Greece

May 8: to Methana, 19 Km

A quick trip to the Acropolis in the morning reminded me of the special feelings this place evokes for me, still powerful after several visits. Our plan was to take a ferry to Methana, on the Peloponnese coast just across the Saronic gulf from Athens. This would avoid the busy road connections across the Corinthian isthmus.

We had been told at the airport that ferries to Methana depart every hour. At the harbor side we were told the ferry only leaves at 8am and 8pm. So, we decided to go to Poros, near Methana. The fist step was a ferry ride to Angina, half way out in the Saronic gulf, then change ferries to Poros. The ferry to Angina was supposed to leave at 11:30am, was delayed to 12:30pm.

Angina is a cute little town, much frequented by tourists. We had about an hour to ride around. The waterfront is a comprised of restaurants and bars, one after the other. It turns out that the ferry we are waiting for goes to Methana on the way to Poros, so we ended up headed for Methana after all, leaving about 3:30pm and arriving at 5:30pm. Moral of the story, getting accurate information about ferry schedules can be difficult.

 

 

 

 

There was plenty of daylight so we thought of pressing on to the next town, but as we were leaving it started to rain. The thought of getting stuck on the road, no place to stay, wet, and in the rain discouraged us, so we decided to stay in Methana. Most of the hotels looked closed this early in the season but we finally found one with the lights on, we were the only guests. The Hotel Auro was owned and run by a Greek husband and American wife, 2 of 3 children lived in America. We had a nice evening and a great dinner at a nearby restaurant recommended by the owners, along with a free dessert. The owner also gave us two liters of homemade retsina to ease the road trip ahead. We nursed it along for a couple days.

May 9: to Nafplio, 77 Km

We got off by about 7am headed for Epidavros and the famous theatre. Methana is on a peninsula, the roads follows the coastline until it gets to the mainland where it starts a steep climb up to Matamorfosi. Following the coastal highway up and down to Driopi we took a shortcut recommended by the owners of the Hotel Auro. The road was under construction but for the first several kilometers was a good gravel road. Eventually we reached a section under very heavy construction littered with football size boulders forcing us to push our bikes, sometime up very difficult debris piles.

About this time I noticed my front tire was low. No problem, I pulled out my pump to give it some air and wait to see if it was a puncture that needed immediate fixing. Actually, it was a problem because my pump wouldn't work. We decided that Bob would go get a pump at the next town while I continued walking. Walking along in the hot Greek sun I came across the construction crew responsible for our shortcut and difficulty. One of the trucks had a compressor and some workers even insisted on helping me fix my flat. Unfortunately, they would not patiently wait for the glue to set up so two patches and most of my glue later I gave up and brought out my backup tube. On my way again, I met Bob about half way up the hill on his return trip. :-(

In Epidavros we followed signs to a theatre only to find a small local theatre, not the large tourist attraction we expected. Archeologists are excavating the small theater with the assistance of the local farmer who owns the land surrounding the site. The farmer was quite the character. A middle aged man, he went on and on about the evils of globalization, international trade, and how he supported the protesters in Seattle demonstrating against international trade and globalization. Of course, the United States is an arrogant bully mistreating the Serbian people. And, American culture is too shallow and consumer oriented, too concerned with sex and pleasure. Nevertheless, he liked America and Americans!!! Admired American freedom and success. I didn't see much point in trying to explain the other side of these issues, so instead enjoyed the rant and his enthusiasm. We had a nice lunch, enjoying the banter and the goats and chickens, and left with some oranges we were assured had been grown organically with no pesticides or artificial fertilizers. Presumably the oranges came from non-globalized orange trees free from the taint of internationalism and American arrogance as well.

From Epidavros we headed up the mountain toward Nafplio. Along the way we found the large theatre, which was very impressive. The setting is spectacular. From the theatre we rode through a gentle rolling valley for several miles. It is very beautiful classic Greek country, very little traffic, and perfect weather. Eventually, we dropped back to sea level and entered Nafplio. Nafplio is a very pleasant seaside town with lots of shops and restaurants. We stayed in Hotel Leto.

May 10: to Tripoli, 63 Km

We waited around this morning for the shops in Nafplio and Argos to open, wasting a lot of time looking for a better bicycle pump. The only thing we could find in this medium size city was a cheap looking long pump that didn't look like it would work any better than my broken pump. I finally purchased the best of the shoddy pumps, hoping it would work when I needed it. Eventually, I found out how to make my pump work.

On the way to Argos we stopped at Tirins, the mighty Tirins of Homer with it's Cyclopean walls. Not much to look at compared to the castles I've seen from the middle ages, still it was an inspiring location. From the top you can look out over the countryside for many miles. Mostly it was interesting to think about how Tirins was considered an important military power for Homer when it could only control a rather small valley, east of Argos a mere 11 Km away. Good land but still small, and could have supported only a very small force of armed men. Probably not much better than a gang of robbers. Of such stuff legends are made.

 

Returning to the coast we started into the mountains at Mill, 11 Km from Argos on the other side of the bay from Nafplio. The climb was steep and hot, taking us a full 1 1/2 hours to top out on a very pleasant valley headed west. We did make it to the top just in time to share an abandoned restaurant with a group of motorcyclists while we all ate lunch and waited out some rain that blew in.

We found ourselves confronted with Greek road signs in full force today. Until now we had benefited from signs in both English and Greek. At first it was confusing to not be able to read the signs at all, but eventually we began to learn Greek. Well, not so we could speak, but we could learn to read city names on the map and match them to the road signs.

The last few hours was downhill in mostly rain, sometimes heavy. By the time we reached Tripoli we and our equipment were pretty soaked. At first we had a difficult time finding a hotel room. The owner of first place we went to from the guide book told us no vacancy. At this season I had a hard time believing this and wondered if the prospect of two wet cyclists with their muddy bikes wasn't attractive enough for the off season room rates. Still, we found a nice little place to stay and managed to dry out and warm up.

May 11: to Karitena, 63 Km

Started out about 7am this morning looking for the road to Silimna. This turned out to be more difficult that expected, but eventually we asked enough people to find our way. The tricky part of navigating in Greece mostly arises from the lack of highway numbers. We were seeking a small country road to Karitena instead of the main highway. So, you can't depend on the road signs to Karitena because they will direct you to the main road, as will any people you ask. You can't find signs to highways because they don't have numbers. The only practical solution is to ask for the nearest town that can't be approached by any other road. Thus, we asked for Silimna instead of Karitena or Butiva, both destinations of the road we sought. This approach suffers from a serious problem. If you ask directions for a small relatively unknown town then few people will have any idea about how to get to the town.

Finally finding the road (or what we took to be the road) we started up a small valley, great cycling with little or no traffic and a gentle climbing road. Eventually the road flattened a little and I naively thought we had the big climb of the day out of the way. Very wrong, the road turned up steeply. At Chrisovitsi I thought maybe we had reached the top but the road just became steeper. Some construction and the now ubiquitous rain turned the road to mud, caking our bikes and gear with a thick sticky red mud.

Some of the riding in this high mountainous region was in heavy fog. As we entered the occasional village I felt like some alien apparition on my recumbent bike, appearing on silent wheels to startle the local people. I imagine some people of central Peloponnesus still talk about the mysterious cycle machine that emerged from the fog and then disappeared.

Finally, we went downhill to Stemnitsa in a steady rain. We reached the pleasant mountain village with stunning scenery in time for lunch. The rain caused us to opt for a hot lunch in a small restaurant that was very good. Cold and wet, we considered spending the night there but decided to press on to Karitena. We hoped on our bikes in a rain break just to get rained off within 100 meters by a heavy downpour. We waited it out in a local church with some local young people. It turns out that there Stemnitsa has well know jewelry making school. The rain let up again so we took off again.

The ride to Karitena was mostly downhill with a nasty little climb up to the town itself. Cold and wet, we found space in a home just outside the city limits that had a "room for rent". It looked like the builders of the house had searched for a spot as close to the town square as possible subject to being outside the city limits. We both spent the night cooking up stories about why this house was built just "over the border line".

Karitena has the remains of an old Norman castle dominating the lovely little village sprinkled on a mountain slope. We were too tired to climb up to the castle so put that off till tomorrow. The town square in Karitena has a lovely medieval feel, small and intimate. Karitena has few facilities, a bar, restaurant, and a small store about the size of a garage stocked with an amazing array of packaged foods just short of the expiration date.

May 12: to Olympia, 82 Km

Off again about 7am the sky was dark but not raining! What a novelty, no wet soggy morning to dampen our spirits, I could get used to this. The first 50 Km, all the way to Kallithea was up and down, often quite steep. The whole highway is a designated scenic drive, the scenery was spectacular. At Andretsena we stopped for some snacks at a small store. When the owner found out we were Americans he shook our hands enthusiastically all the time proclaiming to his friends that "America good". It was charming but didn't earn us any discounts.

Kallithea offered the best town square for lunch on our entire trip. Nice little table, the sun came out and warmed us after the chilly descent in damp clothes, and offered a spectacular view of the Alphios river valley. Lunch was the standard tuna fish, olives, bread, and tomatoes. Then some cheese and sausage, cookies, and some juice. Oh, I almost forgot the orange and peanuts we snacked on while preparing the other food. Just another typical lunch to help fuel the bicycle power units.

From Kallithea we enjoyed a mostly downhill run to Krestena. It was nice to watch the kilometers glide by, enjoying the classic Greek scenery and the warming temperature as we dropped altitude. From Krestena we crossed the Alphios river toward Olympia. On the way we met a French cyclists on his way around the world. Francois had been on the road for about a month and had big plans for extensive cycling in Africa, S. America, N. America, Australia, and India. He was the only other cycling tourist we met in Greece.

May 13: Olympia, Rest Day

Ah, a rest day. We went to the ruins, had a nice lunch, better nap, and checked our email.

Olypia Then:

Olympia Now

May 14: to Poros, 84 Km

A little change in plan, we decide to go to the island of Keffalonia instead of heading north to Patras. A French cyclist we met just outside of Olympia suggested we visit Keffalonia, evidently the most beautiful of the Greek isles, and that we could get a ferry from Keffalonia to Corfu and then to Italy.

Before starting, I paused for yet another photo of the apparently impressive RoadBoy machine.

We took the main road to Pirgos and then Savalia, it has fairly heavy mid morning traffic but is mostly flat so the trip goes pretty fast. At Savalia we turned off on secondary roads through Gastrouni and Vartholomio. Route finding was difficult because the roads are not marked well and there were many road changes to find as we threaded our way through this extensive agricultural district. The region is flat and filled with small plain agricultural communities.

From Vartholomio we headed for Hlemoutsi castle, viewable from far away as we approached and requiring two fairly steep and long climbs. The castle was closed so we didn't get to see much, we did have a nice fast coast down to the town of Khyllini, the ferry terminal for Keffalonia.

The ferry ride was pleasant and pretty. While waiting for the ferry to arrive my bike became the center of attention for a Gypsy family. We all had a good time laughing and wondering at each others lives. Their little baby seemed to like sitting on the bike.

We arrive in Poros about 7pm. Poros is an idyllic Greek fishing village. Many seaside restaurants right along the waterfront, outside seating, great food, inexpensive. It was very pleasant to stroll along the waterfront, watching the ocean, the birds, the sky, settling down to a wonderful dinner of calamari. And, blessedly, the weather was great, warm and dry. Just like Greece is supposed to be.

May 15: to Sami, 75 Km

Getting started in the morning becomes a familiar ritual. First, wolf down a morning snack, breakfast #1. Then, pack bags and carry them to the street. Carry the bikes out to the street. Finally, load the bikes, check the tires, and push off for breakfast #2. With any luck you've attached your worldly possessions in such a way that they won't fall off somewhere on the road. Don't forget to create some excitment for the daily adventure.

We finally got off about 8:30am, headed for Sami. It turns out that no ferry runs directly from Keffalonia to Corfu or any other place beside Patras. Furthermore, we have to go to Sami, across the island to get the ferry to Patras.

 

Breakfast #2 was fresh pastry and fruit from the local bakery and market with plenty of sunshine and blue sky to complement the food. I guess we were still excited at the novelty of being dry and warm. We planned to take the coast route around the island to Sami, heading first to Skala. It starts out steep from Poros, then a steep downhill drop, the up again, then down again. This turned out to be the routine for the day.

 

 

 

Skala is an upscale resort community compared to Poros, but for my tastes Poros is much nicer. The road along this stretch is dotted with beach resorts but not relentlessly. There area some significant breaks in the routine of fashionable restaurants and umbrella dotted beaches. From Skala we managed another steep climb to Katelios, then long and steep to Simotata, then up and down, up and down for the rest of the morning.

At Peratata we decided we couldn't make it all the way to Sami the long way around the island because of the sawtooth shape for the road, so we headed directly to Sami over the middle of the island. Even though we didn't go down to Agostoli we still had plenty of climbing, in the hot sun. It was hard to remember that just a few days early we had been cold and wet from rain, instead of hot and wet from sweat. Finally, about 3pm we reached the top and started downhill to Sami.

 

 

 

Sami is a rather drab little town with an unlimited supply of rentable motorbikes, motor scooters, and bicycles. We had a hard time finding a room, probably because Sami doesn't have a nice beach for tourists. We finally found a rather boring place, but clean and nice. Dinner was nice, good seafood.

May 16: to Patras/Bari, 1 Km

Up in the morning for the ferry to Patras and then Bari. Patras is a larger town, filled with congestion and some historic sights we didn't have time to examine. On the plus side, we finally found a good bicycle store and managed to buy a converter from Presta to Schraeder, which should give my pump some more life.

We did manage to find a quiet park near the Venetian fortress for lunch. Then, down again into the crowded city streets to the ferry terminal. We boarded the Superfast II ferry headed for Bari and claimed our space on the deck. Deck class is 14,400 DM. Not many people joining us on the deck at this time of year. Maybe 5 or so other deck campers. One young couple reminded me of myself. An American with his Japanese wife, finishing up a round the world trip after working in Japan teaching English. It was my wife and myself, 30 years ago.

Sleeping on the deck was only partially successful, the weather implausibly both cool and humid. Everything felt damp and clammy. But the night passed and with sunrise we could see the Italian shore. We arrived in Bari about 9:00am, a little sleepy but otherwise ready for a day of cycling.