GREECE - Europe by Eurail 2015: Touring Europe by Train - page 294

Day Excursion to
Patras
Port City
Depart from Athens Larissa Station
Distance by Train: 138 miles (222 km)
Average Train Time: 3 hours, 49 minutes
City Dialing Code: 61
Tourist Information Office: Peloponnese and Western Greece Tourism Bureau,
Othonos Amalias 6, Patras 26223. Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]
www.infocenterpatras.gr
Hours: 0800-2200 daily
Notes: Ask at the rail station or the ferry terminal for directions. Otherwise, turn
right at the quay, and walk well beyond the ferry terminal and look for the signs
leading to the office. There also is an information office at the entrance of the port
of Patras (at Glyfada). The railway station in Patras lies on the quay, but it's about
500 yards from the pier where ferries depart for Brindisi. You'll spot the pier to the
right as the train slows for its stop in the Patras Station. A tourist information
booth is located at the entrance to the ferry terminal. For complete information re-
garding Patras and its surroundings, visit the Peloponnese and Western Greece
Tourism Bureau at the aforementioned address.
Patras is the fourth-largest city in Greece. It is also the country's western gateway.
Located at the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth, Patras has been a Greek seaport
since the beginning of recorded history. Ships large and small are constantly arriv-
ing in, and departing from, its harbor. The ferry services of Adriatica (Tirrenia Line)
and Hellenic Mediterranean Lines ply between Patras and Brindisi, Italy. Attika En-
terprises (Superfast Ferries) ply between Patras and Bari. If you are traveling with
a rail pass, no doubt you will either enter or leave Greece through the Port of Pat-
ras.
Patras is the port where the majority of Greek emigrants sailed for the United
States. It is interesting to note that in 1922 refugees fleeing Asia Minor arrived at
the pier in Patras penniless. Many of them paid for their passage to America by
selling their Oriental carpets, which they had carried from their homelands. Since
the early 1960s Patras has developed into a major Adriatic ferry port.