Overland travel from Edinburgh to Greece 2

July 2023 Backpacking

Nowadays, I travel overland. This is a personal choice based on the the current state of the climate. We know that air travel contributes so much to the amount of carbon which is in the atmosphere, and I’d rather not add to it unless absolutely necessary.

The first time I went to Greece this year, it took me 10 days to travel back to Edinburgh from Athens, though I broke my journey many times. I went from Athens, overnight by bus, to Budapest via Belgrade, then to Berlin (by bus), Amsterdam (bus), Hook of Holland (metro), Harwich (ferry), London (train), Edinburgh (train). I announced on social media that I was doing this and asked if anyone wanted to do a Shiatsu-hospitality swap. I received invitations in reply, so the journey took longer and I was able to renew friendships, give Shiatsu, see new places and much more besides.

It was more expensive, but more fun than flying, when I’m picked up and put down without seeing the places I am travelling through and am discombobulated by the speed and height.

Some people go slow because their body doesn’t go fast, or because they have small children who wander and stop a lot to smell the roses. I tend to walk slowly a lot of the time though I’m lucky to be relatively fit. I meander and follow my fancy, heeding the landscape ‘s call as psychogeographers have a habit to. You can’t rush easily with a huge rucksack anyway, not unless you want to rupture something!

It’s a privilege and a choice. I do usually travel as cheaply as possible, exchanging as I go where possible, and I give up work to do it, hoping that I will find a way to live somehow. One day, who knows, my book will get published and I’ll make some money with it. In the meantime, I consider myself to be lucky.

There is plenty of time for rest, reflection and reassessment when you travel this way, which is vital for a satisfying life. Instead of rushing from one place to another, there is time to look and smell, to have good conversations.

Overland from Edinburgh to Greece, return.

The second time I made the journey, I went by train and ferry through Italy.

I bought an Interrail ticket: 7 days used within 1 month costs £352. In retrospect I suspect it was not worth it. It’s a great deal of hassle trying to understand the system and negotiate the website, plus I turned into a Senior traveller in the middle of this period and they were unable to cope with that. It’s cheaper if you’re older or younger. Others I have spoken to since then, have also used this type of ticket and found it worked well for them.

Day 0 Edinburgh to London

Edinburgh Waverley – London Kings Cross by LNER train (not included). Prices vary. Website: easy to use.

Day 1 of the interrail ticket: London to Paris

London St Pancras – Dover by South Eastern Trains (free). On time. It takes 30 minutes + to walk to the port, though there is a big Marks and Spencer food shop on the way (just a little detour) and you ghet a great sight of both the castle and the sea.

Dover – Calais by P&O (free) on time. Cost: £30 one-way, for foot passengers.

You can, of course, take the Eurostar train which is efficient, but to use the interrail, you must book months in advance. It can also be very expensive if you don’t manage to get one of the advance, cheaper tickets, and beware of their promise of ease of cancellation and transfer to another journey. It is easy, but can only be transferred to a journey in the same direction, and is very expensive (a last minute change I had to make due to a bus delay (see below) cost an extra £130).

Calais – Paris Est (East) by SNCF train (free with the Interrail ticket) delayed

I stayed overnight with a friend; very many thanks for the bed and patience at the lateness of my arrival, Helena.

Day 2 Paris to Bari

Paris Nord (France) – Milan (Italy) – Bari (Italy) by SNCF and Trenitalia trains, all booked in one ticket, but BEWARE the interrail website did not allow enough time to cross from one side of Milan to the other, so I missed the connection. Remember to check in advance! Happily, there is a Last Minute Ticket Booth at Milan, and after quite a time in the queue, the woman managed to book me onto the later train without charging me a second seat booking fare, for which I was immensely grateful. People are always so kind to me when I travel and it is such a wonderful antidote to some of the things I hear about in the news.

What you can do in Milan: bask in the sun, fill up your bottle using the safe drinking water fountain in the square outside the station, eat a tuna salad at the Pizzeria near the station (good salad, stale bread, patchy service).

I recommend Movida Blablabla, a hostel for €35 in a 6-bed, all-female dorm. They accepted my very late arrival (after midnight) when I explained that it was due to the train delay though they did ask for €10 extra. Positives: kitchen, dining room decor, better than normal toilets and shower (hand-held in the bath). Negatives: the usual heat and noise from a dorm-sleeping situation.

Day 3: Bari, Italy to Igoumenitsa, Greece

There was a repeat of previous difficulties I have had in finding the right booking office to transform my online ticket into a paper one. It was even worse this time as I hiked in seriously hot sun (despite the early time of day) and walked for 1.5 hours before having to go part way back. It might be worth knowing that there is a free shuttle bus from the Albanian ticket office (where I somehow found myself) to the Greek one, but it’s hard to find out when it comes. There’s also a little cafe and toilets very near the same Albanian ticket office in the port, but otherwise it’s a great big, busy car park with no pavements. Though the ferry leaves at lunchtime (the summer timetable has a Sunday crossing), there was no time for sight-seeing in Bari in the morning, although, instead of walking you could look for a bus from the centre of Bari to the enormous port.

Bari – Igoumenitsa by boat with Superfast Ferries. The outgoing route was paid via Interrail, the return not, as the over 60s fare was cheaper so I paid for that separately. It was severely delayed. I booked a Deck Seat (you have to book somewhere and it’s worth noting that a cabin works out as more than a posh cruise ticket!) Deck seats are not on deck, they are inside. A shower (not clean) is available – ask at reception and a man will take you there with the key and wait until you finish. There’s a cafe with stressed staff and two restaurants which open later: one self-service (decent prices), and one more expensive. It is worth staying awake for the sunset.

In Igoumenitsa, I stayed overnight at Maria’s rooms, Chantzara Spyropoulos Flats to Let-City Center via booking.com. I don’t like the site (I had a bad experience that was never addressed in Finistere and there is excessive advertising), but they have a monopoly. Remember to check every detail you can think of and read the reviews before booking. Cost: €45.57. Positives: it has its own kitchen and balcony, and it was clean and has Wi-Fi. Negatives: when I arrived there was no-one there and although it was clearly marked, I couldn’t initially find it in the dark and was slightly discombobulated. The host arrived soon afterwards. He understood why I was late, but it was awkward.

Day 4: Igoumenitsa to Psarades

I was due to meet someone at Ionanina (say, Yo-an-ina) to take me onwards into north eastern Greece. It was only at this juncture that I realised I had made a big mistake thinking that Ionanina was an alternative name for Igoumenitsa. It seems really stupid now, but I didn’t doubt myself and so didn’t think to check. This meant that I had to take a bus to Ioannina and there aren’t that many of them, so the woman who was kindly driving me from there to Psarades had to wait and we were both late arriving as a result. I was so embarrassed by the situation that I went into shops in Igoumenitsa asking if anyone knew how I could get there more quickly, having visions of myself travelling in a fish delivery van or something, but to no avail. Thank you so much to Korina for her kind acceptance of the situation and the great conversation during the journey.

There’s a very nice, cool bar opposite the Igoumenitsa bus station where you can wait for ages if you need to, with a spacious toilet, and thoughtful staff. Note: it’s an uphill walk from town.

Western Macedonia

I was in Greece for the Walking Arts Encounters in Psarades (also known as Prespa and Prespes) which is a very small village by a big, beautiful lake in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It’s surrounded by mountains and has lots of cafés / restaurants, a church, a small shop with gifts for sale, and some air bnb / B&B / hotel rooms. There’s no public transport, but there is a branch of the University of Western Macedonia in the old station building. Swimming: fantastic. Bird life: amazing. Walks and trails abound.

Return journey

Prespes – Florina by taxi. €75 divided between 3 people, but the price changes randomly and it’s recommended that it be negotiated with the driver before he starts driving.

Accomodation: Filareti Hotel, Florina. A clean double room for €28, booked at the very last minute on booking.com. Positives: a comfy bed, kind staff, clean, fluffy white towels, soap and shampoo, air con, great location, balcony, Wi-Fi . Negatives: the drains were smelly and there are no kitchen facilities.

Florina – Kozani by KTEL bus. €8.70, 7am. Takes approx. 1 hour.

The alternative route from Psarades to Igoumenitsa is via Kastoria and Ioannina which cuts down 3 buses to 2. The taxi, however, is even more expensive from Psarades to Kastoria. Alternatively, you can go via Thessaloniki which is a very long was round, but it’s a good place to visit.

KTEL

You cannot book tickets online with a UK bank card and don’t bother emailing as they don’t answer. If you know someone who speaks Greek, you could ask them to phone on your behalf to get the times, or even possibly to book tickets. They are open on Sundays. See below before you do this.

KTEL buses and website: Although the website translates some information into English, it doesn’t cope with English variations of place names or days of the week. Note: D=Monday and so on. One way is to look up the place names with a translate app so you recognise them in Greek characters (even better learn Greek before you go), and then look at their drop-down menu. If you cannot find a place you are looking for, that is probably because you’re on the wrong version of the site. Each bus station/place has its own version, so I suggest you put ‘KTEL Kozani to Ioannina’ into Google for example, and go from there. The same applies to their phone numbers: you must phone each individual bus station for the place of departure if you want information and/or to book tickets.

Overland travel is certainly more complicated and whole lot more fun than going by air. If you plan to take the bus, check how long a particular journey is using Google maps, and then allow an extra hour each side. Then, go to the first bus station in your journey and buy a ticket there, in person (everyone seems to speak some English), and so on down the line. Take (in other words) one step at a time, poco a poco as they say in Spain. This is slow travel; there’s no point in going overland if you want to get there quickly; there are too many variables. Until all the different countries decide to co-operate and work out a way to make an efficient website which allows us to book all of this, it will be SLOW!

Note: there are no phone chargers, toilets or WiFi on KTEL buses as far as I can tell. They do stop to let folk on/off, so if you were desperate for the toilet they might oblige.

Kozani – Ioannina by KTEL bus €20.40 10.45 am. Takes approx. 1.5 hours. Lunch in Ioannina (see below) opposite the bus station (a kebab place: Greek salad, good wholemeal bread, a beer and a very clean WC.)

Ionanina – Igoumenitsa by KTEL bus €9.80, 14.15 (2.15pm). Takes approx. 1 hour 45 mins. I arrived far too early (8 hours) for the midnight ferry, although remember that you need to book-in for the ferry early – see your ticket email for details.

There is good ferry port info. for Igoumenitsa (and more) here.

If you are also travelling overland in Europe, rather than flying, and have information you’d like to share, please add a comment below.

Athens to Edinburgh overland 1