Monday, September 28, 2015
Norm and I slept a little later than planned on the ferry
from Ancona, Italy to Igoumenitsa, Greece.
We went down for breakfast, then came back to take advantage
of what was reported as real hot water. (I
have not figured out these public showers to date, and am getting a little
tired of taking cold showers). Hooray! They were hot! Now I really feel like I
am at the Ritz Carlton!
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| We were moving about like a precision drill team inside the ferry with no drill Sargent! Crew whistling, shouting in unknown languages! But no accidents! All was good! |
We all met in the corner of the parking lot, and then headed
into the mountains! Many in the group,
including Norm and I, had no idea Greece had mountains! What a lovely surprise!
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| Part of the 6.77 billion dollar Euro roadway |
The road system here in Greece is quite interesting. I am going to quote the paperwork given to
us, which came from www.roadtraffic-technology.com
.
The 670 km Egnatia
Odos – which translates as Roman Road – motorway is one of the largest and most
ambitious civil engineering projects in Europe at the current time. It runs across Northern Greece from its
starting point at Igoumenitsa, to the village of Kipi on the Turkish border. The road is a key route in developing the
trans-European road network. There are
over 1700 structures that are dotted along the road, comprising 76 tunnels (resulting
in 49.5km being underground), and 1,650 bridges with a combined length of 40
km. On top of this, there are 43 river crossings,
11 railway crossings and 50 interchanges with existing roads! It’s estimated cost is 6.77 billion euro’s!
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| Steep roads made for a fun drive ( at least for the passenger ) |
The 80 mile drive took several hours and was beautiful with
steep grades and switchback roads. This
small vehicle with a diesel engine glides up them like they were not even
there! The tunnel system was amazing-
some would go on and on for miles and as soon as you exited one, another would
be upon you.
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| Graffiti on most surfaces even roadway signs. |
The countryside was breathtaking, but the tons of trash
littering the sides of the road would make you gasp! Graffiti was everywhere. What
a shame!
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| Beautiful countrysides |
We got a glimpse of tomorrow’s destination, Meteora
Monasteries, near our campground, as we all parked our rigs, and again joined
for happy hour.
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| Happy Hour beaneath the pinnacle rocks |
A Greek meal was provided by the tour company and after a
couple hours of great conversation and wine, we called it a night.
