This year's autumnal migration took two weeks and began with crossings on the same three ferry routes as last year, so the first leg was driving up to Chania. There we did some stocking up with provisions for the expedition and then went for a late lunch at our favourite fish restaurant beside the Nea Hora. Amongst other things they do lovely little shrimp pies, and you always get a free dessert. Unfortunately we can't give it a well-deserved free "plug" because we can never remember what it is called!Then we went to the port at Souda and boarded early on the ANEK ferry Lato. The company is the only one doing the ro
ute, which is a shame as we are coming to dislike it! Of the three ferries we use it is by far the most expensive yet also very much the shortest crossing. The boats are badly laid out, with too few loos, too many stairs and not enough lifts, and disembarkation is totally shambolic! Anyway we survived and even got out of Piraeus with only one small navigational error. (There is a crucial left turn for Corinth which has an invisible sign!)Same old bad road to Patras, but lovely weather and good progress so that we were in the town with hours to kill and usual paranoia about leaving the car unattended! A clever wheeze! We went to the beachside out-of-town hotel we used on the way down, where we relaxed with a drink and the free WiFi! Later as w
e waited further but inside the port enclosure we met a British trucker who drives weekly from Leicester to Corinth and back. Interesting! We discussed port security and it is clear that there has been a very heavy clamping down on the migrants trying to get to Italy. They are still very evident on the streets, but we didn't see any inside the fences, let alone in or on trucks. Our Agoudimos crossing to Bari was uneventful and comfortable as well as being excellent value. The ship has numerous power outlets with Japanese configuration so there was healthy competition for the few European sockets in public areas , and the food is a bit grim and beer over-priced, but still much preferred to ANEK!The next ferry has been re-timed so it would be possible to get across Italy without having to spend a night in a hotel, but we had been cautious and so had pre-booked at a great price for the Gran Hotel Italiano in Benevento. This gave us a fairly calm drive over the mountains and a very convenient location in terms of the two Autostrada that make up the route from Patras to Civitavecchia. It was also sunny most of the way - but by the time we were getting lost in the town it was raining!
The nice man offered us a grand suite but with no internet access, so we took another perfectly adequte room with LAN connection - just as well as going for a walking trip round the town was out of the question in the downpour! An afternoon with a very disgruntled laptop and the BBC i-player, followed by a superb E20 table d'hote dinner! Next day was much brighter and we were able to do the tour round this interesting town which is in two parts and has Roman remains.
Then we drove to Civitavecchia - a warm Saturday so fairly heavy traffic and crowded service areas, but a fairly straightforward journey! We sat at one of the seaside cafes within sight of the parked car in warm sun watching many parties from the two cruise ships that were at the port. One was a P&O and the overheard snippet of the afternoon was "Well - it isn't Margate!" We had a lot of time to kill and after getting to the Phillipino seamen's centre just as it was closing we had to find another internet centre. There we were amazed to be able to wrestle with Spanish Telefonica's appalling website and contorted database and get in an order on the last day of their 6Mb broadband offer. We could barely believe it when a confirmation e-mail came back! Knowing how complicated the ferry queueing is we went down to the port as the sun set - only to discover that there was a delay of at least two hours and we would not be boarding until 10.30. We know the passenger terminal pretty well now - and there is not a lot there to amuse:- departure of cruise ships, maybe? When we did emark we were one of the first, there was plenty of space and a nice porter helped us to our cabin. Unfortunately we forgot to note even the deck level we were on which caused grief next evening! The two ships on this route are new and very luxurious. We had a fairly good cabin but the air-conditioning was a bit fierce and gave R a cold. The long day voyage was spent reading and doing things on the laptop, culminating in watching The Lives of Others - a slightly weird experience as at points we couldn't hear the German dialogue of this excellent film set in cold war Berlin because of the loud anti-social behaviour of the Russian tourists nearby.
We had booked two nights at hotel just outside Barcelona city but with parking and easy travel into the city. We had
been due to dock at 6.30 pm. We arrived at about 8pm and then had a hellish experience failing to find the car. We didn't know the deck (our fault) we got caught in enormous coach party confused throngs, we couldn't see past tightly packed juggernauts and lost each other. There was a lot of stress and shouting in Spanish and English at Italian staff. But we made it- and finding the excellent Hotel Canal Olimpic Hotel in Castelldefels was remarkably easy. It is right beside the waterway built for the Olympic Games. Next day we took a bus into the city for 1.25 each, and saw a few sights on the way. It was 33 degrees in Barcelona at midday. We walked around a bit from Plaza Catalunya - including, of course, going down the Ramblas. It was here that we made Silly Tourist Mistake no 2 in 48 hours. Lunchtime - plenty of acceptable deals on drinks and snacks available in both Ramblas and indoor market - but no! We don't want to over-pay so we go down a side street and find a small place with tempting baguettes and cold beer. We have a long lunch of two of each. We then become aware that every time someone paid a bill they queried it and went away distressed. Finally a large group of Latin Americans did it all but more volubly and threatened the staff with the police. A large beer was 8 Euros - a baguette 6 Euros! No price list in sight anywhere. What a pair of idiots! A bad taste left in the mouth- and couldn't bear to look in a Subway outlet!Nonetheless we had fun walking randomly by the port and in the backstreets. The port has changed in 23 years - with an imposing hotel and a pedestrian walkway! We went back on the ridiculously cheap bus, had a rather poor but cheap dinner at the hotel, and next day went for a bike ride around the area - which includes a very sound beach - before setting off south for our next booked stay.
This was a spacious apartment slap-bang on the seafront on the Costa Dorada at a non-descript place called Vilafortuny beteween Salou and Cambrils. We paid £23 per night for this - so quite a bargain. We stayed six nights and had excellent weather throughout. Quite a few places were closed for the season, and what was open was very Brit-orientated so we didn't eat particularly well in the evenings; but both Salou and Cambrils were a flat bike ride away of about 3km. Salou is very much larg
er and cosmopolitan (a McDonalds!). Cambrils is delightful, with a small harbour and some excellent little bars and restaurants. It is much more Spanish and interesting,On the last day we cleared the car and re-packed. The drive to Girona airport was particularly easy as it was a Bank Holiday. Lovely Margarita at Punt Central took the car from us promising a winter fully undercover and drove us to the bus stop. We took the coach to the bus station in Barcelona and had a bit of a crisis about use of the Metro to get out to the airport and our hotel. It is only a couple of stops to Sants where you pick up the line you need. There are three very long and steep staircases to get down to the trains at the nearest station to the bus station. They are currently installing lifts, but this was no help to us with our luggage. A very helpful lady watche
d our bags whilst we carried them down together, and then it was easy! We rang the hotel and a free shuttle bus was sent for us.
We spent the night a yet another bargain hotel from bookings.com. It was the Frontair Congress near the airport on a huge shopping park. We had a great dinner there and then a free shuttle in the morning. We were booked on an Air Europa flight advertised as going from the old terminals, but we checked online and found it had been consolidated with a Spanair flight from the spanking new Terminal 1. Rather impressive, (and as we had a lower price and larger baggage allowance we were laughing!) We flew to Gran Canaria, and then had a very long wait due to over-cautious planning. We managed to watch an episode of The Sopranos at the gate!
After landing we were lucky with buses and were back in the apartment by 19.45 on Tuesday 13th October - almost six months since we left.
