Greece (Day 10) Our trip to Volos

Let me start by saying the 9 day tour was great, we learned many new things, saw many historical sites and met some really nice people both on the bus as well as in country.  But as I said before sometimes the most interesting part of the trip is the unexpected things that happen none of which you will find in Rick Steves travel guide. 

Our plans after the tour was to travel down to Volos to spend 3 days visiting with our son Pat, sounds simple right.  After the tour we went to dinner in Athens and we ran into the parents of one of Pat’s friend that had just come back from Volos, what luck!  So we ask them what method of transportation they took and they said the train was definitely the best and easiest, well that’s exactly what we’ were looking, done deal. 

Now our daughter (Maureen) who is not normally an early riser did wonderful during the 9 day tour having her luggage packed and ready to go by 7:00am.  The next morning we rose early, packed our bags just as we did the last 9 days and headed to the train station which we were told is near by and it was but we needed to go down a long flight of stairs hauling our over packed luggage.  I guess the rigid schedule of the tour finally got to Maureen and while looking at the long flight of stairs she made a management decision to just toss her luggage down stairway, thankfully she waited until no one on the stairs was in jeopardy.  Mimi & I turned to each other and said What?  The luggage bounced, skidded and tumbled down the stairs without receiving anymore damage than it would by the airport baggage handler.  Mimi & I dragged ours behind us bouncing from step to step.  As you can expect Maureen and her luggage arrived at the bottom of the stairs first.  When we arrive at the bottom of the stairs a distinguished Greek gentleman  (I say distinguished because he spoke fluent English with a distinguished accent) came over and pointing to the right said “Why did you not use the elevator”  Are you kidding me there’s an elevator that must be where the term “Stupid Americans” comes from.  I thank the Greek gentleman for pointing out my ignorance then we walk to the train station.  I stand in line at the train station and once I get to the counter I find out that the train to Volos is not scheduled today, crap.  Now we have only one other choice, which is to take the bus.  Guess where we need to go back where we came from but Aha! now we know were the elevator is located. 

We exit the elevator at the street level, a little frustrated but determined to get to the buss station.  All we need to do is hail a cab, how hard could that be, well it turns out pretty hard if you don’t know the Greek way to hail a cab.  I’ve seen many movies with people hailing a cab by holding their hand stretched high in the air to get the cab drivers attention.   After doing this for 10 minutes and dozens of cab flying by mu frustration returns.  Just about the time I’m getting to my breaking point, Mimi ask a distinguished young Greek man if he speaks English and he responds yes and begins to explain with a distinguished accent that we should be holding our hand down toward the ground to hail a cab, Hmm is that because we are on the other side of the world.  Mimi ask the young Greek gentleman for his help hailing a cab and he says “Did you vote for Bush?”  She’s thinking, What do we need to be a democrat to get a cab in Greece?  She finally says to him “tell me what the right answer is to get a cab and I’ll give you that answer”.  Thankfully, he gets us a cab and gives directions to the driver to take us to the bus station, so we head to the bus station (at least we hope) with a cab driver that speaks no English and we have not learned any Greek. 

We safely arrive at the bus station and I successfully buy 3 tickets to Volos on a bus that leaves in a couple of hours or so.  With tickets in hand we rest at the station.  As with most bus terminals,  it’s old, dirty and crowded but in Greece the term old has a whole different meaning.  Mimi & Maureen decide they need to go to the ladies room before we get on the bus.  Up until now we stayed in nice hotels with adequate restroom facilities and only experienced one ancient squat toilet in a monastery.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with a squat toilet it is basically a hole in the ground that you squat over.  Well what do you suppose they had at the bus station, you guessed it a squat toilet.  While Mimi & Maureen waited in line to the bathroom not knowing at this time about the squat toilet a lady came up to them selling toilet paper by the sheet, asking, How many sheets they needed?  You’ve got to be kidding me.  I don’t know, can we take it on consignment?  Do you have a 2 for 1 sale?  I’m not sure about the final purchase agreement of the toilet paper but when they got to the squat toilet they said “No Way this ain’t happening” and left. 

We get on the bus and now is a good time to tell you that Volos is not a tourist town so there are no other tourist on the bus and we are the only English speaking people boarding.  Volos is about a 3½ hour trip from Athens so the bus makes a few stops and people get off, we stay for a few minutes then some people get back on and we proceed with our trip.  Each time they stop the driver says something in Greek and people exit the bus but as I said we don’t understand a word.  There was a young girl next to us so we ask if she spoke English, which she did and she verified what we expected the stops were rest stops for 5 minutes or so.  After the 2^nd stop Mimi says they need to get off at the next stop to go potty, so make sure the bus doesn’t leave without them, She says “Stand in front of the bus if you have to”.  Yeah, cause that would work so well.  Thankfully they made it back before I became a bug on the windshield. 

Arriving in Volos late in the evening around 11:00 pm, we immediately get a cab (now experienced at hailing a cab) and he takes us to a hotel recommended by our son Pat.  This hotel was built for the 2004 Summer Olympics so it is brand new and first class.  Since the Olympics is over we have no trouble getting a room but the cost is $250 a night.  But what choice do we have it’s late we’re tired the cab is gone, so I say we’ll take it but we need a rollaway bed because there’s 3 of us.  In very proper English the Greek gentleman says, No can do Kemosabe, or something to that effect, you need to get a 2^nd room.  Arguing was futile so we had to get another room, now it’s $500 for this night.  Holy Crap!   The rooms were amazing, spacious and beautifully decorated but we were too tired to appreciate it.  Maureen had the room right next to us.  The only negative thing we noticed was how hot the room was but no problem I opened the double doors to the patio to get a quick cool down then I could adjust the thermostat and Maureen did the same in her room.  When I opened the patio doors I noticed this beautiful marble patio floor and waist high marble wall that extended the entire length of the hotel with no separation between rooms so stupidly I walked over to our daughter Maureen’s room to see how she like the setup but instead I scared the crap out of her because she did not expect someone coming in through the open patio doors, Opps! that was a dofus move.

After nearly giving my daughter a heart attack I went back to my room to be informed by Mimi that she could not adjust the thermostat to cool it the room off.  I assumed we were doing something wrong, so I called down to the desk to get so help in turning the air conditioner on, but I was immediately told by the distinguished Greek gentleman, “That is not possible. It is winter”.  Say what, I said to him “For $250 per night per room I’ll determine when it’s winter”.  His only response was “That is not possible. It is winter”.   I believe I just heard that.  I tried arguing but to no avail so Mimi being concerned about the easy entrance from the patio (the patio doors were still open) suggested that I stay up and be on guard until both her and Maureen fell asleep in case some other dofus was strolling around the marble patio looking for open rooms.  I’m not sure I follow that logic but I agreed and stood on the patio for a while, then finally went in the room and fell asleep on a chair.    I eventually got up and closed the patio doors in both rooms and went to bed. 

That was an interesting and challenging day!

Beverley Arms Hotel with a Ghostly Twist

On a few trips to England on business I would stay at The Beverley Arms simply because fellow workers recommended it plus I thought it would be interesting to stay in an old inn.  The truth is there are a vast number of old inns in England so it didn’t distinguish itself by being old.

The Beverley Arms Hotel was built in 1794. It mixes original character and traditional furnishings with modern comforts. When it was a coaching house, the building had connections with the famous criminal, Dick Turpin (1738) or so it’s claimed but not proven.  Why connect your business to past criminal, well notoriety of any sort brings focuses attention on you or your business.  I knew nothing about the criminal connection at the time, which doesn’t impact the story or my choice to stay there.

On this particular trip I traveled alone which was the 1^st time I would experience driving on the opposite side of the road.   This in itself was a challenge but fun experience.  After staying a night in a hotel near Gatwick airport, I left early the next morning driving to Beverley, which was an all day trip in the northern part of England especially for an inexperienced driver.  The driving experience was good and I found that people drove fast but they followed the rules on proper passing, slow lanes, fast lanes better than we do in the US plus the motorways were well marked.  The roundabouts were also a new experience and a few times I would circle them more than once to find my way which I'm sure made it obvious that I was a visitor but I managed without incident.  Sometimes driving on US highways is like being in a NASCAR race with cars coming from every direction, which is the way an English (BAe) friend stated it. 

I arrived in Beverley and checked in to the Beverley Arms hotel settled in my room then walked around town, grabbed a bite to eat at a pub which is the way most nights went after working all day.  My room was in the oldest part of the hotel but comfortable and I’ve never have any trouble getting to sleep anywhere.  The floors were noticeably warped both in the lobby and my room but in my mind that just added more charm to the whole experience.

As I've said before I roamed around the city of Beverley prior to going to bed and I noticed that there were seemed to be a strong believe in the afterlife (ghosts) and if you think about it, these older buildings only reinforce that belief with their creaky warped floors and noises.   The English tell many ghost stories and give many ghost tours in most towns which maybe a strong belief or just another way to generate income but one night after my nightly walk I went to bed and experienced a strange incident.  I was lying in bed starting to dose when I heard footsteps in my room walking past the foot of my bed around the left side then a door opened and the footsteps disappeared into the hall, but what’s even more interesting there was no door on that side of the room.  Oddly enough I never felt threatened, but also not brave enough to look or sit up in bed when I heard the sounds. Was this a dream inspired by my walks around Beverley or was it reality, to this day I’m not really sure but it felt real and it validated my opinion that there is more to life than our earthly existence. 

The rest of the week I continued my routine but never heard any more footsteps in my room.  I would go back to Beverley if I had the opportunity not necessarily for the ghostly experience but for the friendly people I met every night in the quaint English pubs.