Dec 31, 2008 – Quiliano, Italy

On New Years Eve we were en route from Orvieto, Italy to St-Raphael, France on the French Riviera.  We stopped half-way in a small town called Quiliano (see Google Map link here).

We had a room in a bed and breakfast located in this building that was huge and cold but I was sick and just wanted to get into bed and stay there.

We were in bed before midnight but kept awake both before and after by the detonation of approximately 1 bezillion firecrackers and other assorted fireworks in these seemingly peaceful streets.

We were served an excellent breakfast in a charming old dining room but, despite this, weren’t unhappy to put Quiliano in the rear view mirror.

Dec 29-30, 2008 – Orvieto, Italy

After getting off the ferry from Greece at Brindisi, our route to Orvieto took us up Italy’s east coast and then through its center to the Rome area before turning north to Orvieto (see Google map link here).

Our guidebooks suggested Orvieto was a nice hill town and it didn’t disappoint.  We stayed down in the new town at the base but made a couple of forays up the hill to visit the old town.

Orvieto was celebrating the season by decorating the old town with lights and hosting a jazz festival that, from the voices we heard around town, had attracted a range of different nationalities.

More evidence of the Christmas season.

These boars run wild in parts of Italy and France and there are shops like this one that specialize in boar products.

There were lights on the facade of this church, but sunset lighting helped make the lighting for this photo more interesting.

Dec 29, 2008 – En route to Orvieto, Italy

We arrived in Brindisi, Italy at about 7:30 am with a plan to drive to Orvieto, Italy, a trip of about 660 kilometers.  By the standard of our trip, this was a long drive for us but we didn’t want to linger too long in the south because the weather reports were calling for more snow.

We had also made arrangements with friends from Victoria, the MacDonalds, to meet in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France and wanted to keep moving north so we wouldn’t have to rush to our rendezvous with them.

There were a couple of good images on the way to Orvieto.  We don’t know what this structure was but it looked so dark and forbidding but at the same time like an elevated restaurant that Allister named it Darth Vader’s Diner.

A little further up the highway on the east coast of Italy, we saw these wharves that we assumed were fishing platforms of some kind.

More than once on this trip I observed how nice it was to have someone to share the driving.

Dec 28, 2008 – Patras, Greece – Ferry to Brindisi, Italy

This photo was taken on our way to Patras and looks out across the Sea of Corinth to Greece on the other side.  Seeing the freezing level so vividly reminded us of both the North Shore mountains in Vancouver and the Sooke Hills on Vancouver Island.

We arrived in Patras in good time and boarded our ship, the Ionian Queen.  The Minoan Line boat that Allister is looking at is a competitor but gives an idea of the size of ship on these routes.  As with our trip to Greece, this boat was a car ferry and we had booked an inside stateroom so we could sleep on our overnight trip.

Here is another view from our ship.  Allister is looking in the direction our ship would take after departure on our way to Italy.

There are also mountains to the south of Patras and you can sure tell its December from the snow at higher elevations!

This was interesting.  A crowd of young men had gathered on the other side of our ship as we waited to depart.  You see them in the photo below just to the right of the middle of the photo. 

We asked crew members who they were and why there was military and other law enforcement so visible in the port area and were told they were immigrants trying to stowaway on a boat bound for Italy.

Dec 27, 2008 – Melissi, Greece – En route to the Patras-to- Brindisi ferry

We left Poros on the morning of December 27th and headed towards Patras where we would board our ferry to Brindisi, Italy.

Having passed through Patras on our entry to Greece, we had little appetite to spend the night there but thought it was a good idea to get within easy reach so we’d be on hand in good time to board our ship on the afternoon of the 28th.

Our goal on this day was to reach a place called Melissi on the north coast of the Peloponnese just past Corinth that would leave us with an easy 2.5 hour drive to Patras the next day.

Just out of Poros, we saw this inlet with a site that is familiar on BC’s north coast.

The Lido Hotel in Melissi was family-run and they made us feel very welcome. It was located on the waterfront but at this time was catering mostly to those spending the holidays in the area or, like us, just passing through.

Our family has a soft spot for old VW products because of Laura-Lyn’s family history.  Love of VWs seems to have passed on to Charlotte who took this photo of a fine specimen that belonged to our hosts at the Lido Hotel.

Dec 23 – 26, 2008 – Christmas in Poros, Greece

From Stemnitsa, we headed for the city of Poros, located on the island of Poros on the east coast of the Peloponnese peninsula (see Google map here).  This was where we spent Christmas 2008.

The island of Poros is separated from the mainland by about 500 meters of ocean and you get there on the ferry shown below that we were about to board when this picture was taken.

The view from the ferry on its short (<10 min trip to the island).  The apartment where we stayed was just back from the waterfront, near the base of the clock tower.

A typical street scene.  Like many places in Europe you could stay in shape going up and down the stairs, like many of the elders in these communities.

Orange trees, a common site in Greece, this time right in a square in Poros.

A road winds round Poros and we drove it one day (takes about 30 minutes to circumnavigate).  This was the view from the top of Poros, looking in the direction of Athens.

On Christmas Eve we took a walk around the bay that’s formed by the island of Poros and the mainland.  Our apartment was almost directly behind the sail boat you see in the middle of the bay. 

The boat was a beautiful wood sailboat and easily visible out our apartment window.  We never saw anyone on the boat and appeared as though it might have been moored in Poros for the winter, waiting for next year’s cruising season.

The sun was setting as we began the walk back to our apartment and provided interesting lighting for this picture.

One of the objectives of our drive around the island was to find a nice branch for a Christmas tree.  This is what we found with our presents all ready for Christmas day.

These socks didn’t have much capacity, but they maintained the Christmas tradition!

Ferries and other boats came and went at all hours of the day and night.  This was one of the Athens ferries.  This picture was taken from our apartment.  We were one flight of stairs up the waterfront.

This picture doesn’t show it too clearly but this is a hydrofoil that was a member of the Flying Dolphin high-speed ferry service that operates between the mainland and the islands. 

As many will know, peak Greek ferry season is May – October but for islands like Poros seemed well-served even at this time of year, although its possible extra ferries were added for the holiday season.

Allister helping out in the kitchen.  I could make any of a number of smart-aleck comments but I won’t.   It was nice to have his help.