Greece

Well it sure took long enough, but finally I'm here in Athens. After my incredible time in Dubrovnik I had almost a day and a half of traveling. At 11pm Wednesday night I caught an overnight ferry to Bari, Italy which took 8 hours. It got a little chilly out there on the Adriatic, but it wasn't bad. Once in Bari I had 12 hours to kill. I went to an Internet cafe for a few hours, got some food and then basically ate and read a lot. Bari, despite being in Italy, is not a very safe place to walk around with 3 bags. The differences between Northern and Southern Italy are astonishing. Basically, the entire South is still run by the mafia and there were a bunch of shady characters that I ran into in Bari-which is situated in Puglia-Calabria, the poorest economically of all of Italy's regions.
At 8pm, I caught a 20 hour ferry from Bari to Patras, Greece (on the Peloponnesis), the 3rd largest city in the country. Our ferry was essentially a mini cruise ship, complete with bars, pools, casinos, etc. I met some friends on the ship, which helped pass the time a little. The end of the ride was pretty as we weaved in and out of Greek islands. Finally, at 12:30pm on Friday we arrived in Patras. From Patras, we had to take a 3 hour train to Athens, but of course we had to wait 3 hours before the next train. Finally I made it to my hostel, which is pretty nice because there is a rooftop bar that has a great view of the Acropolis and is well located.
Today (Saturday), I had a great day in Athens. I woke up real early to avoid the crowds at the Acropolis and I saw the Parthenon, the ancient Greek and Roman cities, and walked around the Plaka neighborhood. I also got a good bit of shopping in which was nice because I had planned to do some here, my final stop traveling alone, so that I didn't have to carry extra things my whole way. Also, of course, I've sampled my fair share of Gyros and Baklava.
Tomorrow I will journey to the Archaelogical Museum, one of the best in the world, and then get to the airport super early to get a visa and eventually catch a 7:15pm flight to Istanbul to meet Bob thus concluding my solo journey. It's been an incredible week and I'm lucky to have had all three types of travel over here: travel with friends, living abroad and traveling alone. I do say there are benefits to all of them and I like them all.
Next up I'll report from Istanbul, hope everyone is surviving the heat, take care...