothing at this point you get yelled at like everyone else....and suddenly find you are on an escalator in a ferry?...and then another...and then someone yells at you to stow your luggage....Naxos that way...Paros in this pile here!!!! Dutifully we....toe the line again. Paros is the first stop Naxos the second.
(Taken from inside ferry so hazy)
Finding the Business Class Lounge was a trifle difficult but level 6 seemed to be it so we settled into a relatively quiet room with rows of reclining chairs.....surrounded by, of all things, large suitcases!!!! How did they get there when we were yelled at to stow ours in the hold????
We were there for 2 and a half hours sitting quite comfortably, reading, drinking coffee -  although we did mention from time to time that we thought for the extra money there would be a proper lounge - when a party of Asian people approached us saying we were in their seats??? Not 100% believing them we showed them our tickets and said we were in the right seats for Business Class......but this was not Business Class at all and half the journey was spent sitting in Economy. When we finally found the correct lounge it was lovely.
Another two and a half later we disgorged onto Naxos with many, many other people and the welcoming vista was overwhelming in a good way.
Walking along the marina frontage we could pick out our apartment for the next 10 days....."perfectly located" as stated in the advertising blurb. Filippos was very clear on his instructions as to how to gain entry but it did feel a little bit like an intelligence test.....with hidden lock boxes, unique codes and keys all documented with photographic backup. Our apartment was amazing as was Naxos and it's people.
We swam in the sea, walked the ancient alleyways to the Castle at the top of Naxos, sat on our balcony watching the world happening below us, ate gyros, souvalaki and crepes accompanied by delicious Greek wine and watched the sunset from the Temple of Apollo.


 
From our apartment it was 5 minutes walk to the beach in one direction and 5 minutes walk to another swimming area just past the ferry port which was a little bit like an ancient Greek, open bath-house type of area......the water there was extremely cold!!!!

Across the road was a restaurant with two open windows.....one selling gyros (absolutely delicious) the other crepes (double absolutely delicious). To watch this constant action and turnover of food was captivating......everything turned like a well oiled wheel.
We watched visiting yachts coming and going - inexperienced young crew desperately trying to manoeuvre their vessels into small spaces with up to 10 point turns and trys and still getting no closer to the jetty!!!!....giving up in the end and sailing off into the sunset to find another, easier berth?
We found a restaurant that sold our most favourite lunch....white bread, salmon, cream cheese/Greek yoghurt/dill sandwich about 3inches thick....to die for but, sadly, we could only manage one between us!!!!!!
Below us was a juice and coffee bar called Little Mix....the lady there was just awesome, super helpful and friendly and made a great smoothie to boot.
The streets behind our apartment were the original old market streets....typically Greek, white and pristine, very very narrow with lots of steps, twists and turns.........very easy to get lost here but really good fun. Lots of restaurants and souvenir shops have found their way there now so, along with the waterfront, it is the hub of Naxos and we were in our element in the thick of it all. Gosh it felt soooo good to be in such a lively atmosphere!


 The main waterfront street is closed each evening at 8pm to traffic and hundreds of people stream into this area each night.....increasing its vibrancy. Young kids on skateboards, bikes and online skates have great fun on this road whilst their parents dine in the cheap waterfront restaurants.

Sometimes the children and babies in pushchairs are still out and about at midnight.......it is a whole different way of life probably because of the long afternoon siesta coupled with the heat.
Above our gyros and crepe restaurant just opposite us was a nightclub which opened every night at 11pm and continued until at least 5am......the most people we ever saw in it was three, plus staff, sitting around drinking!!!! The coloured lights  would flash and the music boom but it never bothered us.......it just added to the colourfulness of the place.
One evening we heard, quite late in the evening, very loud Greek music. Going out to explore there was a Greek dancing display in a square on the waterfront......very special especially when the men danced.
Another evening we were walking through the narrow streets when a Greek dancer with half his restaurant patrons in tow spilled out onto the street dancing the traditional Greek dance, plates smashing and music blaring. Memories.
From our apartment we could watch the ferries coming and going which appeared to us to be a very slick operation....reverse in (incredible to watch), anchor down, ramps down, people cars and trucks off, people cars and trucks on... .all in the space of about 5 minutes. It was pleasing to see that the amount coming off was equal to the amount going on.....a constant churning.
One day we experienced a ferry strike.......very peaceful day all round.......another day very strong winds and high seas. Some of the ferries are huge but some of the faster ones much smaller. It was quite difficult and sickening watching them rocking and rolling in the ocean but pleasing to know we were not on them.
The Castle of Hora, Kastro, and the Catholic Cathedral on the hill was a must visit.....the centre point of historic Naxos and an extraordinary insight to a Venetian past. The 13th Century castle and 16th century Cathedral were built on top of the original Naxos Parthenon from free materials plundered from Naxos city after it was destroyed by repeated pirate invasions. The castle area is a bit of a puzzle as you almost can not tell where it begins and where it ends......which incidentally sees a lot of bemused tourists going round in circles!!!! The labyrinthine alleyways leading to the castle are part and parcel of the overall experience - we just relaxed and got lost in this real life cultural immersion. (By the way it now boasts the only lift in Naxos and cost 50cents each for this travel experience).
Brilliant purple bouganvillia flourished everywhere, stunning against a backdrop of pristine white walls. Many locals still live within the castle walls in what must only be the "perfect location" (apart from our apartment that is!). Each nook and cranny presents you with new sights to pleasure your eyes. We met an old lady who had bought a small part of the castle to live in and run an antique museum from.....the beams, columns and structure were truly amazing and it left you wondering how something like this could have been built so long ago.



The church was equally inspiring and ,like the castle, very cool temperature wise. It was nice to sit a while and take in the beauty of the murals and its seemingly infinite arches out of the glare and heat of the sun.
All in all our trip to Naxos was amazing and we could/should have spent longer there in our "perfectly located" super apartment with our "view of the world" balcony. The local people got to know us, welcomed us and were always happy to try their English out on us.
We also found an amazing derelict cafe sitting all alone on a rocky outcrop overlooking the beach and thought how nice it would be to be able to restore that and make it magnificent again. If anyone is interested we are keen as.....just let us know!!!!!! Seriously.....
I took a photo saying "Welcome to Paradise" and Naxos this is just how you made us feel.....that we were in Paradise.
We will be back to collect our hearts at a later date.

               
                                 X

Greece 2019...Piraeus

We start this journey at Catania airport where lovely Luca dropped us off and where no-one seemed to know where Aegean airlines was based for us to bag drop!!! We were finally sent to the furthest part of the airport ( I am sure just to get rid of us) where eventually a very helpful young man decided he could do this for us. Let me tell you though, we were not the only troubled tourists looking for Aegean airways.
Going through security and all the other checks as you do, we decided finally to sit and indulge ourselves in a glass of airport wine. Thankfully finding a table that a young family were vacating in this very busy airport we were joined by a lovely older (I say older but she was younger than me) lady who turned out to be a Psychoanalyst tutor from Oxford!!!!! She was indulging in a beer and a baguette which looked very nice. She was a lovely lady but very much from the Upperclass section of the UK and I dreaded her bringing up any issues dealing with Brexit or immigration.....instead she brought up how everyone was in awe of our Prime Minister which is probably just as bad!!!!! If we were not careful she would be in her element psycho analysing Gary. She was waiting for the same flight as us so knew relief was not coming soon as our flight was already running very late with no indication boarding was imminent. This lovely lady was married to an Oxford professor, obviously had plenty of throw away money as well, as she indulged herself again - this time with coffee and cake.!!!!! Eventually she decided to go to freshen up and we decided to walk the 5 metres to the gate.....phew another save.
Our flight did eventually leave almost 1 hour late and by the time we had been served some refreshments we landed in Athens Greece....very late in the evening. First stop.....Greek sim card....no......too late shop closed. Second stop....senior bus ticket to Piraeus.....no.....stopped that concession on May 19th (must have known we were coming). Ok, no worries a 6€ ticket each will do fine and there was an X96 bus ready and waiting.
It takes about 50mins to an hour to get from Athens to Piraeus Port over pot holed roads and multiple railway tracks but we finally arrived about what we thought was 10.30pm. In reality it was 11.30pm...different time zone to Sicily......and we still had to find....walk...to our hotel. We had allocated 2 nights here purely so we could do a dummy run to where our Blue Star ferry was leaving from at the port. Thank goodness for Google maps and thankfully only a 2km walk....it was such a relief to see a sparkling white, well lit, extremely clean Hotel Faros.
Our room was very small but for 2 nights it didn't matter, we had a balcony with little red plastic stools, a great shower, a Thai Restaurant two minutes walk away and they made the meanest Mojito in the Faros bar!!!!!

Next day we walked to the Port, collected our prebooked, prepaid Business class tickets and proceeded to find Gate 7!!!! Bloody miles away, just before the last gate which was 8, right at the other end of the Port!!!!
Knowing our departure berth though and collecting our tickets the day before was a good move as the part of Pireas that we were in was extremely busy, quite dirty and purely for access to the port where several ferry lines conducted their massive businesses transporting passengers and freight to the outer, Ionian islands.
So tonight a well earned, well looked forward to Thai dinner, an early Mojito and an early night..... for tomorrow we shall see!!!!!
Oops no Thai dinner....CLOSED....Mojitos only then!!!!


Monday, 8 July 2019

Sicily 2019 - Catania

Our early morning foray onto the local bus, with our baggage this time, to the station in Palermo and our journey from the bus station to Catania was easy and comfortable.

We were the first to arrive at the deserted bus station as 'we' (the royal we) had been too sceptical and, much to Gary's chagrin, had allowed too much time because of too many "what-ifs" going through the royal we's head!!!(Bless him...as a travelling partner he has so much patience!) Anyway it was a nice morning so we took a seat in the shade at the spot we knew the bus would come in. Over the next hour we realised that Sicilians have another gene fault apart from the smoking one.....they have missed out on the queuing gene!!!!!
So the bus pulls in, the driver jumps out, locks the doors and proceeds to walk away.....this of course is a covert instruction to locals to start forming a "sort of" queue. As we waited and watched more and more people arrived .....most pushing their bags and themselves to the front of the"sort of" queue, some coming in from the sides, some seruptiously and some just blatant. It was obvious now we needed to formulate a plan...after all we were here waaaay before anyone else....weren't we? Lol.

5minutes before departure time the driver strolls up and opens the door and our plan is put into action. Gary takes the bags to the coach garage and I walk to the front of the queue unimpeded. I turn around and find the people who arrived just after us had followed suit - he to the garage and she beside me.....we give each other a knowing conspiratorial, aren't we just clever wink!!! Then something happens which we actually experienced quite a lot in Sicily....the driver totally ignores me at the head of the queue and takes the ticket of a local man to our right who gleefully jumps in front of me, hops onto the bus and takes the front seat. I calmly ask the driver why he did that and he smilingly indicates he does not understand......but hey we are in Sicily, people have been entombed in concrete motorway pillars for less than making an enquiry into misogynistic actions....so, once again, we toe the line!!!!

We got a good seat anyway where no-one could knock your teeth out by reclining the seat in front - we just had to hold our noses each time the on board toilet door opened and closed!!! Having a woman across the aisle who was OCD in cleanliness was a great distraction during the 5 hour bus ride.....thank heavens for small mercies!

Arriving at Catania bus station we had pre arranged a pick up by car to take us to our hotel. Luca had been emailing and whatsapping us letting us know where he would be waiting....next to a pink wall...with a photo of his car. His attention to detail was amazing but we just couldn't find him. We traversed the entire outside perimeter of the bus station twice but by every pink wall there was no Luca. After several more calls and swapped photos he decided to come to us which worked great!!!

Our hotel, hotel Politi, was 'different.' We had ordered a suite just for the 3 nights - it had 3 verandahs which was nice and a very efficient air con. The shower was excellent but to sit on the toilet one needed to be prepared to become very intimate with the corner of the wall beside you! There was a washing machine in the bathroom but reception had a special key to unlock it.....for a price of course!!! All crockery and cooking stuff had to be asked for and provided in a plastic box from reception....once again no wine glasses but 1 tumbler!!! The suite was huge but furnished spartenly and the bed mattress was thin and hard. The lift was so slow...I think I recall being told it was the only one in Catania...you could have a nanna nap between floors! We didn't actually have breakfast in the dining room but we did enjoy a couple of wines and snacks during their Happy hour.....it was a little sad we were the only ones there though.
The really nice guy on reception seemed to do everything for everybody and was always right there....he worked hard keeping everywhere spotless, preparing food, washing floors and tables, serving drinks......you name it, he did it!

Regardless of all of the above and, once again, the hotel was well positioned in the Old Town of Catania......close to Roman ruins....just around the corner the rediscovered remains of an amphitheatre which had been completely housed over over the centuries....and of course Mount Aetna which is currently active.





Luca was our man here, comfy car, great local knowledge and time-free to take us there.
Having only 3 nights here we focused on Aetna and spent a whole day there. Catania has so much history related to Aetna and her activity. Catania has been wiped out and rebuilt several times as have many outlying villages and townships. Because Aetna is always moderately active....continuously smoking therefore releasing pressure....locals are unafraid to rebuild close to Aetna because they know if another major eruption occurs they would have plenty of warning to leave the area. Also Catania and the surrounding townships are all built in a grid fashion to allow its many inhabitants generous escape routes. Therefore new villages arise out of the lava without too many problems or worries....I am however talking many years ago now.
We took the cable car to the supposed top of Mount Aetna which was expensive but included a free lunch and had a good wander around. It is not safe to go to the actual crater that is currently smoking and you can go higher but only with a guide. Several young people were doing this but we were happy with how close we got.
Spying two abandoned old craters just off the carpark we decided to walk around one of them.....solidified lava all around us with distant new green showing in many areas. Understandably it takes over 2 centuries for any form of regeneration to take place!!!! Pathways formed by the lava from this particular eruption were still evident....in one place forking either side of a green forest which still stood proud and tall. I had never realised that solidified lava flows are huge - so tall too!!!!




Walking round this crater edge which consisted mainly of black ash and pumice like rocks what did we spy? Ladybirds!!!!! Unbelievable....many ladybirds!!!! We were quite high in altitude too with very little foliage around us but obviously the ladybirds are able to survive in those barren conditions.
Also fascinating to see were the different layers of lava that had accumulated over the many centuries, each layer covered in it's own layer of ash but it was quite difficult walking on that fine ash and rocky lava. It was a great day though spent solely with Aetna. Arriving back to Politi Hotel we realised our shoes, our clothes and our faces were moderately black.
The following day we just strolled around Catania discovering more Roman ruins, unexpected churches and a stone gateway which it is said was built overnight to get around some councils rules!!!!!! Amazing workmanship. We stumbled across the most amazing market that seemed to go on forever and ate another brioche crammed with gelato.




On our last day in Catania Luca picked us up and took us to the airport to catch our plane to Athens.
And so another story begins!!!!

Enjoy. X