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photo page 22 |
Departure from Haifa: the sky over the town and mount Carmel colors brightly
orange. In the bottom left, the funnels and lights of the ship can be seen.
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The owners hut of the Trader-1 is occupied by a honeymooning couple, and
of course we happily grant them the extra large beds. We stay in the second
best cabin: the sick bay. It is a very small cabin, and we had to put Amitsa's
bench on the top bed during the day, the be able to move a little bit. The
cabin was so dirty that we did not dare to use the shower, and Sonja used
half a bottle of aggressive handcleaner to make the sink and toilet somewhat
presentable. Amitsa lost her white coat from all the dirt, and when she came
for a hug, our white T-shirts were printed with black cats paws.
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Trader-1 at sea, somewhere between Cyprus and Greece. Henk has forced
the window open - completely painted shut - when the air conditioning of
the ship broke down. The ship was originally Finnish, intended for the Baltic,
and heavily insulated. The heat soon became almost unbearable. We even switched
off the fridge from the car as that also produced some heat, with the result
that all tidbits from Israel had to be dumped in the pach.
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No where to go, no emails to answer: just relaxing on board. And
we talked a lot with fellow passengers and captain Yanos (he had some stories
to tell....).
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Taking a breather on the bow. The wind force is 7 straight from ahead, and
together with the speed of the ship we get almost blown off our socks. .
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The upper deck of the Trader-1 is empty, except for the car of the newly-weds
and our minivan. This allows the crew to paint the ship just before the busy
season starts.
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Arriving at Piraeus, just after sunrise.
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When the ship is moored, passport control is in the captains saloon. Immediately
afterwards, we put the cars on the huge elevator to descend to the exit ramp.
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With our travel fellows, Hoffit en Kobi, we wait for the paperwork of
importing the cars. We resolve to emergency rations, as there was no breakfast
on board this morning. Hoffit decorates dry crackers with Nutella, very creative!!!
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The traditional picture of the canal of Corinthe. We pass it on the way from Piraeus to Patras.
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Amitsa still hates travelling by car, and we decide to skip our holiday
in Greece and move straight the ferry to Italy. Despite a very busy weekend,
we manage to buy a ticket just half an hour before departure, with still
10 minutes to drive. In front of the ticket office is a big crowd, and when
we finally race on to the ship, the ramps are shut immediately after us and
before we are in the cabin, the ship has left the dock.
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Internet cafe on board the ferry: we drop a note to both home fronts
that we have reached and left Greece, and that Amitsa is still loud and about.
At the traffic site of ANWB we check the road conditions in Austria, as there
have been severe flooding recently, but al main roads are clear.
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Such colors still fascinate us: this is sunset at Igoumenitsa,
where the ferry stops for an hour to take on another 800 passengers.
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The "pet-cabin" appears to be just a regular 4 pax hut,
but it is plenty big enough to put the bench on one of the beds. With all
the stuff for Amitsa, the cabin soon looks like an El-Al flight after landing:
a complete mess. But there is one major reward: the first shower in 3 days,
everything squeaky clean, new clothes... we feel like reaching an oasis.
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Amitsa suddenly thinks driving in the car is OK, and she
falls asleep as soon as we reach Italy. The roads are extremely busy, but
after a day of concentrated driving we reach the same hotel as on the first
trip, near Innsbruck. There is a room available, but just for the first night.
The next day we move about 100 meters to the next hotel, typically Austrian:
Maria Theresia.
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An extra day of R&R in Austria. We drive up the little
toll road to the Hinterhornalm, through the Gnadenwald. The long and steep
climb uphill, along lots of hairpin curves, is almost too much for the car:
Shai has a distinct smell of burning rubber. We decide to let him cool down,
and get some apfelstrudel, a giant ice coffee, enjoy the spectacular view,
and have a lot of talks with people amazed about the cat. Our rusty German
gradually starts to pick up some speed.
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Lots of people use the meadow next to the cafe to jump from the mountain, attired with delta-wings or parasails.
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The last morning in Austria, a few more picture (only 460
this holiday), and then we head for Holland, another 12 hours in the car.
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