Bari - Patras

Sunday, 28.05.2023

It's not far to the port in Bari, so we arrive there much earlier than necessary. The ferry leaves at 1:30 PM and since we have booked Camping on Board, we are supposed to pick up the tickets at least 2 hours earlier. In the middle of the port, more or less on the sidewalk, in front of a kind of café (but more like a kiosk), there are a few tables and chairs that are mostly occupied by truck drivers. We manage to get a free table, have a coffee, and observe the different characters. You could sit there all day... Around 11 o'clock we go to our motorhome, drive in a group towards the ferry, and shortly afterwards the boarding begins. The motorhomes with Camping on Board are the first to go on the ship, on the (sideways) open deck, and then the rest. Trucks are parked in front of the motorhomes, this is really a matter of millimeters and not for novice drivers! The whole process takes over 2 and a half hours and so we start our journey to Bari with a little delay and a stopover in Igoumenitsa... The time passes quite quickly, we sit on the deck for a while until it gets very hot and then retreat to the motorhome, where the attempt to make coffee unfortunately fails miserably. Since gas is not allowed to be used, but we are connected to the power supply, the pod machine is quickly unpacked and turned on, it smells briefly burnt and then the water runs out everywhere but not as coffee into the cup... The dinner in the self-service restaurant is quite okay and the night is noisy. Because we dock in Igoumenitsa in the middle of the night and a part of the ship is unloaded and reloaded, we are practically live on our pitch... The night also ends early, shortly before 6 o'clock the announcement comes that we will dock in Patras in half an hour...