To Athens, by bus Sept 10

Lefkada to Athens, by bus September 10

Between the two of us we have many bags of luggage so we called a taxi to take us to the new bus station. The bus was very new and had great windows and seat.

It was a quick trip, long wait, no announcement of board times or places and we had to make sure our luggage was put aboard in the right place. Greek style I guess. Canadian style, we got on board and sat where we wanted, only to find out that we get assigned seats – and our were almost at the back, so we moved and had to ask people to leave our seats too. It was all done very civilly.

It was a very interesting trip right from the beginning. We crossed a small but important bridge as we left town. It is necessary to get to the bridge at the right time because every hour or two it lifts and turns so that sailboats and their high masts can pass through.

Yet another fort was situated on the far side of the river. Jim had walked to it one day but the rest of us hadn't bothered.

Again the countryside reminded us so much of the Okanagan, desert but abundant where produce was cared for. So many olive groves. There were quite a few small settlements along the way and they all looked like places we would like to explore.

About an hour into the five hour trip we crossed a beautiful new bridge. The Rion-antirion cable stayed bridge connects the Polyponesse to the mainland. The huge cables look like 4 great white sails.

We stopped for lunch. Again, it was quick, no announcement and no boarding announcement either.

The great excitement of the trip was to snap a picture as we crossed the Corinth canal. At one time the isthmus joined the mainland but was dug out so that ships would have a shorter trip go to through the canal rather than down around the Peloponesse. The long trip was much more interesting for us but we were not in a hurry either. The canal is 6.3 km long and it was finished in 1893. Those guys knew what they were doing back then.

Five hours later we were in Athens.