I've finally made it to Patra, and have the ferry tickets booked for tonight and Sunday. I'm spending two nights in Corfu. Luckily the times worked out perfectly.
However, getting here today was somewhat of a mission; I don't think I'll have the time to describe it all before I have to leave...
I basically conceived of the idea of going to Corfu yesterday. I started looking and the travel options, and discovered that had I been looking one hour earlier I could have jumped on the bus back to Athens then from there jumped on a bus straight to the hostel in Corfu. Oh, the frustration at being just ONE BLOODY HOUR too late. So, naturally, it took me an hour or so to get over that. I spent the night in Napflio and got on the 08:00 bus back to Corinth, intending to get the train to Patra from there.
While sitting on the bus, I had the thought that perhaps I could get another bus from Athens to Corfu, that might leave during the day so I would arrive there this evening. Several very unsuccessful phonecalls later and I didn't have any information about it. I called the hostel in Corfu and they told me that the only bus was at 19:00, so I was better to take the Ferry from Patras.
Meanwhile, I had disembarked at Isthmus, and NOT Corinth (Korinthos) as I had said I wanted. Somehow.
So I needed to get back into Corinth to get the train to Patras. When I went to Isthmus / Corinth Canal previously I jumped on the bus right near the bus station in Corinth. For some reason that didn't work today. I walked over to the bus stop (what looked like the bus stop) and stop there and waited, and waited. While waiting somebody even pulled over and asked me what I assume was "Where are you going?" I immediately said "Korinthos", since that was where I was thinking I wanted to go. Corinth isn't that far away, so he said, "Ah, ok", and drove off. As he was pulling away I realised that I could/should have said "Patra".... So, I spent the next hour or so trying (unsuccessfully) to hitchhike. Meanwhile buses were coming past, ones that looked like the ones I wanted, but they weren't pulling over, even when I "flagged" them. After about an hour I decided to start walking. I stopped and various bus stations on the way and buses came past but none pulled over for me.
In the end, I walked all the way into town.
The train station isn't actually "in" town, but a little further out. I also got a bus from the train station when I had arrived a few days ago. Looking around I couldn't see any likely bus stop, and asking didn't get me very far, so I jumped in a Taxi. Only cost me 3 Euros, so that wasn't too bad. Turned out that getting the Taxi was kind of lucky, because the train to Patra was leaving literally as I arrived - the guy at the counter started to say "I have no trains until..." then said "There's a train now. Platform 3, run run." I just made it.
Ah what an adventure. But now I'm in Patra, I've got 6 hours until the ferry leaves, but I'm glad that I've got all my tickets sorted and can just sit back and wait.
Rather annoying to waste a day screwing around like that, but at least I've got two days to sit on the island doing sweet FA.
I probably should figure out what happens after I leave Corfu...
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