Greetings! Welcome to day 7 of my journey through Greece. Today we do a lot of road traveling. We drive from the Meteora area to Ioánnina for lunch and then onto the Ferry over to the Island of Corfu. Come along, won’t you?
| One of the major Greek products is honey. We saw beehives all along the highway as we drove to Ioánnina. I imagine that this would make hitchhiking or walking along the highway rather perilous. |
|
  |
Next we stopped in Ioánnina which is one of the largest cities in Greece. It is famous for its Turkish influence. There are hookahs for sale everywhere. |
| We stepped into a nearby Taverna for lunch. I was hungry so I indulged in a large bowl of spaghetti Bolognese and a large bottle of Mythos beer. Yum yum! |
|
 
 |
Here are a couple pictures of the remaining wall of the old Turkish fort. When Ioánnina was under the Turkish occupation, it was administered by Ali Pasha; a cruel but efficient ruler who came to power in 1788. Ioánnina prospered as a merchant town under his rule and with his wealth, he conspired to succeed from Turkey and form his own independent Greek/Albanian state. Of course, the Turks would have none of this and laid siege to the fort in Ioánnina. After a long standoff, Ali Pasha agreed in 1822 to a civil meeting between the opposition leaders to form a peace pact. The extremely trustworthy Turks immediately proceeded to hunt him down and murder him. We searched along the wall until we found a way in and discovered a rather pedestrian looking interior. |
| Next we drove to the port where the ferry was departing for the island of Corfu. After a pleasant hour ride on the big boat, we unloaded our bus and set off on our way. Our group affectionately refers to our bus as the ‘purple pill’ and it’s easy to see why. |
|
We boarded the bus and rode the narrow streets winding up the mountain to our hotel, the Corfu Holiday Palace. The entryway to the hotel was so narrow; we had to back the bus up into it from the street and around a narrow turn to the parking lot. The entire bus clapped when our driver, Christos completed the task successfully. Here is a panoramic image of the view from our hotel room (it was taken early the next morning).
  |
We had dinner in the hotel. It was standard buffet fare – nothing exciting. Afterwards, we retired to the nearby bar for another glass of wine before heading to bed. Tomorrow, we explore the town of Corfu. See you then! |
