Travelling to Oreoi
04 April 2014 | Oreoi, Evia, Greece
George. Warm, hazy sun
About time I started this Sailing blog again, methinks! We have returned to Oreoi/Orei where the boatyard is, and this week we will be getting Fandancer ready for sailing again. We have rented a nice hotel-apartment room in Oreoi, (Parelio rooms) overlooking the harbour in this little Greek town, about a mile from the DimStef boatyard. We plan to do necessary boat work while she is ashore, such as the antifouling, which is the main job, also my job is to re-paint the anchor chain with marks at various intervals to indicate how much chain has been dropped. We currently use the plastic markers but some have dropped out, making it difficult to tell which mark has passed through the windlass, so I have brought out some small tins of Humbrol enamel paint from the UK and will be showing my artistic skills in anchor chain decoration this week.
Several people have asked me about travelling to and from Oreoi, so I will give you some details.
Basically, you have to fly to Athens, get from the airport to the city centre, and then take a Greek KTEL bus from bus terminal 'B' which goes non stop to Oreoi, the bus will say Istiaia on the front. There may be other options such as taking a train from the airport for a short distance and then changing to another train to Chalkida, and then onwards by bus, but I think our journey by long distance bus is fairly straightforward.
There are several things to be aware of:
Depending on your flight times, you may need an overnight stop in Athens before catching the bus.
I have read that the X93 bus from airport stops in Liossion Street, ask the driver when you get on. It will take about 40 minutes. This may be the quickest way to connect with the Evia bus if your plane lands early.
If you stay in Athens overnight, it will take approximately 45 mins from the airport on the X95 bus to Syntagma Square, then a 15-20 minute taxi ride the next day from there to the bus station in Liosson St. Ask the taxi driver the price before you set off; our driver said 7-8 euro, but we were happy to give him 10 euro as we had a lot of heavy bags. Make sure you emphasise you want terminal B in Liosson Street and that you are going to Evia, there is also a terminal A close by, but these buses largely go west, to places such as Preveza, or further.
We stayed in the Athens Central Square hotel, off Athina Street near the fruit and veg market. I suggest you look at my review on TripAdvisor, there are also some good deals to be had with online booking companies such as Expedia or Ebookers.
Athens bus Terminal B address - 260 Liossion Street, it is actually on Ag Dimitriou Aplon Street which runs parallel to Liosson Street. There appears to be no road signs, and it is not visible from the street!
In our experience it is not easy to get to the bus station by public transport from the centre of Athens, although it can be done. Bus 024 from Amalias Avenue opposite the National Gardens, or from Omonia square, will take you to this bus station. Get off at Praktoria bus stop, then a short walk, after you get off the bus, turn right onto Yousiou and you will see the terminal at the end of the street.
The nearest metro station is Kato Pattisia then walk, or Attiki, then a couple of stops on any bus going north up Liossion. See the map.
There is lots of very useful info on the following website regarding buses in Greece -
livingingreece.gr
Bus times to Oreoi, Evia.
You will take the bus from Terminal B (it will say ISTIAIA on the front) and get off at Oreoi. Buy the tickets before you board the bus, and you are allocated a seat. We paid 16 euro each.
Watch for the alternative spellings of these places if you research online! The local spelling of Evia, for example, is Euboias.
The KTEL bus site is in Greek, but they encourage you to phone up for information, it is not easy to find a written down timetable! However, I tracked down the following...
http://www.ktelevias.gr/index.php/dromologia/deftera-paraskei this website is in Greek but use the Google translate button....
This site gives the following times...
ATHENS - EDIPSOS - ISTIEA (06.45 up to 30 Sept), 8.45, 12.45, 1645.
This following site also gives the same times, but only as far as Edipsos, but I suspect it is the same bus!
www.athensinfoguide.com
ATHENS-AEDIPSOS
Athens 0645, 1245, 1645.
Some days there seems be an extra bus at 1445 but you will need to check this before you travel.
When the bus gets to the port of Arkitsa, approximately two hours after start of journey, all the passengers have to get off the bus, buy a ferry ticket from the booth (3.40 euro), get on the ferry then return to the bus when ferry gets to Edipsos. The bus doesn't hang about. Don't wander off!
We have always found Greek buses to leave on time, and are relatively cheap.
I hope you find this information useful.