Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Life All at Sea


********WARNING - A BIT BORING THIS POST******** A BIT OF A RANT ACTUALLY**************

Not that I'm overly superstitious, but my Greek Granny never travelled on a Tuesday as Constantinople fell twice on a Tuesday, first to the smelly old 4th crusade Brexiters in 1204, and then in 1453 to Erdogan's forebears.  These dates where both on a 13th but I thought that a 31st day of the month would be safe enough.

So it came to pass that we boarded the ANEK ferry Asterion a vessel previously operated in the English channel under the name Norman Trader. ANEK have got wise to keeping the old LD Lines name - this vessel is a sister ship of the ill-fated Norman Atlantic*. It is also quite small and slow compared to what we thought we had paid for.

Spot the happy deck campers:
This is deck class, tents pitched hopefully on vibrating wet steel.  This year we were to luxuriate in a cabin.

As we departed Ancona life looked up in the restaurant

Mutti in law is propositioned with ouzo by friendly Turkish lorry drivers

Here is the cabin  - an air conditioned cupboard but a haven

Next morning we miss breakfast because the ship's tannoy system cannot be heard from with a cabin.  We are also unable to buy coffee because the ship cannot establish an internet link FFS! 

This small half deck contains all the amenities.

It appeared to us and many fellow passengers that this is a badly run and organised vessel .   This camper van appears to have collected ANEK Lines yellow paint on its way up to the top deck.




This is the second time that the fat Turkish woman in the Silver Opel Zafira  bumped her door into our car - Mrs N intervenes when the ship docks to discharge at intermediate stop Igoumenitsa

Igoumentisa - intermediate stop in northern Greece
Top deck chaos - Patras and Igoumenitsa traffic all mixed up and grid locked.


Nice!





We proceed down to Patras and narrowly miss the superior Superfast ferry going North

Due to the various debarcles we arrived at Patras 4 hours late at 1am


Our campervan friends are guided down the slippery ramp

Pleased to be off this ship!



Thankfully we find a 24 hour fuel station on the outskirts of Patras - and diesel is cheap!


In conclusion:

Do not travel on this ANEK lines ferry the Asterion which is badly organised and possible dangerous. The facilities are poor and the onboard stevadores have no clue how to load this vessel. It is also slow in comparisons to the far superior cruise ferries which operate this route normally.

*This is what happened to its sister ship Norman Atlantic in December 2014:

It would appear from press reports that the crew were no more organised than the bunch we had.


T
The fall of Constantinople on Tuesday, April 13, 1204 to the Fourth Crusade was a bleak day for Hellenism. However, Tuesday May 29, 1453, was even worse, as Constantinople fell again, this time to the Ottoman Empire, followed by almost 400 years of Ottoman rule across Greece. - See more at: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/10/13/why-superstitious-greeks-fear-tuesday-the-13th/#sthash.xp0jAavs.dpuf
Tuesday, April 13, 1204and secondly to Shiteface Erdogan's predeccsssorsANEK asterion


This is deck class, tents pitched hopefully on vibrating wet steel.  This year we were to luxuriate in a cabin.

As we departed Ancona life looked up in the restaurant

Mutti in law is propositioned with ouzo by friendly Turkish lorry drivers


Here is the cabin

Next morning we miss braekfast because the ship's tannoy system cannot be haerd from with a cabin.  We are also unable to buy coffee because the ship cannot establis an internet link FFS!
It appeared to us and many fellow passengers that this is a badly run and organised vessel . 



This is the second time that the fat Turkish woman in the Silver Opel Zafira  bumped her door into our car

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Saturday, July 2, 2016

Journey to Greece via Merano

We set off from Wiesbaden on time despite my advertised schedule. The first night stop would be at Goppingen followed by Merano  On the third day we were to catch the ferry to Patras from Ancona.

The journey shape resembles the constellation Cassiopeia, who was the wife of king Cepheus of Æthiopia, was beautiful but also arrogant and vain; these latter two characteristics led to her downfall. 



There is always stau at Sinsheim - I blame supersonic Tupolev spotters, football enthusiasts and people carrying bicycles on their cars.

We were however soothed by "music".

Flaming June barbeque scene 1: make shift Fallschirm gegen Regen

Flaming June barbeque scene 2: this weekend most of central Germany was washed away.

At least we tasted Britexit beer

The next morning under clearing skies (there had been a mega storm overnight) we set off to Merano with aplanned lunch stop at a gluten free cafe at Augsburg.

We found the cafe but it's closed on Mondays!

The first sight of mountains

Romantische Strasse complete with tractors

Inevitably before Garmisch the rain started again - we head towards Austria and the Brenner pass.

A well engineered escape lane - there were 4 of these within 1km.

Even more lunatic than motorcycling in these conditions is the pastime of cycling.

I take a navigational chance and head for the Jaufen pass - this avoids a long motorway dog leg via Bolzano but the map is not clear whether the pass would be open in June

The SS44 is the Jaufenstrasse which was indeed open

Scudding through the clouds just prior to the descent into Meran International



The Hotel Maya in Merano was actually the Guest House Maya in Sinigo, some 2 km out of town on the SP117. However it was above a good Italian restaurant and perfectly adequate for a one night stand (and we could park).
The next morning, in characteristic fashion, the rain began to clear and we decided to spend the morning exploring Merano. This town appears to have been untouched by conflict but had changed hands between Bavaria and Italy after World war 1.

We parked underground adjacent to the thermal baths

On a sunnier day....
We cross the Passer River on the 1617 built

Steinerner Steg bridge



A stroll by the river and the colonades

A little too early for beer, darling

Flowers

A wonderful expanding mechanism
Some time later near Bologna we spot gluten free junk food.


Essential mastibon

Mother in law sleeps as we cross the River Po

Too may slots and not enough exlpanation on the Autostarda pay booth

Some hours later we arrive at the Ancona ferry terminal

Despite the screen, the ANEK Lines Asterion is running late - it's coming in from Venice


The Asterion appears throgh a hole in the cloud that has just soaked us during our coffee excursion into Ancona city

By the time we are loaded onto the cramped, slippery ramped and awkward superior car deck the sun makes an appearance and I scan the dockside windows feverishly for the Brewster angle.

A shambles on the Asterion

Arrivederci e buona liberazione Ancona!

We sail off into the Adriatic some hours behind schedule!

We are scheduled to call at Igoumenitsa late tomorrow with an arrival at Patras in 26 hours or so...This is not the fast ferry we paid for!
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