Delphi and return to the airport - Friday, October 3
It was time for Chris and me to leave Lefkada. The morning was drizzly again, so we spent another lazy morning drinking coffee and eating clay pot yogurt with our new thyme honey. We drove away at about 11.
Instead of taking the fast route through Patras (and then figuring out what to do with ourselves out by the Athens airport all evening), we got off the highway before the big bridge and headed east along the road that runs along the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth. This is a beautiful drive, like Big Sur or the Amalfi coast.
We stopped for lunch in Delphi. It was colder up there in the mountains! Delphi was nearly deserted this late in the season. We ate at Epikouros, which makes delicious food with care despite serving thousands of tourists every year. (To Patriko Mas also makes really good food. There are also good restaurants down the road in Arachova, if you happen to be driving through the area.)
And then it was just back to the airport. Returning the rental car was no more complicated than to be expected. (Word to the wise: investigate how to get into the correct rental return lot BEFORE you start driving, and drive VERY slowly because if you miss the turn into the lot, you have to go all the way back around on the highway and approach the airport again.)
We spent the night at the Aethon Hotel in Marcopoulo, about 9 km from the airport. This place runs a free shuttle to and from the airport, but it didn’t work for us in either direction so we just took cabs.
The hotel wasn’t bad. We visited the minimarket next door to buy nuts and our last plastic bottle of wine and had a (short) goodbye party on our balcony. The next day would be an early start.