Had to spend 4 hours at Perth airport on the way – getting from the International terminal to the Domestic terminal was interesting, with not very good Qantas help or advice. Went by bus right around the boundary of the whole airport – and quite slowly. We think they need to either learn to drive like Greeks (including the Greek pilots) or from places like Los Angeles where there doesn’t seem to be much of an issue about driving across the airport and not around it, but then we guess Perth airport has to be a lot busier and more dangerous than LA airport?! But it filled in some time for us, but was a bit stressful for some of the other passengers with closer connecting flight times.
We’re not feeling too sad about the trip finishing – it’s been a fabulous, rich and long and rewarding holiday, and what more could we have wanted or expected? (And Jan says she’s not sick of living with Dave full-time and non-stop for 8 weeks!) There were a few things we may have done differently in retrospect, but nothing major. Often on shorter hols you come back feeling that you wanted and needed more, but this feels satisfying and fulfilling, and it will be great to be back home again with family and friends. And work we can cope with.

Cheers for now – til the next trip!

Jan_n_Dave

Saturday 6th June – Singapore to Melbourne and HOME remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Stayed in a n ice 4 star hotel in the middle of Singapore city where we seemed to have been given an extremely good deal which we had booked online from Athens (or was it Naxos?). Our sufferings from the trip made it much less enjoyable than we’d hoped – both had bad heads, neck and backs, with Jan’s being unbearable. Found a local formal and medical looking massage place where she negotiated for some treatment for her neck/back – it was pretty obvious she was in pain and she couldn’t turn her head from the straight ahead position at all. She received a range of massages and pummelings and some poultices for covering the top area of her back. She still had marks on her backs three days later from the treatment, and although she was not too good that day, the next day she seemed more flexible with less pain.

We still managed to do a lot of wandering around Singapore (in the heat and humidity of course), and went through the streets of Little India, the Arab section and Chinatown. Had some nice food, esp. the seafood (very expensive) by the river on the last two evenings. Found Singapore “pretty” but a bit bland and sanitized, esp. compared to Bangkok and even to KL where we had stayed for a similar time on one of our other return trips from Europe. Still don’t understand how these big Asian cities can sustain so many shopping malls/centres in the city centre??

Wednesday 3rd June to Saturday 6th June - Singapore remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It’s hard to name the highlights, so we’ll name a few and then add in some photos, esp. as we are now out of time to finish the blog.
• Sitting out in the streets in the late evenings enjoying (mainly) freshly cooked fish, and in one case sitting right next to a couple of local guys playing guitar and bouzouki (and we assume playing Greek music), and another meal overlooking the floodlit Acropolis.
• Just the feel of the city – the streets, the people, the shops, the markets, the food, the history.

• Strolling through the various ancient sites – we probably enjoyed the Ancient Agora and the Keramikos (basically the cemetery for Athens since ancient times and part of the main street/path into the city and up to the Acropolis) the most, although the Temple of Zeus was humungous and impressive, and the Acropolis enthralling (but the effect was ruined to an extent by the renovations and related scaffolding and machinery plus the new museum was still to open - surprisingly many years late - but the old one was closed).

• Seeing the various viewable excavations that are dotted around the city – suddenly next to a church or building or train line you will see an excavation of part of some ancient Hellenic or Roman building or a combination of both. Some of the best are part of the Metro train system which when they excavated for it uncovered all sorts of sites – amazing. Of course much of it included parts of the drainage systems, so Jan was overly excited by these sites.

• Dave getting a complement on his Greek – “have you some Greek blood?” Last time it was the tan, big nose and beard, this time his (ten words of) Greek??!!

Left the apartment in Athens at Tuesday lunchtime after a last coffee in a square overlooking Hadrian’s library. On the owner’s advice we decided to go via the Metro and suburban rail to the airport – quicker and cheaper (in theory) than a taxi. We managed it all quite OK, except that the Metro train was very crowded when we hopped on at Monistariki station, one of the big city and touristy stations. All was good, until Dave realized at the end of the trip that his wallet had been pick-pocketed – we assume on the full train at the start. Not many Euros left, but of course all his cards have gone. Meant he had to ring Oz from the airport and cancel his bank cards – already one big transaction had gone through, but hopefully that will have been all. Such a pain, but at least it was at the end of the holiday not earlier on. Oh well, really our first ever mishap on quite a few OS trips (apart from Jan’s twisted ankles of course).

Saturday 30th May to Tuesday 2nd June–Athens remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Leaving Naxos by air wasn’t quite as easy or as normal as you’d expect. Only one airline flies out so a rather low key affair – and unbeknown to us it has a small runway and without strong winds the plane can have difficulty taking off – so they usually leave the baggage behind and send it later by ferry! Most passengers were a bit disturbed by this news, esp those with connecting flights straight out of Athens. At least we could survive for a day while our luggage caught up with us in Athens. Jan had to rummage through our checked in luggage after it had gone through security (in front of the assembled staff – police, security and baggage handlers) and pull out some undies for us! She thinks it was because of her heroic act that they felt sorry for us (me?) and put our luggage on the plane. But not everyone got their’s.
We took off OK and 30 minutes or so later landed in Athens – where we experienced another (surprising or not unsurprising depending on how you look at it) Greek action. We arrived ahead of time and safely in very typical Greek driving fashion! Except it was more like car driving than plane taxiing. When we landed, the plane didn’t seem to slow down much as we taxied for the couple of kms to the docking area! We half expected the pilot to pass another taxiing plane (across double lines if there were any). We couldn’t hear the wheels screaming as we turned and waved to our parking spot, but felt they had to be.

Decided in the end to take a taxi to our apartment that was slap bang in the middle of downtown/central/ancient Athens. The train/metro wasn’t running as they were doing construction work at a few stations. Bus takes 90 minutes and we would have had to walk for about 1.5 km. Asked at the Info desk who said the normal taxi fare was about 30€. We were also worried about the type of taxi driver we could get – they apparently still don’t have a great reputation. The taxi driver was very pleasant and pointed out various sites on our way – but it was Friday arvo and the traffic was worse than obviously the normal dreadful Athens traffic is. Got there for 50€ incl the tip!

The apartment was excellent – well equipped and well placed for the sites of Athens – 10 minutes walk or less to the Plaka and Monistariki and many of the famous sites (maybe 30 minutes walk up to the Acropolis). It is in a renovated office or house/units, but in a bit of a dodgy area – a real mix. There are locals like the woman who ran a garlic selling business in a small narrow building next door and who lived on the opposite corner and the woman who lived in the bottom unit who has lived in the street for all of her 80+ years. Then there were a number of Asian clothes and shoe shops; Indians and Pakistanis who seemed to run a range of business out of a wide range of buildings and vehicles, and also some Africans/North Africans. Along with that there were the drug dealers and takers. Within a few minutes walk there was a nice area of squares and pedestrian only streets full of restaurants and cafes – and not too touristy as it was a bit out of the way.

After we got in and met one of the owners, we wandered down to the Plaka via the local lanes etc – wandered around and got to know where we were etc. Had a nice meal in a local taverna.

Friday 29th May – Naxos to Athens remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Unfortunately although the temp was warm enough, the wind was horrific and we couldn’t get that third swim in that Jan was desperate for. Safely retraced our steps up the mountain road to the top and another destination for the day – Apiranthos. This was another mountainside village famous for being built with local marble. Found a stopping place (on the road that skirts the town – none through it again). Wandered up some steps into the village and turned left to see what we could see and find. Found lots of old and partly marbled houses and cobbled marble alleys, a few fascinating old men sleeping or peering down at us, a young lad trying to convince us in his very struggling English to take a photo of him on a mule, but no glamorous streets and buildings as promised or kafeneios or tavernas for a coffee or drink.

Eventually (thought perhaps we were going to be lost wandering the streets forever) found where we had started and turned right this time, and found the more glamorous part of town – marble everywhere including completely marble paved streets. Found a very nice tavern overlooking the valley and had ouzo with four different local cheeses – fab. Drove back home with the sun low in the sky and amazingly misty over the sea and surrounding islands – vey mystical!

Another interesting sideline about Greece is the signage - here are two examples. One is for a butcher, just so we know what meats they sell, and the other is an example of some wonderful English translations - reminds us of Footscray back home!

Thursday 28th May – Naxos remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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In the afternoon/evening we went on a longish walk for our house in Mile to two nearby Kouros’s- both had lost a leg in moving, so were abandoned. They give you a feeling for the sculptor’s intentions – the flow of the body etc. The walk took us across the valley we looked out over, and into another village. One we had been able to observe cars going into, but not coming out of. We hoped it didn’t do the same to pedestrians! As with many/most of the Naxos villages it was built on a hillside, and a number of roads came into it from both sides – but as we discovered on foot, none of them could go through the middle of the town – it was pedestrians and bikes only – and the only way through was around the back – so there was a 180 degree turn at the entrance to the village which took cars up to the top and back of the village. We took this route the following day, now we knew how it worked.

Saw another mule being used, but not ridden.

Wednesday 27th May – Naxos remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Came across another old Pirgos too – in a state of decay, but open for wandering through. Had the remains of a mill and a press – probably for olive oil we imagined.

Were hoping that a tavern was open at another very small seaside village on the west coast – but it wasn’t, so a picnic lunch again (with tinned sardines (again!). But it was a pretty village and a nice bay (but rather rocky and pebbly underfoot and the weather was not hot enough for a swim (unfortunately as Jan was wanting another swim).

Tuesday 26th May – Naxos remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Saw our first mule being ridden - lots of them all over the island, including next to our house - in two directions! This one was being ridden, not just led along.

The first half of the walk was fine – relatively well marked with enough sign posts to feel you were on the right track. Went through a village (Kaloxilos - Καλοξυλος) that we loved the feel and look of – maybe it could be the sort of place to come back and live in for a few months?? Had coffee in a nice and friendly village at the top of the valley, then wandered down to the main focus of the walk – one of Naxos’s oldest churches – Panagia Drosiani, with frescoes from the 7th C.

Walk back down the valley along the stream was not well marked and the guide didn’t help much either – was nice to find two other couples trying to use the same book who were also having trouble. One other couple managed to make it all the way through like we did (we met at the bottom at the one and only taverna in the starting village) – but the other couple re-appeared hours later, so we think they had to retrace their steps.

But there were snakes again – two live ones and one dead one. Because every step you take the little lizards scurry out of your way, and once you see a snake do the same, you can’t help but feel the next scurry is a snake not a harmless lizard (even of the snakes too may be harmless). Makes the walk less relaxing.

After lunch, tasted the Kitron (not bad!) and had a coffee in the next door café and popped into an interesting craft shop.

Drove home via a different route – roads here are much more like in Crete or worse, but there’s not much traffic which helps a bit. Amazing views back over the sea and the island, and views of the marble quarries – we feel that the value in the discarded lumps of marble sitting by the side of the roads or down the hillsides would probably be enough to make you a millionaire in Oz. And everything everywhere is made of marble – much of our presumably poor and normal village house has marble - table tops and benches (including in the courtyard), marble floors, marble shower, etc etc.

Monday 25th May – Naxos remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Went on our first planned walk using a walk book we bought. The walk was great, but the walk book’s instructions were pretty rough and ready – and seems that they assume you just bush bash/wander through farmer’s fields at your leisure/pleasure. And given our still regular snake sightings, and the length of the grass and bush at the moment, it was a bit off putting. Walked for about 4 hours, saw some wonderful villages, examples of Pirgos (Venetian fortified manor houses/towers), old windmills, threshing floors, small and large Byzantine chapels/churches, and the main focus of the walk a partly reconstructed Greek temple to Demeter. And no snakes – just lots of lizards and one that’s a dragon! And people were friendly and greeted us wherever we went – well the locals did, not the other tourists (find that other European tourists are a pretty unfriendly bunch).

Headed off afterwards to the beach (never very far from a beach!), had an ordinary lunch at a taverna on the beach, and finished the afternoon off by having our second swim of the holiday in the amazingly blue/green and clear seas of Greece. Water still cold, but felt more bearable as the temp was higher and the wind mild.

Home for another home prepared meal watching the sun go down and the colours change on the hills and the neighbours’ houses.

Sunday 24th May – Naxos remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Wandered around the small lanes and alleys of the old town, taking a few photos and looking at some gift/jewellery shops (pressie shopping time!). Some quite interesting stuff.

Passed a beautiful looking taverna on our wander, and decided we just had to go there for lunch – which we did. Found out that it was quite famous – the oldest taverna in Naxos. And the food was fab – probably the best overall we’ve had to date. The Naxian salad was out of this world – a mix of many of the normal Greek salad ingredients, but with some other/different ingredients that made the difference – some greens, a dressing made with olives, and topped with Grandma’s secret recipe version of a specialty Naxian soft goat’s cheese. Wow – vowed to go back if we could! And the mushrooms and zucchini fritters weren’t too bad either.

Shopped for food too – no tavernas in our village, so we would have needed to walk a couple of km or Dave would have to drive to a nearby village and back if we went out – drinking not the issue, but the narrow and windy roads are. So thought we’d enjoy eating on our courtyard or on the balcony (and weather is to be mid to high 20’s) and maybe have some lunches out at tavernas in some of the villages we would be visiting. Used to now finding out what the local specialties are, and trying to buy some to eat. Got some Naxos cheeses (goat and sheeps’) easily, and some Naxian Rose to drink.

Had a lovely home-cooked meal that night.

Saturday 23rd May – Naxos remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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5 ½ hours later we arrived, picked up our car and off to find the village where we are staying. The village, Mili, is very small – in the hills about 15 mins drive from the main town and port, Hora. No cars in the village. You leave your car on the road and walk down a set of steps. The village seems to be spread over the hill and doesn’t really seem to have a centre (not one we have found). The house is a bit odd. There are 2 buildings. One has the bedroom and the living area; the other, the kitchen and bathroom. A covered courtyard area ‘joins’ them. From the courtyard you can climb steps to the roof of the kitchen/bathroom, which is used as a patio and the area to hang clothes. There is also a garden, but, unfortunately, without some major gardening, is unusable. Jan had a go, just to try and get to the orange and lemon trees we had been asked to water.

Having said all that, it’s rather nice – quaint, atmospheric, etc.

The view from the kitchen/bathroom roof is great – steep, scrub covered hills with tracks winding through them on which you see goats, their herders and people on donkeys (well only once but there are many donkeys around). At sunset, the hills glow. Like this place – Naxos, more than the house though.

Friday 22nd May – to Naxos Island remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Yesterday was really windy so left visiting the temple until today – even windier. Still, may be the only time we are ever here. At the temple site the wind was even stronger – quite scary – and buffeted you about. Felt as if it could easily swish you over the side and down the cliff face.

Because of the wind we didn’t linger, and set off to take the car back. In the past we have had ‘issues’ finding where to return cars so neither of us (well at least Jan) were looking forward to this bit. All went relatively smoothly, except nearly ended up in Athens (not advisable) trying to find a petrol station.

Car people took us to airport where we caught a bus to Pireaus. Pireaus gets very bad press. Lonely Planet suggest you don’t stay there at all but as our ferry left at 7.30am the next morning, didn’t think we had a choice. However, booked a hotel in advance and after some wandering around the streets found it. Hotel was just near the market but by the time we had checked in and got something for lunch, the market had closed.

Wandered the streets of Pireaus for a few hours, fine in the day but not sure how we would have felt at night in some parts. Couldn’t find anywhere near our hotel to eat dinner so just ate in the hotel and had an early night.

Thursday 21st May – Sounion - Pireaus remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Decided to treat ourselves and stay in a rather luxurious hotel – certainly the most luxurious we have stayed in. Beautiful view overlooking a cove with a number of yachts (large and small) and further out cargo boats moored. Sat and watched the yachts come in and out and the sea and sky change colour. To the side we could also see the temple – and watch it change colour with the sky.

Enjoyed the luxury.

Wednesday 20th May – Sounion remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Decided to stop in at a couple of Neolithic sites on the way. A bit hard to find and not that exciting, and some of the interesting parts not open to the public. Really needed more info – which wasn’t available in English.

Stopped at the fishing village we were heading to at about 4.30pm. Dave pretty tired so coffee and then a walk around the town to (1) see if we could find somewhere to stay and (2) if we thought it was worth staying at. Decided to go on and see if we could find somewhere more interesting and prettier. Anyway, got caught in traffic due to road works, in an area that although on the map it looked like it would be OK (many beaches along coast) was very industrial; I said turn right and I should have said go straight on, and some time later we didn’t have a clue where we were going and where we were going to find a hotel.

Headed to Marathon area where we thought there would be hotels due to a number of events held in the area during the Olympics. To cut a long story short we found a hotel along the beach that didn’t really look open but went in any way to find it was open and expensive – and really crappy. Probably built for the Olympics but hasn’t been maintained. There were ‘bungalows’ all around the large grounds with about 6 rooms in each bungalow. We were taken to one some distance from the main building and given the choice of 2 rooms – both smelt of mildew and obviously hadn’t been used for some time. Didn’t have much choice but to stay but they agreed to cut the cost a little and give us breakfast.

Dinner at a very local taverna was good – simple, but some of the best potato chips we have ever had.

Got back to our room to find there was no water - but couldn’t find anyone to complain to so filled up a couple of plastic bottles with water from a tap in the garden to wash hands, clean teeth, etc. Very tired and crapped off.

Tuesday 19th May – Meteora - ?? remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So up to the monasteries and the rocks. So many busses at them that we decided to drive to the highest and walk to one of the lower ones and then back to the top one. Scrambled down a track with no idea if we were on THE track on just a water course. Eventually met some other people coming up so figured we were on the right track. All very green and dramatic – green vegetation against the rocks – some with monasteries on top. Walked along the road for a bit looking for the track up but couldn’t find it so walked a long way around the road (up all the way). Many buses at the second monastery we had thought to visit so back up the road to the first (and highest one), Moni Megalou Meteorou. It was established in 14th century and in the church there are frescoes with graphic representations of Christians being persecuted by the Romans.

Not many people there which was lucky as it wasn’t that big. Some cultural sites can take large nos of people –but not the monasteries. Not sure what happens to the monks when all the tourists are there – are they locked in their rooms praying? Was particularly interesting from the point of view that the monastery played an active part in the War of Independence and 2nd WW. There were paintings of various Greek heroes involved in battles. Seemed strange to think of a monastery so involved in warfare – or at least supporting it. Also a number of modern paintings which used the old style of the frescoes in the church to show the neomartyrs – those that died during the time of the Turkish rule. The language used to describe the Turks and the Germans in the 2nd WW reminded me of some of the language used in Vietnam to describe the Americans and what occurred during the American / Vietnam war.

Decided not to go into another monastery as it is really the scenery (and that people built on the top of these rocks) that is the most interesting.

Back to our room to resume the stork watch – the second stork had flown in in the morning with some twigs and they both fussed over the nest. Second stork had then flown off. Second stork (is it male of female) returned in the afternoon and again they fussed about the next and made loud clicking noises at each other - is this part of a mating ritual?

Monday 18th May – Meteora remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Drove around Ioaninna (which looks both picturesque and fascinating) to another mountain village town, Metsova. Originally we had intended to stay in Metsova but it is a very touristy town with not a lot to do but look at the shops and, of course, eat and drink – unless you are there in winter and go skiing. After Arachova we had had enough of cute and touristy mountain villages so decided to go on to Meteora.

Drive from Metsova to Meteora is over a very steep (again) mountain pass. Again scenery was amazing but hard on Dave as road is very very bendy and not in great condition. Land-slides are obviously common along the road (as they seem to be on many roads) and there were parts of the road that had been washed away (not uncommon) and not carefully repaired. In some spots there were quite large cracks across the road as if the next heavy rain would wash the road away.

Got to Kastraki (one of the towns in the Meteora area) for a late lunch – had in the town square looking up at these huge rock monoliths. Trying to find a hotel Dave tried to do a u-turn, banged into the footpath (raised and covered in blocks of the local stone – quite sharp at the corners) and the front right hand tyre could be heard to deflate – and a nice little tear in the side too. As the man at the place we took it to the next day said – ‘kaput’. Had to put on the silly little spare – not a real spare, just one of those pretend ones. Tried to find a hotel the Lonely Planet suggested but gave up when realized it was some way out of town and just went in to the closest one that looked OK. Have a room on the first floor overlooking some of the big rocks and a stork’s nest.

Sunday 17th May – Monodendri to Meteora remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Stopped for dolmades and oranges on the way. Took about 4 ½ hrs.

Came back to find that the rest of the building had been demolished and that the wall of the passage to our room was no more!!

Dinner that night at our hotel. Momma again steered us in our choice of food (not sure we really had a choice). Started with home made feta baked with tomatoes and onions (feta was fantastic), followed by mince meat pattie and roasted eggplant and potatoes. All tasted great but the meat patty was so salty it was hard to eat it. We feel we are being treated almost as “royal” guests by Momma – she fusses over us and is very proud of her food, which if it wasn’t for the salt, would be some of the best we’ve had anywhere. The “barrel” wine here is good too, incl. the white.

Saturday 16th May – Monodendri, Zagoria remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Dinner was also a bit of a highlight. Had dinner (after our first ouzos on the balcony) where we were staying as Momma was there. No menu, just what she has made – 2 sorts of soup, pies - and although we were offered grills it was obvious she was keen for us to sample one of her soups. Went for the lemon and egg soup with lamb (I think it was lamb). Tasted great. Also sampled her tsatziki which was good.

Friday 15th May – Monodendri, Zagoria remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Many wild flowers – about 5 different types of orchids!!! Walked on following the river to another stone bridge and tried to follow the river to a couple of others but after a few attempts we realized the track had collapsed and was no longer in existence. Walked the road instead and found 2 more stone bridges. Some had one arch, one had 2 and another 3 arches – all very pretty.

Coffee in a village and then the return trip. We ended up being out for well over 5 hours and hadn’t had a proper lunch – although tinned dolmades next to a stream and an old bridge weren’t a bad snack. And the oldies’ fitness levels weren’t as bad as we thought they might have been – all our daily walks and wanders must have made a difference.

Thursday 14th May – Monodendri, Zagoria remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Dave had been to Dodoni on his previous trip to Greece and remembered it as a remote place where he and Barb sat at the top of the theatre and looked down to see a shepherd and his sheep wander in. Now the theatre is closed off as are a number of the other buildings / temples, you pay to get in, and there’s even a (small) café. But it has a lovely feeling about it – peaceful. And in the paddock opposite we watched an old lady herd her sheep – so maybe little has changed.

Went on to Monodendri in the Zagorian area. The Zagorian villages are set in the Pindos Mountains – full of narrow twisting roads and quaint villages that all use the local stone for all the buildings and local slate for the roofs. Some of the roads through the villages and most of the paths are also made from the stone – looks good but not so great to walk on. The area also has bears, lynx, and wild boars as well as snakes (seen more snakes here in a few days than we’d see in Australia in a few years), tortoises and many different types of orchids. Also lizards – that aren’t at all frightened – likely to run up you if you stand still.

Many of the houses are large and enclosed in high stone fences. Evidently at one of the times when the Turks ruled this part of Greece, the area was independent and was quite wealthy and built large houses.

Anyway, arrived in Monodendri where we had booked accommodation. The guy from the hotel was waiting for us and as soon as he had checked us in and given us a cup of coffee (Nescafe), he left and we were the only ones in the hotel for the night. The village is very small – 3 hotels, 2 tavernas and a couple of tourist shops and a handful of houses. No ‘real’ shops like a bakery or butcher – not in any of the towns.

Wednesday 13th May – Lichnos – Zargoria via Dodoni remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Had a VERY lazy day lazing on the beach in the sun and having our first swim in the inviting sea. The water was actually colder than we expected once we got in – but given that the temp was probably only about 23/24 °C it’s not surprising the water felt cold. But the sea and beach were beautiful. We had some exercise in walking along the beach which was very fine pebbles/stones and therefore didn’t compact like sand, even when wet or damp, and required some effort to walk through, and there was our climb back up the hill to our Unit.

We needed internet access for Jan to do some work and checking of emails, and the Camping ground’s system seemed to be not working, so we drove into Parga to both shop for dinner that night and for the next few days, and for Jan to access the internet. Were so pleased we had discovered Lichnos as Parga was as described – VERY touristy, although pretty. Shopped (never seen a town with as many mini-marts!) and Jan found a café with wifi access and did some work (while we drank a beer). Back to our Unit for a home cooked meal eaten on the balcony, followed by a night time wander to wonder at the fireflies again.

Tuesday 12th May – Lichnos remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Tom, our pedantic navigator, said the trip would take us in excess of 6.5 hrs to drive a bit over 300 km – typical average speeds for Greece, even though we’d mainly be on “major” roads. We drove back along the coast of the Corinth Gulf and had an amazingly clear trip with little hold ups in terms of trucks, buses or slow local traffic. Dave has fitted into Greek style driving quite comfortably, so there are times when Jan doesn’t see a lot of what’s happening when overtaking buses, trucks or slow cars on the invariably double lined roads – and all in the powerful Hyundai Getz we’re familiar with from Oz! We made a brief am coffee stop, a petrol stop (Dave’s now pretty good at asking for either 20€ or 30€ of petrol), a strawberry buying stop (2€ for 500 gm) and spinach filos for lunch at a seaside town.

Eventually got close to our target destination and started to look for suitable seaside villages with a nice beach – drove off to one, but it was pretty flat and boring and spread out, so kept going. A few km after the turn off the main road towards Parga we noticed a possible smaller village, so headed down hill (the coast was now steeper and more dramatic) to the village. It was a beautiful small bay surrounded by high hills with cliffs at the ends and the normal beautiful blue/green sea. It was mainly just accommodation places, most of which were not yet open (many were being cleaned up and were getting ready), but the camping ground was. So we wandered in and asked if they had any self-contained accommodation – they did, they showed us the room which was a bit of a climb back up the hill, it was well equipped with stunning views, so we booked in for two nights. And the staff were ever so friendly and helpful, something we haven’t found very common. They ordered us fresh wholemeal bread for the next day (Dave asked for it while Jan was checking in – the woman then went and checked with Jan that Dave was ordering the right bread!). Lichnos was one of those special finds.

As we were unsure of where we going to be staying we hadn’t done any shopping, so asked if there was anywhere open for dinner - the only place was the restaurant at the hotel next door. So had to endure sitting out just above the beach looking out at the bay and eating locally caught fish (again). Nice local wine too. The waitress was charming and friendly (and so positive about Dave’s two words of Greek!). Through our chats with her we got to know the names of the fish we ate – had been meaning to eat “bigger” local fish, so we had our first (sea bream) grilled beautifully and more gavros (fresh anchovies) which they fry in the amazingly crisp and fresh way – and these were by far the best we had eaten.

But the highlight of the day was the walk after dinner back through the camping ground up to our unit – there were fireflies everywhere! Dave had never seen them, and Jan had only seen some in Bali. They were amazing – lots of them especially in the low lying tent area where there was no-one camping. They seemed to be synchronized and blinking all together about every second. Have to add it to our “to be researched” list, which now includes at least:
• Fireflies
• Why the seas in Greece (and the Mediterranean?) don’t have waves – everywhere we have been the sea gently laps the shore.
• Saint George (that’s a long story)
• Chameleons (not sure if we’ve seen them or not?)

Monday 11th May –Arahova to somewhere on the NW coast remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Has been an interesting village to stay in – many tourists but very few non-Greek ones and not as much in English (including menus). And the most expensive coffee we have ever had – E4 ($8). Can’t make coffee in our room but have found a much cheaper place. Our room has a balcony that looks out on to the main square (opposite it actually) so able to watch the locals and tourists as they noisily enjoy expensive coffee (and other drinks) in the square in the afternoon and evening.

We can also observe the traffic – buses trying to pass, people ‘parking’ when it is banned (which is done by leaving the hazard lights flashing as they go and buy their cigarettes, bread, coffee, newspaper, …). Given that this is the main road from Athens to Delphi there are many buses.

Sunday 10th May – Mt Parnassus and Arahova remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It was a beautiful day, mild and sunny, and we enjoyed seeing the site and its marvelous position. Doesn’t have the intimacy and wonder of somewhere like Messini (which maybe has spoilt us) but it is dramatic and grand, as some of the photos will show. And the museum, whilst rather crowded (tourist bus people had caught up with us by then), was well set out with good information and a number of highlights – the amazing use early on of bronze for decorations and for utensils (and armour) and for sculpture and a range of original stone sculptures and friezes, including some with painted sections.

Saturday 9th May – Delphi and Arahova remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Also the studio has free internet access which means we can get back to being up-to-date with emails and this travel blog. Wasn’t good or easy at the last place and in transit.

Went to the Monastry of Osios Loukas in the late afternoon (small driving / navigation tiff on the way). Set on the side of the hill with views over the valley and mountains – spectacular of course. One of the churches is 10 C and the other Byzantine and is considered to have the best frescoes, mosaics and marble in Greece. Had a lovely feel to it – quiet and serene (after the school kids had gone) and the mosaics were pretty amazing – very gold. Sat in the garden having coffee under large old trees, overlooking the green valley. We were one of the last to leave and as we were leaving first a drum sounded followed by bells. We assume this announces something to the monks – perhaps that the last of the tourists have left and it is safe to come out??

Friday 8th May – Arahova remains copyright of the author Jan_n_Dave, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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