GREECE: Bathroom Breakout and Flooded Museum Half Day Adventures
Welcome to CompassChaos13(CC13): A Real Travel Podcast where Compass Plans, Chaos Rules - Connections Happen Memories of Global Adventures
HEATHER (V.O.): I’m Heather, your adventure narrator and warm body for the hosts of this flying circus.
Today, we’re driving from Greece to Albania with [ Hubby ]!
COMPASS: It started when we checked out of a new home away from home, Klymeni Traditional Homes in Nafplion (NA-flee-O) Greece.
CHAOS: On our way back into Albania, a QUICK gas up before our actual scheduled stop turns into a bathroom break out… in?
HEATHER (V.O.): Before we depart on this adventure, a few safety checks. First: any brand we mention is one we actually use and trust. We get zero monetary gain for these—if that ever changes, we promise total transparency. Second: this flight is for adults only. Expect questionable language and emotional turbulence. Finally, there are no warnings when the unexpected happens, because there are no warnings in real life…
HEATHER (V.O.): Now, let’s Meet your dueling hosts: Compass, the one who plans—and Chaos, the one who burns them. Together, they find the magic in the mess.
COMPASS (V.O.): I’m Compass. My plan is to experience the top tourist things. But, as usual, my head-space companion Chaos has other plans.
CHAOS: Hey Hey Chaos here! I am the patron saint of "we’ll figure it out,". I bring the unexpected, and the reason you want to hear travel tales.. that are actually worth listening to!
COMPASS (V.O.): Together, we bring the connection.
HEATHER (V.O.): Sit back, relax, and push that subscribe button……
CHAOS: "So, buckle up buttercups, for this recent tale of a bathroom breakout from our first official Trip as CompassChaos13, LLC]……, because honestly the best stories aren't planned."..... Kylmeni Traditional Homes… That place was incredible! Everything was just perfect, well almost but that is a different story, I messed that up! I need to ask Hubby for a do-over!
COMPASS: We will get back there, he loved it as much as we did. But THIS STORY is about when we left.. Heading to Ancient Nicopolis where Octavis built a huge city celebrating victory over Cleopatra & Marc Antony.
CHAOS: I still can’t believe you made us stop at the place, where just off the coast, the naval battle where Cleopatra lost her entire kingdom is CELEBRATED!!
COMPASS: Part of history, it is what it is…
CHAOS: Yeah, yeah… and to the victor go the spoils
COMPASS: Correct, and Octavious was able to write the history. Would you like to discuss history or get back to the story?
CHAOS: hhhmmmmmm……. Cleopatra, the woman or Travel ….
COMPASS: STORY … we are going with the story. As always it started with a plan. The plan was to wake up, make coffee, eat what was left in the fridge that we couldn’t take with us.. out on our stone balcony. Up early enough to watch the sun rise over the castle on the hill and fog roll over into the harbor from the sea, before our 3 and a half hour drive to Nicopolis. As hubby showered we made a second attempt at greek coffee.
CHAOS: Considering it was only our second time making it, not bad! We still have to order a briki to make it at home.
COMPASS: All in good time. As we enjoyed our makeshift breakfast and ammature greek coffee on the balcony overlooking the orange groove the sense of just being settled upon us as we listened to the rain gently fall on the groove and houses. Hubby joined us on the balcony pulling us into a conversation about what the plans were for the day’s adventure. Recapping the plan to hubby he looked at the time and suggested we should probably get going since it was already pushing 8am.
CHAOS: Reality was no one wanted to actually leave here. It was quiet, beautiful, calm… serene. But we still had a whole other country to explore and unexpected connections waiting to happen.
COMPASS: Cleaning up breakfast and going through the home one more time to make sure all we brought in was coming out with us, we were ready! Hubby packed up the car and off towards Gjirokaster, Albania, our final destination, but not without a stop half way. The original plan was to stop at Nicopolis and see all the ruins from Octavious’ time. For those that don’t recall their High School Ancient Civ. class here is a quick synopsis…. Octavious was the nephew of the famous Julius Caesar The Roman Emperor,we all hear about
CHAOS: Thanks to Cleopatra! Had she not set her sights on him as a diplomat but instead an enemy…… who knows where the world would be today!
COMPASS: She didn’t, that's not the only reason Cesare is famous and this is where we are today…. Car packed, hubby at the wheel for this round and us in the passenger seat.
CHAOS: Oh you mean where Ceasar is famous for being a human pin cushion for the senators… and as much as I like driving in Greece, I do like looking out the window so I can take pictures of things I see that I find interesting. Remembering why I took that picture later is a problem. [giggles]
COMPASS: I have been meaning to ask you, what is with your rock fascination? We have so many pics of rocky landscapes….. What gives?
CHAOS: Rock formations are interesting…. Only mother nature can design and create something like that…. Humans can imitate it but we can’t create it. I like seeing mother nature naked…. Besides, this whole planet is rock, in some form!
COMPASS: Science & Math are not my strong suits, I’m not going to say I believe you, but I’m not going to look it up either to confirm. Anyone that is interested in what Chaos just said, DO YOUR RESEARCH before you go and just quote her….. She tends to spew off at the mouth from time to time, especially about things that are not within her wheelhouse.
CHAOS: Some things are just common sense…. Oh that’s right, sorry…. UNcommon sense now, but for those that originally knew it as common sense, that's where I am spewing from, Common Sense, and a brain that my parents & teachers forced me to use growing up…. It was a hard knock life
COMPASS: Please don’t…… I cringe when I hear that phrase…. Reminds me of the movie ANNIE….. I hate that movie. I’m going to have that song in my head all night now….
CHAOS: [shing] it’s a hard knock life for us… it’s hard knock life for us… stead of answers we get clues … stead of a view, we have to choose… It’s hard knock life.. No one hands you truth on a plate…. Gotta learn to carry our weight…. It’s a mental climb, a heavy lift.. When thinking for yourself is the only gift! It’s a hard knock life… [laughs] how did you like my rendition….
COMPASS: [laughing] that was regrettable…
CHAOS: (sound hurt) what do you mean?
Compass: I regret saying anything… you watched too many musicals with dad growing up! Next you’ll break out into a song from My Fair Lady!
Chaos: OOOHHH I haven’t seen that movie in ages.. (singing from my fair lady) What a fool I was.. What I dominated fool twas I! To think you were the earth and sky… What a fool I was! What an animated dolt twas I!
Compass: Please stop, you can’t hit the notes like Audrey can! Nor do you have the style or grace….
CHAOS: Who does! Oh Katharine Hepburn does …. And they are not related.
COMPASS: YOOOUUUU WWWHHAAATTTT…. Sidetracked once again. As we settled into the passenger seat it was still raining… we had been lucky. It only rained a few hours when we arrived in Triane Albania a week earlier….. Since then, it has been cloudy at worst. It started yesterday but that didn’t stop us from running around town, but that is another story. Hubby turned on the wipers, remembering that one of them needed to be replaced as it slid across the window half on the blade and half trailing behind….
CHAOS: Naturally it was just about in hubby’s eye shot and that wasn’t going to sit well with him for long…
COMPASS: He adjusted and informed us that our first stop was to find windshield wipers… okay, easy peesy…
CHAOS: Notice when you think easy peesy……. Reality is Gritty and shitty [giggles].... Hey I guess we both have a thing…… “thankfully” and “easy peesy” …. TRANSPORT we are bonding….. Look, look we are bonding…. See we are both full of shit!
HEATHER: Great!! Which means you are making me sound like I’m full of shit to the world… I still have to show face! Get on with the story please…
COMPASS: Now with wipers on the mind, it was a frantic search for a place that has wipers and is open at 9am…. Greece 10am is prime time opening, unless a gas station, cafe or restaurant. Finding a gas station on the main road that leads out of Nafpolion, we stopped. Hubby asked the attendant if they had the wipers, while the attendant went and looked, he went to the little cafe area, grabbed him and Heather a cappuccino with a cinnamon and chocolate sprinkle… and left us tending to the car.
CHAOS: While hubby was playing barista, the attendant came back over and advised that they had the minne wiper but the big wiper was a no go…. And that we should try an auto part store… He then gave us directions, which we understood to be straight and on the right about 5 miles down……
COMPASS: I am not as sure about the 5 miles down the road but I got straight on right….. That was all I got out of the conversation…
CHAOS: So back on the road we go… now highly caffeinated… we went about 3 miles and saw a store on the left which was closed …. We kept driving…. Making the active choice to ignore the planned route that Google Maps was now screaming at us to take a left and then take another left… JUST SAY BANG A FUCKING Uie
COMPASS: That is not the way google works…. So turning the volume down we kept driving for about 25 minutes and found an auto place on the right…. In pulls hubby to grab some wipers. Within 7 minutes a guy was coming out to the car and took off the wipers, brought them back inside…. Then another 7 minutes later…. New wipers that hubby didn’t have to put on! One problem handled for 25 euro, off schedule and route….
CHAOS: Love these unexpected detours…. Back on the road, not really sure now the best way to get back on track, Compass re-plugged the google maps to bring us to the Archaeological Museum of Nicopolis in Preveza instead of the ruins of the city. Which I was not all too thrilled about…. I would rather be outside
COMPASS: It was raining… and the weather did not call for a break so I played it safe… I don’t want to be in a car soaking wet with hubby… it’s bad enough Heather and I don’t do well in the rain…
CHAOS: That’s not true you both like dancing in the rain…. And kissing in the rain …. And
COMPASS: HEY ….. There will be none of that…. Somehow we didn’t get that far off our time schedule and we were still on track to arrive just about the same time as planned. We hit the highway heading back towards Corinth. Hitting no traffic and a smooth ride we drove past Corinth and now towards Patras to take the Rio-Antirrio Bridge for short… that was a 25 Eur toll… Most expansive toll in GREECE! And from what I just saw they are rising this year if they haven’t already… *PRO VET TIP: Budget at min 140 Eur which is about 165-170 USD, depending on market flux for Tolls if you want to do a trip around the mainland of Greece. We have already adjusted this for inflation and rising costs due to some areas requiring more infrastructure focus a bi-product of overtourism…
CHAOS: As we neared Agios we saw a rainbow appear from the town, but as we closed in on the rainbow it now appeared to start or end across the lake… Thanks to hubby doing the driving we got to look for the leprechaun and the pot of gold…. Honestly they can keep the gold, I want to play with the shilallie… [giggles]
COMPASS: Oh Brother!! Several pictures of the rainbow later, we left the colorful display in the rearview mirror…
CHAOS: Hubby's attention was drawn to the gas gauge. He says that the gauge says 50 miles to empty… okay we have time it's a small freaking car! Well not accounting for the hills the next time hubby looked which was only after about ten minutes and a massive grade later, the gauge now he said was reading under 20 miles!! Yeah, another challenge is finding a gas station where we are currently in the middle of nowhere… without shutting off the main directions…
Compass: You did a good a job
Chaos: Are you Patronizing me?
COMPASS: Actually no…. You found a gas station a few exits up… granted it did take a bit of time to get to it on the rural road…. It was about 3 to about 5 miles from the exit ramp. After spotting it on the left hand side of the road we pulled in.
CHAOS: DA DA DA here comes liquids to wreck your day! Yeap you guessed we had to piss…. I think Transport has a bladder expansion problem. So as hubby told the attendant to fill up, transport got out and asked about a bathroom. The two young men now behind the car said yeap and pointed into the small station and said to the right and in the back. Walking into the station it was small, it was dirty it was very much a man’s hangout. There were candy, snacks and coffee for sale off to the left.. Looking ahead off to the right we caught sight of a wooden door that was from the 1970’s and it belonged on frame for a bedroom not a bathroom
COMPASS: I think it was older than that… When we went in and shut the door did you see the type of key it was… it was a skeleton key… that door was much older than the 1970 or at least the hardware on it was. Yeah…. I was seriously not happy with our choice of options at this point. I don’t dare have Heather look at the door, by the look of that key it’s questionable if it even fits the lock…
CHAOS: It was a small, very manly bathroom… no seat just straight rim .. got that in spades in worries… don’t touch anything, nothing looks like it was clean in years though cleaner sat under the rusted (or we saying its rust) sink… there were different tools all over the place and on the little ledge above the toilet under the barred window was 5 different cans of air spray…. So here we go…. Hoovered right over, not caring if we pee on the rim since it was already stained yellow and brown..
COMPASS: It was.. old cleaner and rust… that is what I told myself.. That.. and DONT FALL …DONT FALL… DONT FUCKING FALL
CHAOS: Okay whatever gets you to sleep … Here we are hovering over a nasty toilet with a door that is not locked with a skeleton key loosely sticking out and tools all over the place… This was a lot for the senses… Transport pulled out her tissues to use. She goes to open the door… it won’t open, she pulls it not hard not wanting to break it… not budging….pulls harder…. nope… So now thinking we hit the key and it locked. I play with the key… it just spins and spins…. All directions no clicking…. [laughing] ARE WE REALLY FUCKING STUCK IN A BATHROOM IN THE MIDDLE OF FUCKING NO WHERE GREECE! YEAP we are……
COMPASS: Not funny…. Well you and Heather seemed to be getting a kick out of it..
CHAOS: .. it got funnier…. The two men had now made their way back into the station and heard me fighting with the door and key. They came to the door and asked if I locked it.. We said not at first but when it would open we started playing with it and now… it just spins… so they said that one of them is going to go around back and I am to give him the key through the barred window… I am fucking dying laughing at this point..
COMPASS: I am astonished… I feel like this isn’t really happening and we are being punk’d or on hidden camera … Nope the guy comes around back we see a hand through bars and slip him the key… I am looking around and I see a hammer and a flat head and a philips head screw driver.. The hinges for the door are on our side…. CHAOS…
CHAOS: It was thought and a worse case scenario or so we thought…. But the universe you gotta love her sense of humor!! So the two guys now back at the bathroom door trying to open it with the key…. No such luck… they tell me to stand back. Next thing I know WHACK… the door shakes…. OH shit they are going to break down the door… Now this is the point where hubby who just parked the car after filling up walks into the station….
COMPASS: We hear “Hey what’s going on”...... Chaos and Heather start laughing even harder because they can picture hubby walking in to see two young men trying to break down the bathroom door that his wife is inside while on their 1 year anniversary vacation…
CHAOS: [laughing]..... We hear the two guys no, no…. She is stuck… she stuck… [still laughing]... Next thing we hear is Hubby saying Oh she’s stuck, I should leave then!! Fucking floored…. Yes I’m staying in Greece, I’m staying in Greece!! A few more runs at the door…. Then BOOM and CRACK… There goes the framing of the door.
COMPASS: When those guys got into the bathroom their faces looked so scared…
CHAOS: Probably because you had transports face looking like they hurt because you were so surprise they broke down the door…
COMPASS: I was I mean you could have taken the door off the hinges…. That would have less…. Chaotic…
CHAOS: more time consuming and less of a story. Two young men breaking down a bathroom door while her husband stands and watches…. Or a woman takes a bathroom door off the hinges using the tools she found in a man’s bathroom at a gas station? The latter just doesn’t have that SHJENNA SAY QUA … After the shenanigans of the moment we all need a little caffeine.. So we bought espresso doubles, and laughed with the attendants that kept saying see now you have a story… Oh we know, we always do!
COMPASS: Yes, we do… We don’t even call them vacations in our house, they are adventures… We adventure. It may be planned like a vacation, but a vacation, it never is. So now the body is empty and the car is full…. We were back on the highway. Hubby was recanting his view of bathroom antics since we could only see from our little….. Hovel…
CHAOS: His view was great… He was like. After the car was filled up, I waited a bit then decided to go park the car and grab a coffee….. I come and I see the two throwing themselves into the bathroom door trying to get…. I say “Hey, What’s going on” I was ready fucking fight them both.. I didn’t know you were stuck. The look on the guys faces you should have seen, they were so fearful that I was reading this the wrong way.. Which at first I was until they said .. No, No, she stuck… she stuck… door no open… then it was all fun… I told them I was going to leave and you were all theirs.
COMPASS: Transport advised hubby oh we heard you…. Not the we were theirs part, which I hope you fetched a good price.. We are easy, not cheap! We laughed for a long time after that. About 15 minutes later still laughing, we came up to the Rio Antrrio Bridge and 25 Euro later we were crossing over it. *PRO VET TIP: Greece has tolls on it’s highways to keep up with the maintenance.
At this point the rain had let up and the sun shone through the clouds.. on to Preveza
CHAOS: as you said yourself the rain let up so why did we continue to go to the museum instead of the ruins?
COMPASS: Because Hubby and I didn't feel like walking through mud instead of ruins that's why.. Remember how many puddles we jumped over and all the muddy areas when we explored The Theater of Epicurious the day before.
CHAOS: yeah and exploring in conditions like that is more fun than in normal conditions!
COMPASS: For some more than others!!
CHAOS: He had a blast at Epicurious, we got to see an ancient mountain river form just from a simple rain shower… It was cool.
COMPASS: You can only play in the rain for so long before it starts to wear on you… and we didn’t have a 3 hour drive to get back to the home from Epicurious, that is another story… This was a bit different. By the time we arrived in Preveza the rain had begun again. The museum was now the confirmed stop to break up the drive.
CHAOS: Yeah cause that was better… As we arrived at the museum the front was under road construction so the parking was off to the side down a side street just before the front entrance construction parking area…. Down the side street we went….into a flood. Would our little clown car make it through without flooding the engine…. Well, hubby seemed to think so… [giggles].... I watched out the passenger window looking down watching the flood waters disperse as hubby took the floods at about 15 mph up along the sides almost on what appeared to be grass under the water… Alright, come on flooded engine and stuck tires!
COMPASS: NO, THAT IS NOT WHAT WE WANTED!!
CHAOS: Then why were hubby and transport laughing and joking about it if they didn’t want it to happen!!?
COMPASS: It’s called a trauma reflex… We find the worst possible thing, fixate on it and make jokes and laugh about it so when it does happen it was already expected and the emotions aren’t so raw and we can handle the situation with a clearer mind. Laughter is the best remedy!
CHAOS: Well we made it through the flood waters into the parking lot…. There was this really cool camping 4x4 truck! It was the second coolest off road camping vehicle we had seen in Greece in the week we had been here. The first was parked at AcroCorneith, but that is another story… Will we ever get to all our stories?
COMPASS: 30 years of travel with over 30 countries and counting….. I am going to bet no, because we think of more as we release more of our storage space. Off topic once again! We are so close to the finish on this one…. Let’s keep going cause this is only a half a day… The rest of the day continues next week.
CHAOS: That’s right this was an unexpected Universal Chaos day!
COMPASS: Getting out of the car into the rain we quickly walked back to the front entrance. There was no line and it sound like there were only about 4 other people in the whole museum. It wasn’t tall, it was built in the form of a square with the exhibits placed in historical order for the visual timeline. It started with the battle of Actium and Octavius destruction of the Egyptian fleet just off the coast…. It showed artifacts that were dredged up from the sea floor and statutes from the surrounding city the Octavius built to commemorate the victory. For a smaller and lesser visited museum it was a gem of a find, Archaeological Museum of Nikopolis, for 10 Euro per person from Nov 1 to March 31st so worth it. *PRO VET TIP: When traveling, depending on the country, there are off season prices and times. The hours are shorter but the prices are sometimes cheaper, another reason why off season is the best time to visit.
CHAOS: This museum we were able to get real close to the artifacts…. There is security that does follow you when you get too close to keep an eagle eye that you DONT TOUCH!
COMPASS: Forget touching, I wouldn’t allow it….. You kept BREATHING on the artifacts!! Our breath alone with all the moisture that close cause you want to see if there was any ancient writing, causes damage!! You know this yet you do it anyway!! Why?! PRESERVATION Chaos….
CHAOS: Okay slow your roll and breath…. There was no paint, there was no dye, there was nothing that would collect the moisture from our breath… Granted the marble is porous but it was all chiseled in and the paint that once was… is no longer. There were artifacts that had paint on them and those were behind climate controlled enclosures. So if they didn’t want me to get that close to inspect then they should have put it behind an enclosure like the others..
COMPASS: You had security personnel follow us throughout the whole museum… even when there were other people starting to come in behind us… I think he left our eyesight for a whole 10 minutes in the almost 2 hours we were there. The museum was very well put together and extremely informative.
CHAOS: Honestly I wasn’t looking forward to a stuffy museum I would rather be outside scrambling over the ruins looking for things that everyone missed or forgot. Hey things don’t always work out the way you want them and you make the best of it. There were really interesting artifacts and I was really glad we stopped.
COMPASS: See Chaos sometimes you have to trust my instincts and pivots ..
CHAOS: Pivots … or backup plans?
COMPASS: does it really matter what the words are… both mean you have to change direction … The only difference is whether you are prepared for a pivot or not …. But that doesn’t mean you're not open to the unexpected. For example when we went to Dion Archeological Park at the foot of Mt. Olympus and the entry attendant gave us a great tip about a waterfall that only the locals know about! Unexpected pivot..
CHAOS: The directions, me driving and actually finding it….That was the best part.
HEATHER: Whoa..whoa..whoa.. Hold up…. We are now out of the ball park, voices… and this is why I make you two break out the stories and actually write them. If not we would be bouncing all over, more so than we already do. I am going to leave it here today, since I am now having a hard time bringing the ladies back to topic. Perfect time for reflection. The lesson’s we hope you took away today besides the ones you heard yourself, are:
Always remember there is the dreamed brochure and insta-eye-fuck side of travel that is present front and center to be sold…. The reality of travel is the unexpected shit that happens once the modulate eye-fucks wear off.
Embrace your Chaos, it’s the voice that keeps you from shrinking to everyone’s illusions or opinions. It’s the voice that calls bullshit when no one else has the tits do so… It’s your Emperor’s New Clothes voice
Traveling with other people can break relationships, no matter how long you have had them. We tested our 1 year marriage and almost 13 year relationship on a two week road trip that started with the loss of the wallet.
Not all travelers view a landmark in the same sense. Hell some travelers can have mulit-views of a landmark. It is important not to lessen another’s view but to build upon it, offer a different perspective..
Travel plans and backups should be seen as a guideline only … not a rigid schedule that needs to be adhered to.. Unless you are on a guided tour or cruise, then during your free time go explore. You never know what stories may come.
Travel with an open mind, an open heart and a respectful attitude and mouth.
I’m going to leave the reflection here for today. Try to remember these for next week's episode because the Universe really wants to see if we are full of shit or if we really can laugh through the unexpected. So here are the voices to say their so long’s …
COMPASS (calm, professional tone) On that note… we hope you enjoyed this episode of CompassChaos13. Join us every Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern, or 1300 hours for our fellow travelers in time zones unknown. Next stop: We are still in Greece, and pick up here leaving the museum heading back to Albania for the next 7 nights still with hubby, and you can bet we’ll be forging even more unforgettable connections.
CHAOS (excited, playful) And the saga continues…. I won’t be the one causing total mayhem, it seems the universe still has her own path for us … we still make it out alive. Hey, the chaos? Always memorable.
COMPASS (mock patience) Listeners, help me out here — please engage with us.
CHAOS (interrupting, smirking) Compass just stop!! That pleading thing really isn’t working so let’s try something else… Keep your shit to yourself. We will go on talking about us because we have plenty of stories going back to 1995 and we have plans on the books for the next two years to make more!! So keep silent, we only need your ears and a finger. Sure!! I encourage you to use your middle one, go ahead, no offense even if you mean there to be. Then you can take that finger…
COMPASS: CHAOS!!
CHAOS: and put it right on the share button as you post this and your finger to social media using the tag @compasschaos13
COMPASS (cutting in, mock sigh) Goddess Make her Stop. The show’s over. GET OUT!(sound tired) I’m Compass — bringing the planned direction.
CHAOS (proudly) I’m Chaos — chasing the unexpected!
CHAOS (in sync) Together, we make global connections.
HEATHER (narrator / flight attendant tone) Welcome back to the present. On behalf of your dueling hosts, Compass and Chaos, thank you for adventuring with CompassChaos13.
Before you stand, please make sure your pants are dry, your eyes are clear, and your snots are wiped — we don’t do refunds for emotional turbulence.
Some of what you heard today may sound unbelievable, but rest assured — it’s all true, and no one on this adventure is innocent.
For photos, travel tips and to read our blogs wander over to www.CompassChaos13.com.
Thank you for connecting with us today. We hope YOUR layover in OUR world brought a little curiosity, a bit of laughter, and a lot of connection.
This is CompassChaos13 — signing off.