Cordelia has been fantastic, bringing all the cats from Nine Lives Greece to us for the journey to the UK.
She knew all about each cat’s personal idiosyncrasies, describing them all as she unloaded cat box after cat box from her car.
Molly with Cordelia, who knows a thing or two about cats
Molly
Madge
Alfie and Artemis, who are off to Wiltshire
Bob, whose new life will be in Yorkshire
Blind Ilios who is also heading to Yorkshire
Once Daisy, Midget and Gnasher were safely on board, Animalcouriers continued on to collect Froso the cat from Barbara.
Fortunately, Barbara had catching Froso down to a fine art, and we were able to get him into the van without too much trouble.
wonder what this is? Smells interesting
Barbara using the old 'treat box rattle' trick
Barbara holding on tight
Froso ready to board
It was quite an early morning arrival for Sandy, who brought Daisy, Gnasher and Midget to us at Piraeus port, gate 1.
Sandy is part of Greek and Swiss Animal Help (GASAH) [www.gasah.ch], a Swiss animal charity based on Kos. She did a mercy dash on the overnight ferry to help us avoid a three-day delay to our trip.
Several coffees and a nice chat later, Animalcouriers felt we’d made another new friend in Sandy.
Daisy
What a pretty girl she is
Gnasher and Midget
Walking on the beach in front of our hotel
An early morning swimmer, in what must be very cold water, wearing a woolly hat!
Madge is being adopted by Andy, who has already adopted a deaf cat from Nine Lives called Aslan.
Cordelia explained how Nine Lives found and rescued Madge:
“Madge, a very pretty tricolour appeared in the National Gardens in central Athens where we have been feeding and neutering a colony of cats for some years. Madge was friendly but confusted; and had clearly only recently given birth, but despite searching all around the gardens, her kittens were nowhere to be found.
Our feeder took Madge to the vet where she stayed for two weeks, which included being spayed. She became increasingly frustrated at being indoors and less interested in human company. As there was no immediate offer of a home for her, we decided the best option was to put her in the safest spot in the National Gardens— a fenced area where dogs can’t get in and kill cats.
However, other cats living there took against her and started chasing her. The morning our feeder found her outside the fenced area being snarled and snapped at by three dogs, we took Madge back to the vet and started a vigorous campaign to find her a foster home, at least.
Katharine took Madge in temporarily. After spending the first month under the sofa, Madge started gaining some trust in Katharine and her boyfriend Niko, and hanging out with their cat Blackie. But as she grew more confident, she started territorial peeing in the apartment despite the selection of litter trays, so Niko said it was time for her to leave.
So Madge went to stay with Angela who is a wonderful rehabilitator of nervous and traumatised cats. Madge flourished with her and within weeks was sleeping on Angela’s bed, following her around the apartment, and watching films with her in the evening. And she never failed to use the litter tray. But we knew it was only a foster arrangement, as Angela is leaving Greece and can’t have a cat in her home in England.
So you can imagine our joy when Andy got in touch with us about Aslan and mentioned he might be up for adopting a second cat. We told him Madge’s story, including the fact that she had, at one point, had a habit of peeing outside the litter tray. Andy made all the right sympathetic noises, told us about his secure garden where Madge could hang out if she preferred to be outside, explained that the house was large so she could have space to herself if she had issues with other cats, and told us he was booking a flight to come over and meet Madge and Aslan! And the rest, as they say, is history.”
Madge in chilled form onboard the trip
Liz took a taxi to bring her cat Millie to us at our hotel in the Olympic Games area of Athens.
Over a glass of wine we had a lovely chat — about Millie (of course), animal welfare in Athens, and life in general.
Millie, settled in for her journey
Liz with Millie's pet passport
What a day we had yesterday. You really do have to keep a sense of humour and a ‘no panic’ attitude when travelling in some parts of Europe.
A strike in Italy meant we arrived too late at Piraeus port to catch the ferry to Kos. The knock-on effect of that would probably have added three days to our trip!
Fortunately, Sandy on Kos has been very flexible. She’s been looking after Daisy, Midget and Gnasher, three dogs who are travelling back to the UK with us. To save time, she boarded the overnight ferry from Kos with the dogs last night and will meet us at Piraeus this morning. Thank you, Sandy!
While waiting to board our ferry for Patras in Greece, we took a wander around the Italian port of Ancona.
We were pleased to see signage reminding dog owners of their responsibilities:
Once on board the ferry, we noticed more signs in the same vein, with even more detailed visual instructions:
And here’s the view from the back of the boat, looking out over a calm sea:
Thanks to Bookings.com we find ourselves overnighting in some very fine hotels. Winter deals and good marketing enable travellers like us to have the pleasure of staying in beautiful buildings that we might otherwise not find out about.
Last night we stayed in a 14th century manor house in Perugia, Italy, which is now a hotel called Lo Spedalicchio.
We know that dressing well is very important to Italians in general, and our dining companions last night were no exception: the groups of men were all dressed smartly in dark jackets, tidy jeans and nice shirts.
This morning at breakfast we realised they were all workmen: in their reflective jackets and waistcoats and with matching toolboxes, they all left the table together and headed out on a job.
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It was a rather cold start to the day when we took Barney for his walk this morning.
We were in Quinto, Switzerland, just down from the Gottard tunnel.
Barney strides out...
...on a snowy, cold and murky Swiss morning
Molly has been adopted by Laura.
Cordelia, the coordinator of Nine Lives Greece, told us about Molly’s history:
“Seven-month-old Molly is playful, curious and very sweet. She was found as a kitten in an Athens suburb and taken in by a family who then decided they couldn’t keep her. She was rescued by a Nine Lives member, who fostered her until leaving for Australia. We’re glad to have found a good home for this sweet, sunny-natured and surprisingly trusting (given the disappointments she has already had in her short life) little girl.”
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