Patra (Patras), Greece

We headed to Patra (Patras) from Galaxidi, to catch a ferry to the island of Corfu.
We’d checked the ferry schedule online, but unfortunately it had changed, and the website had not been updated, so it was a slight change of plans, we’d have to catch two ferries instead of one direct one. First we would get a ferry to Igoumenitsa, where we’d change to another ferry on to Corfu.
Wanting to see what Patra (Patras) was like we booked to stay two nights. Two hours would have been more than enough.
The town was rather depressing and edgy with loads of closed down businesses. Not a place to wander round with a camera taking photos.
The high point for me was finding a good wine shop, Cava Romanos and buying a bottle of Domaine Skouras.
On our last day in Patra (Patras),
We had the entire day to kill, because our ferry to Corfu (ANEK Line – 33€) was not departing until 11:59pm.
We lingered at the hotel, checked-out, had lunch nearby, and then returned to the hotel where we lingered some more. Despite a lot of lingering we still found ourselves at the Patra (Patras) New Port at 5pm. Ever so slightly early for our 11:59pm ferry.
Eagle-eyed Laura spotted an electric plug socket next to one of the tables in the upstairs cafe, so we sat down and made ourselves at home. Well, we did have seven hours to kill, we thought we may as well get comfortable.
Not only did we have an endless supply of electricity, enabling us to play on our iPad and charge the iPhone, we discovered the port had free WiFi. Happy days.
We spent the hours eating, drinking, writing, and playing on Instagram. Time vanishes when you are having fun.
It was all going well, right up until we found out that the ferry was delayed – by 2 hours.
In the end the ferry ended up being 4 hours late arriving in Igoumanista. Then we had to catch another ferry across to Corfu (10€ each) which departed from a different ferry port to the one we’d arrived in, 1.5kms away (5€ in a taxi).
The ferry ride itself was not the most pleasant travel we’ve ever experienced. The whole boat stunk. We had decided not to have a cabin, but chose deck seats instead. Laura doesn’t sleep well, and I sleep anywhere, so it seemed like a waste of money booking a private cabin. That probably wasn’t the best decision.
The deck seats were in a large room, with carpeted floor. The carpet was very old, sticky, and stinky. The seats were covered in an equally stinky valour fabric. The whole ferry stank. The room we were to call our home for the next few hours also smelt nasty.
Our travelling companions in the stinky room were three other couples of various ages and nationalities, a couple of single blokes, and millions of French teenagers.
Well, not quite millions, but the noise they made for the first hour of so after boarding the boat, definitely sounded like millions.
In fact there were probably about a couple of dozen, and a couple of teachers.
Eventually the teenagers started to settle down for the night. They began rummaging in their rucksacks unpacking all manner of things.
At about the same time the couples also started to unpack. Then they started to strip, and change in to their nighties and pyjamas. It was an interesting, and bizarre sight. Maybe it’s perfectly normal behaviour to treat a grotty room on a ship, full of strangers, the same as you would a private hotel room, but it seemed odd to us.
The French teenagers laid ridge-rests, sleeping mats, on the floor between the rows of seats, and just about anywhere there was a free space, then they jumped in to their sleeping bags, and finally quietened down. They remained quiet until they started snoring. But as I was also snoring, and even Laura managed to nod off for a few minutes before waking herself with a gentle snort, we didn’t moan about this noise. ;o
We weren’t impressed with the ferry from Patra (Patras) to Igoumanista. It was not particularly comfortable, it had a horrible smell, despite the crew constantly cleaning throughout the night. The restaurant was only open at certaint times, not throughout the whole journey. Typically we only felt hungry when it was closed.
There were several loud announcements informing passengers of various things, in about half a dozen different languages. They were so loud, they even woke the teenagers, all be it momentarily. But the staff were very good. When the ferry finally arrived in Patra (Patras) they disembarked the passengers, and boarded us really fast, and set sail again quite quickly too. And most importantly the crossing was successful, we arrived in Igoumanista safely.

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