Hotel Visad Sarande

... engine room. There is a very dingy area below deck where the one meal of passage is served…luckily we still had a package of biscuits. Water ran out after a couple of hours….

ETA (estifmated time of arrival):
The ferry is scheduled to take 17hours. We ended up being on board for 23 hours - from boarding to departure. Three of these hours being spent squeezed between hundreds of sweating people trying to push through the exit ...

... of the Paleo Frourio, an old Venetian fort. That was pretty cool. Then, late this afternoon we went through the Archaeological Museum. We didn't spend much time here since it was close to closing time and we were all tired from the water park.

That evening though we ate at our first authentic Greek taverna, we found one playing Greek music ...

... why I wasn't taking video sooner I'll never know. But I am now. However, I have to pay $0.60/minute for internet so I will probably wait to upload all the photos until the end of the trip when I'm at a regular internet place.

Hope you all are also having a fabulous and relaxing week. And if you're not, take a deep breath and remember, "We're all going to the same place. We're going to get there. Just relax." I'm hoping that was calming and not just morbid. :)

... the gym hence leaving Robyn and Olivia play copious card games together. We seem to be in the dining room all the time and the food is fabulous. Chris helped himself to the bottle of water on the table, the first night at dinner, only to find later that it is priced like gold and had been purchased by the guests we shared the table with. They must have thought us real plebs.

Our first stop was Corfu and the weather, fabulous and warm. Walked ...

... Everyone on the boat was being sick in the toilets in the sick bags it was vile and even the staff on the boat were at it. Anyways was looking at Ian and he had gone a funny colour next minute he grabbed the sick bag and was really ill. I could not help it but was laughing while I was rubbing his back but the noices where making me and Katy ill couldnt look at him. We finally docked at Bari a whole 14 hours later and I swear I am never ever doing a boat ride like that again.

... they spend a lot of time relaxing, because they live on an island. I have only one dislike. The water was too cold and dirty for my taste, but there are a lot of swimming pools around, so I didn't need to swim in the open. This journey was a fun journey and I will never forget it.

... Charlize (Gemma) was a 10
Typical day: breakfast, beach, swims, Mythos, gyros, nap, dinner (sit with a bunch of different people every night, they can become your best friends rather quickly), pint slaying, stairs/reception or nightclub
Beginning of excessive uphill walks
Skinny dipping
Callahan loves books more than anyone has ever loved a vagina

June 21: The Pink Palace - Day of Dreams #4 (aka Day of Smead)
Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece iansmitty

The next day I continued towards Saranda. On my way I stopped at the marshland surrounded city of Butrinit: An amazingly preserved archeological site which has been a central city throughout the Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods. Finally reaching some asphalt roads which led all the way to the city. Saranda is turning into a relatively large Albanian beach resort, catering also to some tourist arriving form ...

... we set out to carefully explore the town. Also of note: this is the first time Easy Cruise has ever stopped in this port, so it was a bit of an experiment for everyone (and they didn't have any info on the town...or Albania for that matter) Off we go up the road, which reminds me a bit of that time I went to Ensenada Mexico - dusty, run down, empty shells of concrete buildings, locals wondering why the hell you're there. So we decide to just ...

... familiar with.

With weary resignation and in need of a good rest, I resorted to one last tour of the back streets to look for the hotel. And then I saw it. Not more than a stone's throw from the policewoman's booth, next door to a supermarket was Hotel Hermes. There were some steps to be climbed to gain access and at the top sat a small elderly man, sleeping. I coughed politely and asked in English if there were any rooms going. Startled at having been woken ...