A short tour of Greece. Part III. Kurouta village (western Peloponnese)

22 January 2020 • Travel time: with 14 august 2019 on 19 august 2019

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GIOVANNI MARE APARTMENT

Telling about these apartments, I can't help but mention one unpleasant moment that happened about 3 weeks before the move in. I received a message from Booking on soap, which I did not read carefully, because. already used to such messages, they say, do not forget that after some time they are waiting for you in one or another rooming house, and if you suddenly change your mind about going there and forgot about it, you can still cancel it for free. Well, I thought this was one of those. However, then I received an invoice from Giovanni Mare. I checked my card and saw that it was charged the full cost of the stay! Even on the newly downloaded armor of the rooming house there was a seal like PAID. But I could cancel the reservation for free for a few more days. Then I looked through the letter from Booking again and saw that it was written there so that I could check if I had enough money on the card, because. the next day the rooming house was going to write off this amount! Then, after carefully reading the reservation, I saw that it was written there that you should pay attention to special conditions, for example, booking conditions may change depending on the season! By this, Booking upset me very much, now I will be more careful with him. There was also a problem when checking into a rooming house. When we arrived, at the reception (if you can call it that)... there was nobody! (except for the pussy)

Pussy at Giovanni Mare Apartments

Instead, phones were indicated, call, they say. And calls from a mobile phone are very expensive! But there was nothing to do, I had to call. The owner in Greek explained to me where our room was and said that the key should stick out there. Judging by his first and last name, I thought he was Italian and put in an Italian phrase. He was delighted with surprise, and we continued the conversation already in Italian (in the future we communicated first in one, then in another, however, we rarely spoke). By the way, when we met personally the next day, he introduced himself to me as Janis, which corresponds to the Italian Giovanni or the Russian Ivan. In general, we found the room quickly, and the rest of the day went well, so we thought that this was the end of the cons. Yep, naive! There was also such a minus: the owner treated us to watermelons a couple of times, which he put in the refrigerator too close to the freezer, as a result of which the watermelons froze and did not defrost for a long time, and it is better not to bite cold watermelons, because. from this start whining teeth. : ) Although this is actually so, it's nonsense compared to another, already a HUGE minus, however, no longer dependent on the owners, but about it to the south.

In general, the owners of the apartments are quite hospitable and always ready to help. At our request, they lent us a coffee maker for the entire duration of our stay (breakfast is not provided in the apartments, so we had to either go to some establishments or cook it ourselves), showed us where the key to the so-called reception was, and said that in their absence, we can go in and take whatever we need. Well, except for the box office. : )

THE ROOM IN THE HOUSE AND SURROUNDING TERRITORY

The room turned out to be quite comfortable. . .

General view of the room in Giovanni Mare

. . . with SAMSUNG flat-wall TV. . .

Flat-wall TV, mirror

. . . a free key chest. . .

Free key chest

. . . a conditioner. . .

Hallway

. . . with a normal remote. . .

Candy bowl and remote controls (if anyone hasn't figured it out yet, on the left - from the zombie man, on the right - from the conditioner).

. . . refrigerator.

Refrigerator

Refrigerator with freezer, open

Beds are comfortable. . .

Bed

. . . and for those who like to just lie down and look at the ceiling, I’ll note that it’s cool to see uncovered wooden rafters and boards there.

The ceiling in the Giovanni Mare apartment

There was also a balcony with two chairs and a table (finally! ). . .

Balcony

. . . overlooking the parking lot. . .

Balcony overlooking the parking lot

. . . there was also a clothesline with clothespins. There was a parking lot next to the rooming house, though not paved, and despite the fact that it was quite large, it was not always easy to find a place there, until 7-8 pm (however, we almost never returned before). There was also a campsite nearby with a much larger parking lot, so you could always find a spot. Returning to the room, I note that the plumbing there was pretty decent.

Sink

Sink close-up

True, the shower cabin is the same type as in Athens, and also cramped.

Dushkabin

Bed linen and towels were changed every 3 days as advertised in English.

BEACH NEAR THE APARTMENT

The beach was located 100 meters from the rooming house, then you had to go down the stairs a little more, but this is not critical. The beach, I must say, is very good, both in terms of territory and water area: the beach is sandy, the water is clean and warm, the entrance to the sea, however, is quite gentle, but for some it is +.

Beach in Kurut with the setting sun

Beach in Kurut

Beach in Kurut with the setting sun

The beach in Kurut with the sun almost setting

What pleased me was free sunbeds for bar customers. Came there in the morning, ordered at least a bottle of mineral water and rest at least the whole day. Of course, in such a glassing with one bottle of mineral water, the matter is, as a rule, not limited, and customers buy beer, cocktails or even some simple food, and this translates into a tidy sum, which, however, is the whole calculation.

KURUTA RESTAURANTS AND BARS

It should be said about Kuruta's public catering that it has its own specifics: some establishments focus on food, others focus on Bukhara. At first, prices are about the same everywhere, the choice of dishes is small, moreover, often half of those listed on the menu are missing, and for some reason there are no desserts. The maximum that you can count on is ice cream, and even then not everyone has it. From Bukhara: wine 3-3.5 for 0.5 l, 2-3 types of analytical beer, well, and something from strong Bukhara: crayfish, ouzo, insecticide... They don’t get particularly impudent with a load, but bring a compliment from the institution there somehow not accepted. We visited Θ Ε Α Cafe (fish mix (20). . .

Rybmix

. . . 8-foot per tweet). . .

8-legs

Σ Τ Ρ Ο Φ Η Τ Ο Υ Κ Ο Τ Σ Ι Φ Α (chopped beefsteak (7). . .

. . . kebab (3)). . .

. . . Remundos (Ρ ε μ ο ν δ ο ς ), Milos (Μ Υ Λ Ο Σ ). The rest of the restaurants there are about the same, not much different from each other. So choose whichever you like.

As for the second ones, these are ordinary bars. These establishments serve a variety of drinks, desserts and simple snacks such as sandwiches. . .

Sandwiches for breakfast

More sandwiches for breakfast

. . . and burgers, drinks are served with various snacks, as well as free water. Wine in such establishments is already more expensive, an average of 4 per glass, cocktails an average of 8. As in restaurants, it happens that something from the menu is not available. It happens that the same establishment has both a restaurant and a bar, but they are separated and considered separate establishments, it is impossible to order something from the bar to the restaurant, and something from the restaurant to the bar. Many more establishments are slow, and you have to “wait for a bastard waiter for 3 hours” ((C) “Gaza Strip”)

Day 5, Thursday, 8/15/19

TRIP TO THE CASCADE OF POLYLIMNIO WATERFALLS (Π Ο Λ Υ Λ Ι Μ Ν Ι Ο )

This waterfall is located quite far from the rooming house, so we got there for 2-3 hours. You reach the village of Kharavgi (Χ α ρ α υ γ ), then you will see a sign to the goat trail. On this goat trail. . .

A goat trail between mountains

. . . about a kilometer to the parking lot, there is also a cafe. It is about 250 m from the parking lot on foot downhill along the goat ladder, there is a gazebo for those who want to rest, on which there is an announcement in Greek and Anglican with something like this: “ATTENTION! THE PATH IS NOT TOTALLY SAFE, THERE IS A RISK OF FALLING STONES. ENTRANCE TO IT IS AT YOUR RISK.

Warning sign at POLYLIMNIO waterfalls

Further down the hill will be 200 meters. The path lined with stones reaches the river itself, and you immediately see the very first small waterfall.

One of the small POLYLIMNIO waterfalls

If you continue to climb upstream (and the paths there are such, descents and ascents, sometimes sharp, sometimes slippery stones - only about 300 m, so there will be no need for caution), then you will pass a series of waterfalls and backwaters. . .

River at POLYLIMNIO waterfalls

One of the small POLYLIMNIO waterfalls

River at POLYLIMNIO waterfalls

. . . in which you can swim, and at the end you will go to the largest of them - Kadi (Κ Α Δ Η ).

POLYLIMNIO main waterfall

And the waterfall is quite beautiful, so there are many people who want to visit it, and the places around, respectively, are not very good. They also go there mainly in companies, everyone tries to take a picture of each other, preventing others from doing the same. But there were no fights because of this. The lake in front of the waterfall is deep in places, so those who cannot swim should be careful. There is still such a cave behind a water curtain. Cool little thing. True, it is not recommended to measure the depth in it, because. the back wall of the cave goes, as it were, obliquely, and when climbing into it, you can rest your head and even hit yourself. But even if you don’t hit, it somehow becomes creepy from the fact that you are under water and rest your head against something. But on the other hand, being under the icy, crystal clear water of the waterfall itself is such a thrill, so invigorating! In general, I recommend. For extreme people there is a rope ladder, on which, if desired, you can climb a rock 2-3 meters high and jump from there into the water. And some extreme people climb even higher.

There is another way to this waterfall: there is a fork on the goat trail, where we turned left, but it was possible to go right. It is a little longer to go there, there is also a small parking lot and a gazebo, and along the path you will immediately come to the largest Kadi waterfall. But this route, in our opinion, has a significant disadvantage - a dangerous descent. We saw some people going up and down, but we wouldn't risk it.

After returning home, we went to sleep. And here a minus was waiting for us, overlapping all the others. But it's already the beginning of the next day.

Day 6, Friday 8/16/19

NIGHTMARE NIGHT

There are several bars and discos on the campsite, but the noise from them does not cause much discomfort. Only here on August 15 in Greece is a national holiday - the Day of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But it is apparently customary to celebrate it there not so much in the church as in the secular spirit, and in a rather strange way: it was already officially on August 16 at about 4:00 am when we heard a deafening music, apparently coming from some nearby disco . Moreover, it was not just a distinctly audible music - it seemed that it hits the brain with the power of a steam hammer (it is interesting what those present at that very disco felt felt... ). However, my far-sighted wife had the foresight to bring along a couple of sleep kits, which consisted of a black mask, a pair of earplugs, and a cover for it all. I didn’t even think that earplugs could help so much: if they are inserted correctly into the ears, then even such a monstrous music will not be heard, well, maybe just a very, very little, which is not at all critical. I don't know what we would do without earplugs, because. this nightmare was repeated 3 nights in a row, and on the 17th and 18th - somewhere from one in the morning until 6-7 in the morning. Interestingly, every week they arrange such an acoustic dump at night from Fri to Sat and from Sat to Sun, or are we just “lucky”...

TRIP TO OLYMPIA

Thanks to the sleep kits, we managed to get a pretty good night's sleep, we felt quite cheerful and decided to diversify our leisure time with a trip to Olympia. From our rooming house to go there somewhere 38 km, so we arrived in 40-50 minutes. Tickets to Olympia are sold for 12. They are combined and include 3 places: the territory of ancient Olympia itself, the archaeological museum and the museum of the history of the ancient Olympic Games.

"Stone" at the crossroads

The territory of ancient Olympia itself is a rather cool place for lovers of all kinds of ruins, accompanied by explanations of what they once were.

Ruins of Olympia

Something like a football field. The gate must have been stolen

Ruins of Olympia

Some kind of shed

Ruins of Olympia

Archaeological Museum. . .

Archaeological Museum

. . . nothing particularly interesting: there are plenty of coins, needles, pots and other trinkets everywhere. . .

All sorts of pots

This, it seems, is a hell of a meal

various figurines

various figures close-up

Horse

Ancient barbecue

. . . I'm not talking about broken statues.

Lion head

The visiting card of Greece – broken statues

The visiting card of Greece is broken statues

Martinet armor is also enough.

Ancient Armor

Helmets

There is also almost nothing interesting in the Museum of the Ancient Olympic Games - mostly cups and other awards, as well as images of participants in the Olympic Games.

Some crap in the Museum of the Olympic Games

Cups in the Museum of the Olympic Games

Cups in the Museum of the Olympic Games and some damn things for fire like

Statue in the Museum of the Olympic Games

Mosaic in the Museum of the Olympic Games

The wheel from the chariot (a joke, of course) in the Museum of the Olympic Games and all kinds of figurines

The Museum of Archimedes is much more interesting (about it a little to the south). Even next to the territory of ancient Olympia, employees of the Red Cross are sitting and distributing water for free to everyone in half-liter plastic bottles.

Volunteers from the local Red Cross distributing free water in bottles of 0 . 5 l for thirsty tourists

There are also 3 columns, from which you can fill some of your containers with drinking water, and wash yourself there.

Speakers for tourists who prudently took a water tank with them

ARCHIMEDES MUSEUM

It is located a little further from the two previous museums, however, in my opinion, it will be much more interesting than them. There are various ingenious mechanisms and a description of the principles of their work (although there is a lot of scribbling). For example, the mechanism of opening and closing gates in ancient temples during sacrifices is described. . .

Descriptions of the mechanism for opening the temple gates during sacrifice

. . . the hydraulic organ is presented. . .

Hydraulic Organ

Description of the hydraulic unit

. . . a flying vessel in the shape of a dove. . .

Flying dove

Description of the operating principle of a flying dove

. . . a burst-firing catapult. . .

Catapult firing bursts

Description of a burst-firing catapult

. . . and much more. Well, the old man was resourceful, you can't say anything. The descriptions are in Greek and English, but if you have any problems with this, then there are screens on which, in turn, they show videos with the actions of the mechanisms. Many mechanisms can be tested by yourself, there are also all sorts of puzzles that are offered to be assembled right there, and if you can’t do it, then there are tips and a description of how to do it, and the employees also offer their help. Entrance to the museum, by the way, is free, it exists on donations left by visitors.

Day 7, Saturday 8/17/19

NEDA WATERFALL (Ν Ε Δ Α )

On this day, we visited another waterfall – Neda, which is located on the river of the same name. You can drive up to it from different directions, and, apparently, there are several ways there. Having studied the maps a bit, we chose this route. On the E55 highway there is a sign for the turn to the Neda Waterfalls waterfall, approximately near the village of Tholo (Θ ο λ ). Then we drove in the direction of the village of Figaleia (Φ ι γ α λ ε α ), before entering the village there is a direction indicator for a goat trail, some kind of archaeological crap, and it seems even a sign for a waterfall, I don’t remember exactly. After about 120 m, there is a sharp turn to the right into a steep hill onto a road paved with stone, but we were delighted early: after about 150 m, the paved road ended and the goat trail began.

Goat trail to Neda waterfall

Sometimes there were paved or concreted sections of the road, such a good serpentine, then up, then down, with sharp turns, sometimes it’s not even very clear where to turn due to the steep slope of the road. Along the way, parked cars began to meet along the roadside. We drove to a small paved parking lot, and we were lucky - there was one free space. From the turn to the goat trail to the parking lot is about 4 km. Then we walked down the goat trail, met a couple of parked cars: one was standing under an overhanging rock, and the second was on the side of the cliff (their owners are risky : )), then a “brick” sign hung. After 400 meters from the parking lot, we found ourselves near some kind of souvenir shop.

Goat trail to Neda waterfall and souvenir shop

There were benches in the shade where people rested. There was a fork in this place: a path going uphill, with a sign that it was 800 m to the waterfall, and a goat trail going down to the river. First we went down the goat trail, crossed over a small old arched bridge across the river to the other side, there was an unpaved parking lot with cars. We don’t know how good the entrance is from that side, but there was also a goat trail from the parking lot. It is impossible to cross the bridge by car to the other side; perhaps only a motorcycle can be dragged over it. After the bridge, we turned left onto the path and went down to the river. There were few people there, a few people bathed in a small backwater. In the deepest place, somewhere with human height, the water is icy, but you can take a dip in the heat. Then we returned to the souvenir shop and went along the path to the mountains. If you take a map and draw a route on it, then it really turns out to be about 800 meters, but, as they say, "it was smooth on paper, but they forgot about the ravines... ". In short, in real life, taking into account the relief, it comes out about 2 km. The path is narrow, on one side there is a rock, on the other - a cliff in the gorge, and quite deep. The goatpath goes up and down, you have to climb over boulders, jump over stones, disperse with the oncoming flow of people, although it’s better to say, crawl. We reached the first small waterfall with a backwater. . .

A backwater at the Neda waterfall

. . . a group of guys jumped there from a cliff, a dilapidated bench was even stuck on the slope, a modern metal bridge was thrown across the river, a rope was tied to the bridge on one side to make it more convenient to get out of the water. Some company was also having fun in the river downstream, but we did not go down there. Having crossed the bridge, we crawled to the top along a smooth boulder polished with water. Since the direction of the path leading there was marked with paint, literally a few meters later we saw a waterfall.

Neda Waterfall

Nobody jumped off the rocks into this waterfall, they just swam and swam screaming under the stream of water from above. The water is ice cold. Having bathed, the people warmed themselves around on the stones.

Neda Waterfall

"Resting place" at the Neda waterfall

A bench was also stuck on one of the slopes, but already whole, not collapsed. There were a lot of people, but there is a constant cycle: someone leaves, someone comes. Swimming in Ned's waterfall is fun, although it is somewhat smaller than the previous one. The water there is also cool and refreshing.

EVENING IN KURUT

Arriving in Kuruta, we considered swimming on the beach after the waterfalls to be superfluous and instead walked around the local square. . .

Camping area in Kurut

A statue in the form of either an ear, or... in general, each decide what it looks like

Camping area in Kurut

. . . then we had dinner at the restaurant Milos (Μ Υ Λ Ο Σ ). . .

Zhrachka with Bukhara

Another gorge

Pasta

. . . and then enjoy the warm August night on the second floor of the bar. . .

Street view from the 2nd floor of the bar

. . . which, as it turns out, refers to the same restaurant. We asked the waitress for the menu, to which she half-jokingly replied that she herself was the menu, then we ordered a glass of red wine from her (there is 4 there).

Same wine, only with flash

And the drinking was so romantic that we ordered another glass and then switched to cocktails that were already 8. My wife ordered a Piñ a Colada and I ordered a Zombie, but a few minutes later the waitress returned , said they were out of ingredients for Zombie, and asked if I would like to choose something else. Then I chose Long Island.

Long Island

With the Piñ a Colada cocktail, the situation was a little better: for it there was only ordinary cream, and then we agreed that the cocktail was made without them.

Piñ a colada

As a result, we sat somewhere on the 30th nickname. Then, on the way to the bunkhouse, we again looked into the Kokla Al Mare cafe-bar and drank another cocktail. The wife chose the Strawberry Margarita. . .

Strawberry Margarita

. . . and I am "Zombie". . .

Zombar

. . . which was not obtained in the previous bar. As in previous times, water was brought to us free of charge as a compliment.

Day 8, Sunday 8/18/19

CAVE OF THE LAKES

Area in front of the entrance to the Cave of the Lakes

This cave is open every day from 9:00 to 17:30. We arrived there at 15 o'clock with something. The path to it was not close - about 127 km, we drove for about 2 hours. A ticket to the cave costs 9. The visit is accompanied by a guide and lasts about 15-20 minutes. The guide, by the way, knows only “no photo’s, please” from English (photo and video shooting are prohibited there), but he conducts the tour in walnut. Among those present, the Greeks listened, I also translated to my wife what the guide said, and a group of foreign tourists in relation to Greece walked somewhere on their own (they don’t understand anything anyway) and quietly photographed. The cave, I must say, is quite interesting, with stalactites and stalagmites and, of course, with lakes, in which, however, swimming is not welcome, and it is probably an unsafe occupation. In those 15-20 minutes, we passed only a small part of the cave, in fact, according to the guide, it is much larger, but there is no way to get there. The guide also explained where, what is the length and depth of the lakes, as well as the height of the arches of the cave, but somehow these data were not preserved in my memory. However, those who are interested can easily find this information on the World Wide Web. On the way back, I, moving away from the guide, took pictures, and with a flash (without it, some kind of crap will turn out)...

Forbidden photo inside the cave of the lakes

. . . but she walked pretty fast and kept shouting “no photos, please” (either she didn’t see that it was me, or she forgot that I speak Greek, or she thought that such a way practice in English would be of great benefit to her). But I still took pictures, because. considered it his moral right. Did I pay money? Paid. Will someone or something suffer from the process of photographing? No: there was no one to annoy with the light of the flashes, and the lakes and lime from the light would not be damaged. Will someone do something for me? At most, they will escort me to the exit, but I myself was already walking towards it. In general, we managed to take a few photos despite the prohibitions.

HOW TO GET TO THE CAVE

When building a route, you should take into account that you can get to the cave by different roads. However, there are normal wide roads, with markings and a bump stop, and there are narrow ones, without markings and a bump stop, where even oncoming traffic is problematic. We had a navigator installed on the MAPS. ME phone, which worked without the Internet (you just need to download a map of the desired area in advance), and he didn’t care which road, he built the shortest path, in his opinion, and often directed us to some some ass. For this reason, I had to study maps on Google in advance, being in a rooming house with Wi-Fi turned on, and make notes on which roads to go and where to turn, on the contrary, it’s not worth it.

PORT OF KATAKOLO (Κ Α Τ Α Κ Ο Λ Ο )

Katakolo Port

Various boats in the port of Katakolo

Next, we arrived at the village of Katakolo (Κ α τ? κ ο λ ο ) (or, as it may be called in the Russian version on the map, "KatakoloN") with the same name of the port. There is a huge parking lot at the port. When we arrived, it was almost empty. . .

Parking at Katakolo Port

. . . we were even surprised, looked to see if there were any signs prohibiting parking or announcing that it was paid, and, to our pleasant surprise, it turned out that it was free and it was not forbidden to park there. By the way, when we were already leaving, the parking lot was already half occupied and more cars were arriving at it in an endless stream. Either in the evening people return home, or they come for a walk.

There was a museum of ancient Greek technology "Museum of Ancient Greek Technology" on the waterfront, but it was already closed. There is also a railway station in the port, from which the route Katakolo (Κ α τ κ ο λ ο ) - Pyrgos (Π ρ γ ο ς ) - Olympia goes with intermediate stops (information can be found on the same railway website of Greece http://www. trainose. gr).

There should have been good fish taverns in the port. However, those located right by the port seemed to us somehow dubious, and we decided to walk a little further, where we found another tavern - Marina Restaurant, at the very beginning of the beach after the port. There were no people there at all, so we were very welcome there. We took 8-leg (9). . .

8-legs

. . . spaghetton with seafood (12), cod with carte puree with garlic sauce (7). . .

Cod with carte puree

. . . and half a liter of white wine (5). Tasty fish there, in general, turned out to be. The only thing that annoyed me was the wasps, in considerable numbers. The beach itself is so-so, some kind of gray sand, and the water seemed not the cleanest. Maybe there are better places further from the port, but you don’t want to swim in this place.

CATS

Pussy

While we were having dinner, we were constantly watched by 2 cats: one red. . .

Ginger

. . . another monochrome.

Monochrome pussy

I threw a piece of cod to the second, but he did not eat it, but only kicked it a couple of times: either the smell of garlic scared him away, or he was used to eating more noble fish. In general, in all places in Greece where we have been, there are a lot of cats. Most of them are skinny, you see, they don’t get much food, but sometimes quite plump individuals come across - mostly those that managed to cling to restaurants. We often throw them pieces of meat or fish "from the master's table", sometimes we take them special cat food in stores, and sometimes we feed them such food in the same restaurants. Animals, as a rule, do not refuse. And when we were already in Sami, we watched one cool scene while waiting for the bus: a cat ran across the road from the port with a large fish in its teeth, ran into a cafe next to the bus stop and, running through the hall, disappeared into the kitchen. I wonder what she will order the cook: fry fish or cook fish soup : ))

Day 9, Monday, 8/19/19

LAST NIGHT IN KURUT

This night was relatively calm. Calm - because there was no this brain-pounding music, but relatively - because instead of it, dogs barked all night. They may have barked on previous nights, but the music drowned them out. And since I'm a light sleeper, those dogs got me pretty high, so I had to use the earplugs again.

RETURN TO PATRA

I had to get up quite early in the morning (around 8:30) to get to Patras. . .

Return to Patras

. . . to return the car and have time to reach the port from where our ferry departed to Kefalonia - the port of Sami. We got to Patras without much incident, handed over the car safely, received compensation for tire repair in exchange for a check, I left them a screw that was in the Pyzhik tire when they handed it over to us, and we went to the port with things, good to go was close. Since we arrived very early, we had to wait a while, but I always like to leave (leave) with a margin of time, because. I hate rush. It is also worth noting that we did not encounter toll roads on any of the car routes we chose, although in principle they exist in the Peloponnese.

FERRY PATRA - YOURSELF

Levante Ferries

The ferry from Patras departs at 12:30, and only at this time, so in case of delay, you would have to take a bus to Kyllini (Κ υ λ λ ν η ): from there, ferries to Kefalonia depart more often, but not to the port of Sami, but to southeastern port of Kefalonia Poros (Π ρ ο ς ). But it would not be so convenient, since we had the first rooming house in Kefalonia in Sami. By the way, we took ferry tickets (15.10 per person) in advance (immediately after we rented a trough). Employees of the offices that sold tickets advised us to buy these tickets in advance, otherwise there would not be enough seats. And in the branded tent of the Levante Ferries carrier next to the port near the railway station, there was even a sign with a phone number where you can book a ticket (this can also be done through the website https://www. levanteferries. com). However, in my opinion, all this is a scam: no seats are assigned to passengers - what I managed to do, I took it. Although, perhaps, this is true for passengers with cars, because. the number of places for cars may be limited. Well, for the "horseless" there is always a place, only this one... There were soft sofas and chairs at tables next to the buffet in a room with a roof and glass walls...

Seats on the ferry at the bar

. . . there were chairs at the tables under the roof, but without walls, there were several chairs at the very bow of the ship. . .

Nose of the ferry

. . . and there were places right at the very top under the scorching sun - this is probably for those who like to sunbathe once again. : )

The uppermost deck of the Levante Ferries

The ferry departs from the pier near the railway station, in the same place where the Levante Ferries branded tent is located. Suitcases are handed over at the entrance to a special storage room so that no one is disturbed. Buses and various cars are driven into the cargo compartment. People go up the escalator. . .

Entrance to Levante Ferries

. . . to the passenger area. The already mentioned buffet sold all sorts of simple snacks like sandwiches, mineral water, all sorts of cola sprites and other similar rubbish and, of course, beer! It cost there at 2.5 for 0.33. You can drink it there in plenty, because. there are no queues in the toilets (by the way, they will be discussed in the next section). Quite affordable price for a ferry, one might say. The trip lasts about 3.5 hours. In general, quite a comfortable transport. Of course, for those who do not suffer from kinetosis. However, the vast majority of the latter are saved from motion sickness by means of dimenhydrinate, better known among the people as dramin or ciel. While still in the port, while waiting for the ferry, we met two Russian travelers. They asked me something. I said I don't know, but I can ask at the ticket office.

One of them asked:

– Do you know English well?

- Come on, we can do without English.

– How is that?

- Now you will see and hear.

In short, I found out the information they needed in Greek, which surprised them a lot. After all, if you figure it out like that, then why learn the Greek language? There are 2 reasons for this: 1) if you are leaving for Greece or Cyprus for permanent residence; 2) if you are a fan of foreign languages (this is just my case). Then we talked with one of them about traveling, and I casually asked if she had been to Crete, to which she replied that she had never been and was not going to go there, because. there are a lot of Russians there. I replied that this is not a problem: yes, there are many Russians, but they behave there in the vast majority of culture and do not create problems, but she replied that she would not go there anyway, and added that there would be no Russians in Kefalonia, except for us four. Well, about four - it was, of course, a joke, but there are really very, very few of our compatriots there.

A LYRICAL DIRECTION ABOUT TOATERS

As I already mentioned, I did not notice queues in toilets on ferries (and this was not our only ferry at that time, I will write about the next one further south), and the toilets themselves are quite cultured, with powerful hand dryers. For those who do not like dryers, there is also ordinary paper. Yes, and throughout Greece, toilets, say, in catering and transport enterprises, are quite clean and cult

Translated automatically from Russian. View original