DAY 89 GREECE WOW....

So before I left Italy I called into the Cathedral in Bari where St. Nickolas is buried and thanked him for the best present of my life-the little blue bicycle I got when I was 6 years old. Then I hopped on the overnight ferry to Greece. Country No 7 greeted me with open arms. Within an hour of arriving, I was blown away by everything.-The welcoming waves and hoots of horns from passing vehicles, the scenery,the mountains, the food and the all important great surface on the empty roads, And everyone I met was so friendly and welcoming.I was sitting on a park bench at the top of a hill admiring the coastal scenery when I spotted another touring cyclist coming up the hill and heading in the same direction as me. Charlie from Austria was a giant of a man and is 1 week into his 3 week trip of Greece. We got some lunch and made our way towards Preveza. Considering you can get a twin room for the price of two hostel dorms and Charlie had no tent , we went looking for a cheap hotel. The paint was peeling off the walls in Hotel Avra and considering it didn't boast any stars, it seemed within budget. We hit the town with vast quantities of food and even vaster quantities of ouzos(the local drink). Ouzo is great fun on the night of consumption but an utter torment the following morning. All plans of leaving Preveza the next morning were abandoned. Instead Charlie decided to get an new tattoo. We went for breakfast at lunch time,lunch at dinner time and dinner at 10pm. We were wandering around town after midnight , when we came upon a punk/metal venue with a kicking band on stage. This seemed to be one of those 'Greek Only' clubs. We managed to slip past the steep 15 euro entrance fee and were the only two non-Greeks in this club. We decided on 2 things;

1. No Ouzos!!

2. We'll keep a low profile.

I'm not too sure what Charlie's interpretation of a low profile is,but he quickly had the shirt off and was hopping around the dance floor like he was been electrocuted. More people were amused with the 6ft tourist with the shaven head (apart from pony tail and locks) and about 10 facial piercing and covered in tattoos than what was happening on stage. The after gig DJ had everything from the 'Dead Kennedys' to the 'Sex Pistols' coming through the speakers. We jumped around like crazy. At least we had no Ouzos!!