I think I can, I think I can

Monday, November 3, 2008
Travel from Olympia Greece to Sparta Greece

My view from the bus.

Well let’s just say that it is a good thing I did not plan to leave last night. So I headed to the bus stop nice and early this morning so I would not miss my bus to Tripoli. It was scheduled to arrive at 0830 so I was there just after 0800. 0830 rolled around....no bus, 0845 rolled around, no bus. I asked a couple of the other buses and they all said “next bus, next bus”. The next bus at 0910..... not to Tripoli and the driver tried to tell me something and I could not understand and he could not understand me and so I decided to walk down towards the visitor information office to find someone who spoke English.

Turned out that the bus I needed to take only showed up if you bought a ticket in advance and the bus was told someone was there, so my bus wasn’t coming. Also turns out that the little shop I had been staring at was the bus station. Of course once I went back to look for the sign I found it and sure enough, that’s where I bought a ticket. So instead of leaving Olympia at 0830 I was not going to be leaving until 1230. I guess that is ok since the most important thing is that I got on a bus and out of Olympia.

I then figured out why it took 3.5 hours to drive just over 100 kilometres (around 62 miles). I can honestly say that the ride from Olympia to Tripoli was the most random trip I had ever taken. At least they knew where I was going so the driver just kept letting me know. Like when we stopped at a random intersection on the highway and he motioned to me to get off that bus and onto another one, he made sure I knew this new bus was going to Tripoli. And then we stopped at the side of the road and he opened the door and cut the engine, he let me know it would only be for a short moment and then we would be on to Tripoli. It turns out we had to wait for school to be let out so we could collect a few kids and take them home.

Some of the randomness.

The trip took me up and down all these beautiful mountain roads and every once in a while we would get off the main road, go up some random little road (barely wide enough for the bus let alone a bus and a truck as we often encountered) to pick up or drop off some people and then back down the little road to the highway again. Sometimes there would just be people standing on the side of the road and they would wave us down and hop on. I am not sure where some of these people could have even been coming from but we took them home.

Look! More randomness.

Eventually we did make it to Tripoli and when I went to check out catching a bus to Sparta I was met with a “not here, the other station”. What other station? Well thank goodness there was a young girl there who spoke English who directed me to it. It was only a short 15 minute walk. My bus to Sparta was going to be another 1.5 hour wait so I just relaxed a bit.

Weird because there was this group of men sitting around outside but when I sat down to wait (they invited me by the way and knew I was from Canada and spoke no Greek), they would no longer carry on their conversation in front of me. They walked across the street a few times, some more men joined them…it was all very sketchy (and I can honestly say that I have used that term far more in this country than I ever have before).

Eventually my bus to Sparta did show up….and it was full. Sparta is apparently a popular place. It was about 58 kilometres. No seats left so I stood the whole way. Ran into a couple of Canadians who were headed the same way so it was nice to talk to someone in English. My original plan was to go all the way to Mystras but it is a lot smaller than Sparta and I figured I would have an easier time finding a hotel here.

I have firmly established that I hate arriving to new cities after dark. Things always seem worse in the dark and I would much rather walk around randomly with a 40 lb back pack in the daylight but the last few trips that has not been possible. Plus tonight I was followed out of the bus station by a group of guys…...I crossed the street to avoid them…they crossed the street a block later to get back in front of me. I crossed the street at the Fire Hall to ask for directions. Not sure I saw those boys again. Found a little place for a nice little price (25 euros a night). No TV (so I will have to find someplace to watch election coverage tomorrow night) and my bathroom is across the hall (not shared just across the hall). It will do for a couple nights.

I then headed down the street to this great little restaurant. I was drawn to it because it has a nice Canadian flag in the window and a big sign that says “We Speak English”. And they speak English very well. The restaurant (Restaurant Elysse just in case you ever end up here) is run by a Greek Canadian family so it was a little like being at home but with great Greek food and beer. They are very excited about the election tomorrow. Apparently all of Greece is rooting for Obama. So neat to be so far away and still be able to share this with them.

But first things first…sightseeing tomorrow. Odds are even when I wake up Wednesday morning they will still be counting ballots anyways.

Julie