Leaving the Peloponnese and heading north

The bay at Gerolimenas 

Greece has a lot more in store for us! After a wonderful stay at the tiny bay of Gerolimenas and some brilliant cycling we headed towards the busier area of Kalamata overnighting on a beach by a busy road which we didn't enjoy - much too noisy for us! From there we headed to the archeological site of Messene, the ruins of a city built in the 4th century BC through some very narrow and winding roads. This vast ancient city stands on a hillside with panoramic views across to the sea and has an amphitheatre, agora (market), a temple and most spectacular of all is the enormous stadium and gymnasium. We were taken aback as we came down the hill to suddenly see this massive complex devoted to sport (and later used by the Romans for gladiator sports including the use of animals)

Just half of the Messene stadium with an old relic in the foreground 

As with all of these ancient sites you need to sit quietly and imagine the lives of the people who lived, worked, played and maybe fought for their lives in this place. The magnificence of the structures just brings home how sophisticated their culture was over 2000 years ago and for the wealthy what sumptuous lives they led.
And talking about sumptuous- our next stop was at the port of Napflion where we arrived at the start of a four day Yachting show, the Marina was filled with over a hundred yachts all showing off their finest assets and plying their potential customers with expensive champagne.

It was interesting to see how the other half lives, but it was a noisy place to stay so the next day we headed a few miles along the coast to a quiet bay where we were joined by Linda & Andy again. We stayed for a couple of nights, enjoying a bit of company and a cycle ride together before we headed further north to Acrocorinth where we parked high up on the hillside with Linda & Andy, the massive fortress towering above us. We had a wonderful peaceful night, the views were stunning as were the wild flowers. The flowers of the yellow broom giving off a heady fragrance.

If you look carefully you can just see 2 vans middle right

The next day we said goodbye to Linda and Andy and headed towards Athens, crossing the Corinth canal, an incredible feat of engineering,  it cuts through the narrow isthmus between the Peloponnese and mainland Greece. We decided not to visit Athens, we just couldn't face the hustle bustle of such a big city but continue travelling north, on our way discovering an overnight stop on a hillside in the middle of nowhere - the silence was deafening!
We just love the freedom of travelling to new places and finding somewhere to park up in the depths of the countryside. It's not to everyone's taste to be out there completely alone and isolated, but we feel much safer there than on a busy harbourside, it's all part of the joy of motorhoming.

 In the middle of nowhere, hardly a car passed us by

Always expect the unexpected 😯

Our journey around Greece has certainly thrown us a few surprises from shipwrecks to ancient sunken cities. Having left Vigklafia and said farewell to Andy & Linda we arrived at a rather unassuming harbour town of Plytra, the weather was grey and cloudy but good enough for a stroll along the seafront. We spied a sign for Ancient Asopos, not knowing anything about it I quickly googled it only to discover it was the remains of a city destroyed by earthquake in 325 B.C and now partly submerged.
As we looked at all the shapes on the seashore, you could image a thriving port from over 2000 years ago, many of the structures were still visible and the area is popular with divers who can see more of the submerged city. I would have loved to go snorkelling, but the sea was too cold and uninviting for me that day!

Some of the partially submerged ruins of the ancient city of Asopos

The next day we headed further round the coast and parked up by a beach with a massive shipwreck, a rusting hulk of a cargo ship abandoned by its owners over 30 years ago. It came to a natural rest on the beach having broken free from its moorings in a storm. It was reputed to have been used to smuggle cigarettes and when she was seized by port authorities, the smugglers set fire to the ship to destroy the evidence. Of course, there are also rumours that the enormous hulk is haunted but maybe that's just to increase its attraction to tourists!

Shipwreck Dimitrios and a very ancient wall in the foreground 

From here we travelled a few miles up the road to the town of Gythio where we stayed on a campsite for a few days to catch up on the laundry (Greece surprisingly is not very well blessed with launderettes so it was our only choice) We were able to get out on our bikes exploring,

 cycling to an ancient town snuggled into the hillside which was full of Greek people out enjoying the Easter holiday. On our way back we stopped at our new favourite thing - a Greek Bakery where we had a coffee and one of their delicious sticky pastries Baklava, an indulgent desert made with filo pastry, syrup, spices and nuts.

A very old house in Arepoli

We also discovered that Gythio has a small Roman amphitheatre tucked away in the backstreets - a surprise around every corner!
Our trip to Greece has revealed many unexpected wonders and I wish I could show you more of the hundreds of photos we have taken in our time here. At this time of year there is an abundance of wild flowers, in some places even the most experienced gardener couldn't improve on natures display in the fields and roadside verges. The poppies here have a deeply rich hue of silky red and the yellow broom gives off a beautiful scent and wherever we go I see another variety of flower I've never seen before, the variety is incredible.
We also saw a tortoise crossing the road on a mountain road and I later found that the tortoise is native to Greece and can be found in the wild as well as some very bright green lizards I have spied on our travels.
It all adds up to the unique experience that is Greece! 🇬🇷

The view from Acrocorinth, wild flowers in foreground 

Highlights of our Greek trip so far 🚐🇬🇷

Everywhere you travel on the Peloponnese there is an interesting town or archeological site, it's difficult to know quite which direction to take! We decided to go in a clockwise direction, partly to meet up with Paul & Jan but also in the hope of better weather. After a lovely catch-up, we left Paul, he headed north, we headed south and the weather began to improve at last we were able to start exploring more and get out on our bikes.
We visited Monemvasia where we parked on the harbour (with free electric hook-up no less!).

The Byzantine fortress village of Monemvasia is built on an island that looks like Gibraltar with a causeway for access, in previous years the causeway had a drawbridge to keep out invaders. It was founded over 1500 years ago as a refuge against invasion from the Ottomans and later the Normans, in its time it was an important trade and maritime centre. The old town built high on the hillside is now just ruins with a restored church being the only building still standing, but the buildings lower down are still inhabited, although no motor vehicles can enter. When we visited there were builders working on a house and they used ponies to carry the bags of cement through the narrow streets to the site. All the restaurants and shops are also supplied by ponies.
The views from the old town across the bay with the shimmering turquoise sea made climbing the steep cobbled paths to the top worth the effort.

We went out exploring the area on our bikes and discovered our next place to park, where we were all on our own for a couple of nights, on a spit of land with a tiny chapel and cemetery on its end, we even had use of a water tap so I was able to catch up on washing a few smalls!
It was a perfect place for quiet relaxation with only the sound of the sea for company.

We then headed further south to meet up for a couple of nights with motorhome friends we met in Spain last year, Andy & Linda. We stayed on a quiet piece of land next to a Taverna that was yet to open for the season. We had a great meal in the one and only taverna open in the tiny village, we struggled a bit with ordering the food but ended up with a bit of a Greek feast with a special desert of what looked and tasted like a spoonful of orange marmalade and a shot of Raki (Ummm - different..)
The next day we took the ferry across to Elafonisos island as foot passengers, such a gorgeous little island!

The very best day of cycling in the Peloponnese Greece

We have now been in Greece for just over 3 weeks and today we had the most amazing day cycling from our parking spot on a tiny harbour at Gerolimenas on the Mani peninsula. Since we arrived we have had somewhat unpredictable weather it has been cool, cloudy with a bit of rain almost every day, but a few days ago the weather changed, the skies cleared, the sun came out and the temperatures rose.

We set out on our bikes and headed south towards the tip of the peninsula, as we rode we were blown away by the spectacular views at every turn. It felt like a magical experience and gave new meaning to the term breathtaking! We could only progress slowly because you just had to keep stopping to take it all in. We stopped for a coffee at a cafe bar overlooking the almost deserted village of Vathia with its distinctive fortified houses. Back in the 17th and 18th centuries this area was much more densely populated, the occupants farmed the steep hillsides with olive groves, cereals, goats but this area was also known for its pirates! I can imagine the people who lived here were pretty tough with the hot summers, cold winters, difficult landscape and invading Ottomans.

The village is now one of the most photographed in mainland Greece, a popular tourist attraction, but still looks just like it did all those years ago. It looks like something out of a storybook.
Our journey continued, winding along the steep coast road with the abundance of wild flowers on the verges and up the hillsides, the area also well known for the many and varied flowers. The roads were pretty steep and lots of hairpins, we were very glad of our electric bikes, in fact we wouldn't have undertaken such a ride without them, they really have taken our cycling to another level.

We didn't go far, only about 20 miles, but it was the most wonderful day out. We found a quiet place for our picnic and an even quieter one to have our flask of coffee (the cemetery!)
And when we got back I just had to share our fantastic day out with you.

We arrive in the Peloponnese 🇬🇷

Crossing over to the Peloponnese 

Heading south to the Peloponnese we crossed from the mainland using the Charilaos Trikoupis bridge, one of the world's longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges, I think they must be still paying for the cost of building it as we were shocked to pay 20.30€ for the privilege!
Once we arrived on the Peloponnese,we found it easy to Free camp as it's just the beginning of the season, many of the places have plenty of space to park and the locals don't seem to be at all bothered by you being parked there in your motorhome. The weather just didn't want to improve much - we would have some sunshine for a few hours but then it would cloud over and start to rain again.
The roads in Greece are almost as bad at the potholed roads in Italy, poorly maintained and bumpy. The laid back attitude of the Greek people is reflected in their driving- they overtake on the double unbroken centre lines on the road all the time, they come round blind bends on your side of the road, the wide roads suddenly become extremely narrow when you arrive in a town or village (so much so you wonder if you missed a sign somewhere) and the rules on giving way to the left on roundabouts is a bit shaky, which is how I would describe my nerves after a day on the road! I even woke up in the night and wondered if all our affairs are in order and our insurances paid up!

The little harbour at Diakopto

We pondered briefly about giving up on Greece and heading back to Spain! But only briefly even though the weather refused to improve! After a week in Greece we arrived at a tiny harbour at the back end of nowhere called Agios Andreas and our friends Paul and Janice met us there, we whiled away a stormy afternoon in the one and only taverna catching up on our latest travels since we last saw them in Spain. They had arrived about a week or so before us and were able to give us some good tips on where to visit on the Peloponnese.

Whilst we were there this old Greek guy who lived in a house by the harbour came by the motorhomers parked up and offered 'something to eat' at his house, we had just eaten so we didn't take him up on his offer, but a Swiss couple parked next to us went. When they returned they were highly amused - he had served them up some very dry cooked fish, some greasy chips and a half carafe of cheap wine, a large proportion of the fish was discretely fed to the many cats hanging around. When they offered payment 'Grandpa' as we called him, asked for 39€! Rather a lot!! We had just paid less than 30€ for a delicious meal for 2 in the nearby tarverna - Greek salad, meat, chips and a couple of rounds of drinks - the moral of the story I think is 'Beware of Greeks bearing gifts' 😂

Our area for parking at the harbour Agios Andreas

A brief stay in Italy and then on to Greece! 🇬🇷

After a silky smooth ferry crossing from Barcelona we arrive in Italy and were soon bumping along their pothole filled roads. For those of you who have not driven in Italy it is quite an experience! We were careful to secure any loose items in the Moho and check the tyre pressures before setting out on our journey across to the ferry terminal at Ancona, the roads are quite frankly awful with frequent potholes large enough to lose a small child in! Add that to the impatient Italian drivers, driving in Italy is not much fun! What we did find on our short stay was a friendly welcome from the people we met as well as a really interesting medieval town where we stayed on their motorhomers Aire (complete with fresh water, waste disposal and even electric hook up!)
The town of Offagna is only 10miles from the ferry terminal at Ancona making it a perfect place to stopover before your crossing to Greece, if we visit here again we will definitely plan a longer stay to explore the town and surrounding countryside.

Our view from the motorhome

We checked in to the port and the whole experience can only be described as chaotic! Not knowing the procedure to follow at the port didn't help but by the time we had boarded the ship we heaved a sigh of relief when we entered our cabin for the night! Once again we had a smooth crossing and the time passed quickly, we soon landed on Greek soil and were heading down the road to our first stop at the quiet harbour village of Plataria, a few miles south of the port of Igoumenitsa.
Did I say quiet? It was for the most part, but on Sunday morning the whole church service in Greek was loudly broadcast by loudspeaker right next to our parking spot!

The Greek Orthodox Church Plataria

Fortunately is happened only once so didn't really cause us too much trouble! We were able while we were there to get out on our bikes and cycle along the glorious coast road to a nearby village where we
picnicked on the seafront. For those of you who have never been to Greece, it is a country of thousands of islands and mile upon mile of stunning rocky coastlines. All along these coastlines are many, many seaside resorts with apartments and small hotels for all the visiting tourists.

Distant snow capped mountains 

The sea when the sun shines is a beautiful turquoise colour and the water is so clear, but sadly we didn't see as much of the sunshine as we would have liked as we had frequent grey skies and rain, we wondered if maybe we had come to Greece to early in the season. Perhaps the snow capped mountains in the distance was a clue to the April temperatures!
Well, there is no turning back so with eternal optimism we headed south to the Peloponnese peninsula in search of warmer climes.

Greece - the next stage of our adventure

Fishers Farm Wisborough Green

Leaving Velez Rubio we headed back to Totana for a few days before heading on to our friends, Janet and Frank at Quesada (Murcia region) where we had arranged to have the motorhome serviced in a local garage and stored for the week whilst we headed home to the UK, flying Ryanair from Alicante. The return flights to Gatwick didn't cost a lot but all the regulations stipulated by Ryanair stressed us somewhat! Are the flight bags the correct dimensions? When do we check in online and why do we have to pay just to sit together? It's all so complicated.....
Nevertheless we made it home unscathed and enjoyed a hectic week catching up with our friends and family especially time spent with our gorgeous granddaughters- we had a brilliant day out at Fishers Farm park with all the animals and activities.
The week flew by and we were soon back on the plane heading back to Spain to start the next stage of our adventure.

Cambrils promenade 

There are a number of ways to get to Greece, we opted to take a ferry from Barcelona to Civitavecchia in Italy, drive northeast across Italy to Ancona and then to take a ferry from there to Igoumenitsa on the west coast of Greece.
The first crossing was 20 hours and the second 16 hours so we added a cabin for both journeys. You can opt on the Greece ferry to camp on deck in your motohome which we have heard is good fun but we decided to have the luxury of a cabin. Together the total cost of the two ferry journeys worked out at 635€ (about £600) which we thought wasn't too bad, it gave us a great feeling of excitement booking our trip to Greece- we have never been quite so adventurous before!
Having spent a lovely few days with Janet & Frank (which included a night out for fish & chips, a visit to the Saturday market at Almoradi and Janet cooked us her fabulous Paella which has to be the best ever - and has completely spoilt us for having Paella anywhere else!) we headed north towards Barcelona stopping at Cambrils enroute.

Our ferry to Italy was booked for 10.30pm so we allowed plenty of time for the Barcelona city traffic and getting checked in etc. Once we arrived at the port we parked up in the holding area and had time to eat our evening meal before we eventually boarded - that's the lovely thing about travelling around in your motorhome- you have everything with you (including the kitchen sink!)
The whole process of boarding was totally chaotic but we made it and were soon settling into our little cabin for the journey. We had an incredibly smooth crossing, slept well with the gentle rocking of the boat and enjoyed the sunshine on deck the next day. It would have all been perfect but for the couple of hundred Italian teenage students on board (quite well behaved but noisy) and having to wait ages after checking out of the cabin to disembark.
At last we arrived on Italian soil ready for a brief stay in the land of Pasta, Pizza and Pompeii.

On board the Cruise Ausonia - Grimaldi lines