HE SAID
Saturday Aug 25
Eastward from Bayeux to Kalamata!
Today a network of a lotta good, efficient people movers – from Logis les Remparts in Bayeux to Hotel Rex in Kalamata – taxi, SCNF train, OUIBUS, CDG underground shuttle, escalators, moving walkways, Aegean Air jet, taxi (and sometimes donkey) again!
Our second robust petite dejeuner at La Reine Mathilde to stead us for the day. Then a final stroll by Bayeux Cathedral back to les Remparts for our fond goodbyes with Cristele and the Patron.
Anne insisted on a taxi. On our walk from the train station to les Remparts, we’d both failed to notice the huge men-on-horses green topiaries in the round-about we passed!
Cyclists, hikers, day trippers and many others gathers on the platform. Soon we were headed east.
The shift from train to bus took place ~20 min later in Caen. Caen and most other cities in Normandy, unlike Bayeux, had not been spared from the WWII bombings. Totally rebuilt since. Looking around made us appreciate just how beautiful Bayeux was.
3.5 hours more to the east with a couple of stops, our bus pulled into Roissygare within the CDG Airport network. An easy walk to the underground shuttle to Terminal 1 for checkin, boarding, then our flight on Aegean Air further eastward to Kalamata, Greece.
Our flight was packed. It is a very very popular route to get to the Peloponnese quickly from Paris. Aegean Air #1 winner for regional airlines. Pilots love flying it – 30 degree climbs and glides, 30-35 degree banks. Fun! Bags come out quickly, too!
Our 875 mile route from CDG was:
– ESE through France to Basel
– SE across Switzerland over Lucerne then the Italian Alps, Lake Garda in the Italian Lake District and Bologna to our right
– further SE down the east coast of Italy over the Adriatic Sea, passing Bari, Brindisi, then the boot heel of Italy to our right
– further SE across the Ionian Sea, passing Corfu to our left
– turning SSE over the Peloponnese, passing over Mount Olympus, for the final landing at Kalamata at 2235, gaining 1 Hour (7 hours ahead of EDT).
Easy to see the cities or their lights all the way!
Taxi to Hotel Rex in Kalamata and up to Room 411, as requested, on the top corner looking seaward! Nice breeze – from mid 50s to mid 80s at night now, but the same sound of the cooing dove as in Bayeux, just outside our window.
Back down to the Mylo right next door for a couple of Mythos on the sidewalk, listening to jazz and Greek music in the cool sea breezes.