Arriving Home back in Oz

So, we have been away for six months. By the end of the six months we were tired and really needed a comfortable bed and wanted to smell the gum trees. It is difficult to remember all those wonderful places we visited. But we will never forget all the wonderful people.
We have travelled through thirteen countries and covered 24,000 km in our wonderful reliable Peugeot station wagon. It didn't miss a beat and only had one puncture throughout the whole time.

When we set out on our travels we bought a Satellite Navigation System which was great. It took us to ever single couchsurfer and Homelink host, no matter where they were. It took us on some very minor dirt tracks and we saw parts of countries we couldn't even imagine.
We are now back at work and sometimes it hard to imagine that we went away at all.
So what do we do now? Do we plan our next trip? Do we sit back and enjoy the beautiful country we live in and take time to smell the flowers? Who knows?

The Peloponnese

As we had already sold our car in England, we needed to hire a car if we wanted to drive around on mainland Greece. So we hired a little Hyundai and drove around the Peloponnese Peninsula. Once we were out of the town and past where the locals lived the rubbish started to diminish. However we noticed lots of shrines on the side of the road and found out they were located where someone had been killed in a car crash. It then became apparent that the death rate was very high, there was a shrine evry 100 metres if not more. According to the lonely planet Greece has the highest death rate for car accidents in Europe. I'm sure it can't be worse than the Croatians. They drive as if they have a death wish.

The mountains inland were stunning; Very wild, extremely dry and very scary to drive along. Often there was no armco barrier and they were very high cliffs. The coastline was spectacular with turquoise sea and a rocky coastline. Lots of small villages with quaint houses and many churches.

Nafplio Greece

Nafplio is located on the Peloponnese Peninsula. It is an historic town with elegant Venetian buildings and narrow streets. It has hundreds of cafes lining the streets and I can't imagine them all filled, even on a weekend.

The Palamidi Fortress with its dominant presence rose high above the town. It was 990 step to the top, so we decided we'd drive. We didn't fancy having a coronary at the top.

As we ventured in the streets outside the town it was an environmental disaster. We saw 1000's of plastic bottles everywhere, in every gutter, it was quite disgusting.

The other thing that was quite prominent was the fact we could only buy Greek cuisine; Greek Salad, moussaka and souvlaki. After Ten days of not being able to cook for ourselves this wore very thin.

Greek Island - Hydra

Hydra is a small island near the mainland. The characteristic of Hydra is that is has no vehicles other than small rubbish trucks. All the transportation is done by donkey; So if you want your suit cases taken to the your hotel you pay 10 euros to get them there or carry your own.

Athens - Greece

Greece was our final destination. We arrived in Athens and after being told that the Taxi drivers were all rip off artists we decided to catch the train to our hotel. We managed to read a map out of the Lonely Planet (amazingly enough) as you need bionic eye site even with the strongest glasses.

Athens was a very dirty untidy city with uneven footpaths and rubbish every where. The ancient ruins were amazing and the day was beautiful to wonder around them.