Its been 9 days since my last post. Greece and Italy have a bunch of old things and not a lot of internet cafes. Sorry for the delay.
We're trying to get to an internet cafe with a USB connection so we can post some photos. We need to plug in the card reader into the computer and either upload the photos onto the site or email them to Dave. Its all very hard.
Since my last report we've covered off Greece (or at least the Athens and Peleponnese) parts of Greece and moved onto Italy. Greece, as Cathy said was good, although the final day wandering around Patras waiting for the Ferry to Bari, Italy was a bit much. Patras is Greece's third biggest city. To accurately picture it you should be thinking Shepparton with a port, perhaps that's rough on Shepparton but you get the picture. By about 3pm we're sitting in a cafe trying to kill 7 hours and the waitress is glaring at us as we don't want another beverage. Anyway it gave us a chance to reflect on Greece generally - our thoughts to date:
1. Shares in Greek companies that specialise in foundation and makeup must be at a record high. Buy.
2. Greeks aren't that proud of anything they've done since the birth of Christ. Not one tourist attraction in Greece incorporates anything constructed or done in the last 200 years.
3. Forget the expression, beware Greeks bearing gifts. Beware blokes carrying Roses. They don't like the word "no", or perhaps they don't understand me.
4. When travelling from Greece to Italy I highly recommend
Superfast Ferries. Amazing scenes, they have their own nightclub (Think Silence Delerium and Madonna Remixes), they have 3 restaurants, heaps of bars and best of all, they deliver you to Italy first thing in the morning. We're big fans.
First stop in Italy was Naples. We stayed four days and learned the following:
1. Italians do not seem to work between the hours of 12 and 4 or on Sundays. You can get a haircut at 8pm on Saturday night but you can't buy water on Sunday afternoon, very strange.
2. Coffee is 25ml and is to be drunk standing up in two gulps. You don't under any circumstances order a "latte", "mocachino" or "flat white". If this is the home of coffee, its a very quick experience.
3. Protect yourselves and your belongings near the Napoli Station, enough said.
4. Pompeii is an amazing site. We both thought lava had flown down the mountain and covered everything which made the incredible dead people. Truth is a layer of ash suffocated the people (those that didn't leave when they had the time to do so) and the corpses were created by pouring plaster into the ash mould. Very interesting. We took a tour with some American students who were studying Italian somewhere up north. I'd forgotten the number of times a Californian can use the expression "and I was like" in the course of an hour. Like Totally. The tour was fantastic, we went through the brothels where you order your female of choice and then you point out the position you want on the wall. Extraordinary. As was the 70 year old guide explaining the positions to us 20 somethings. I believe he mentioned every position except "reverse cowgirl".
5. Sorrento is a lovely town for a couple of hours of drinking and eating. The Amalfi coast is what you read about in guide books - we best return in summer when you can take off one layer of thermals. Capri is also fantastic however 5 euros for a 200ml coke was a bit out of control Think 8.33 dollars for a coke and you know you are partying with the rich and famous.
6. We hit Palermo Sicily today and found that the ferry to Tunis leaves tonight. So we are going. Don't bother using our hotmail addresses as the government blocks that site. It is however the "nicest" of the Arab governments so we are looking forward to the next 10 days.
Keep up the comments and the emails. This information junkie is missing news from home and reading the front page of the British Sun just doesn't cut it "CHARLES TO MARRY IN A TOWN HALL" really doesn't cut it.
See you in Tunis.
