After wonderful Meteora, we headed back to the coast, to Pelion, a remote and sparsely populated peninsular.
We found a campsite nestled in an ancient olive grove with the most friendly owners which was right on the beach, in Kato Gatzea. More excellent swimming ensued with wonderful views all around of the Pagasetic Gulf. We also drove around for a few hours to see what was around, which turned out to be not a lot, but there were delicious apples being sold by various local growers, the area is famed in Greece for growing them, but no cider…
Here we noticed we started to have a problem with our Solar Panel, basically it’s stopped working, so this will affect our lazing around for days on end in remote places, relaxing with a fridge full of cold beers… 1st world problems hey! We still get a good couple of days of leisure battery time once we stopped driving, I think we’ll live.
We’ve contacted the suppliers and it’s under warranty so it will get sorted, eventually.
We still decided to go to another beach anyway. On our way south we stopped over at the remote and not touristy Pelasgia Beach, thanks again to the very useful park4night app.
There is nothing there, except a shower and a small chapel dedicated to St George. Again the views around and across to the island of Evia were fantastic and the water was wonderful to swim in. A really peaceful place, just a few fishermen and the odd worshipper stopping into the chapel from time to time.
Moving on, we kept on south to camp near Delphi. Half way there just before we had to drive across the mountains, we stopped at the memorial to the famous 300 at Thermopylae. In 480BC this area was a narrow pass which back then the Persians wanted to pass through to get further into mainland Greece. King Leonidas and his troops stopped the Persian Army for a couple of days in 480BC before eventually being betrayed by a local that offered the Persians another route around that lead to a pincer move in which all but two of the Greeks died. There wasn’t just 300 Spartans against the might of the Persian Army, it was an alliance of some 7000 Greeks but it was the famous last stand that lives on in the memory, hence the memorial, the comics and the movie.
We arrived at Chrissa camping not far from Delphi a little while later. Set on a outcrop looking down to the Gulf of Corinth and the mountains all around, we have to say that we have never experienced a campsite with such outstanding views and the swimming pool was wonderful in the heat of this very dry and desert like area.
We liked it so much, we ended up staying four nights.
Delphi itself was an interesting archeological site to visit, some rebuilt temples, sanctuaries and theatres evoke what the place would have looked like in it’s heyday, and it made for an atmospheric walk around. The museum (entry inc in the ticket price so we went in) had some interesting artefacts that were found during the ‘great excavation’ in 1892.
Delphi is famous for being the centre of the world. According to legend, Zeus released two eagles from opposite sides of the world which crossed paths over Delphi. So, temples were built, votive offerings were made by all greek city states and The Pythia (the Oracle of Delphi) was consulted about important decisions.
More historical sites beckoned as we made our way to Athens for three nights (at an AirBnB), but first off we had to stop at VW garage (again) as another small but important part of the gear linkage had worn out and had to be replaced, which made changing into first rather hard.
There are lots of repair shops in Athens—as you can imagine—but Ione off the main busy and noisy streets looked like the one for us. We couldn’t have picked a better one.
Another one of these great and unexpected moments in life came to pass. We drove in, the mechanic was friendly but didn’t speak english. Across the road there is a typical ‘greek man’s’ bar and in there a local could speak english so we got to talking and getting the repair underway. A part had to be ordered which would take no more than 20 mins to get here from the local parts shop, but in the meantime into the bar we went, where the locals insisted on buying us beers. We were also offered some bread with feta and cold meats. It really was a funny affair, some of the other guys in the bar would go over to the repair shop and see what was going on to try and help, there was lots of laughing and the beer flowed quite freely (which Wendy had to drink the majority of as I was driving). A Greek guy, who spoke good French, also came in after a while and gave us some Raki, homemade from Crete where his brother in law makes it. So we stayed far longer than the repair of the van took but it was great fun and nice to speak to these guys and of course football is always a popular topic.
We drove the short distance to our apartment, dropped off our stuff and headed into the city for a bite to eat, to a very good Souvlaki restaurant, and did some people watching for a few hours over a couple more beers. It must have been our lucky day, the restaurant owner decided to buy us a round of beers too.
We’ve met some very friendly folk along our journey through Greece so far.
Well, Athens famous of course for one of the most iconic sites in the world, the Parthenon in the Acropolis citadel, is a busy city and a lot of it is pretty uninteresting to look at. It’s no surprise really given the recent history of the place but it is also atmospheric and has it’s own unique style.
It wasn’t even the first choice for a capital when Greece gained independence from the Ottomans in 1821—that honour went to Nafplio (on the Peloponnese) for around 13 years. Back then it was a quiet town and it wasn’t until nearly 100 years later, in the 1920s, that the population soared after refugees from Asia Minor settled here, more settled in the 1950s as war-torn villages all over Greece forced people to migrate to the capital in search of work.
Due to this population explosion, lots of ugly concrete apartments were built which sprawl for miles around.
Anyway, that being said, they are very keen on preserving and showing off the old ruins, the Acropolis being the obvious highlight, but we were unaware that there was a lot of Roman stuff too.
We spent our first day here basically walking around and getting a feel for the place, watching the slow and elaborate but surreal changing of the guards ‘dance’ at the tomb of the unknown soldier (which lasts well over 6 minutes) etc. Like Thessaloniki, there is a lot of graffiti around the city.
On the second day, we got up early to get to the Acropolis for 8.30am, which was a great decision as we could walk around and enjoy the experience for a good hour or so before the masses arrived and it was bedlam—some 20+ guided tours arrived and the queues to get in where huge. It’s good to start early sometimes.
It’s a bit of a building site, has been for years and probably will be for a long while yet, maybe till 2040 some say. Apparently It only took 10 years to build plus a few more years to embellish, but I suppose the greeks don’t have an army of slaves these days!
Athens was nice but Budapest is still our favourite of the big cities we’ve visited on this trip.
Next up, the Peloponnese.
Pelion
Pelasgia Beach
Leonidas
Camping near Delphi
Delphi
Athens
We found a campsite nestled in an ancient olive grove with the most friendly owners which was right on the beach, in Kato Gatzea. More excellent swimming ensued with wonderful views all around of the Pagasetic Gulf. We also drove around for a few hours to see what was around, which turned out to be not a lot, but there were delicious apples being sold by various local growers, the area is famed in Greece for growing them, but no cider…
Here we noticed we started to have a problem with our Solar Panel, basically it’s stopped working, so this will affect our lazing around for days on end in remote places, relaxing with a fridge full of cold beers… 1st world problems hey! We still get a good couple of days of leisure battery time once we stopped driving, I think we’ll live.
We’ve contacted the suppliers and it’s under warranty so it will get sorted, eventually.
We still decided to go to another beach anyway. On our way south we stopped over at the remote and not touristy Pelasgia Beach, thanks again to the very useful park4night app.
There is nothing there, except a shower and a small chapel dedicated to St George. Again the views around and across to the island of Evia were fantastic and the water was wonderful to swim in. A really peaceful place, just a few fishermen and the odd worshipper stopping into the chapel from time to time.
Moving on, we kept on south to camp near Delphi. Half way there just before we had to drive across the mountains, we stopped at the memorial to the famous 300 at Thermopylae. In 480BC this area was a narrow pass which back then the Persians wanted to pass through to get further into mainland Greece. King Leonidas and his troops stopped the Persian Army for a couple of days in 480BC before eventually being betrayed by a local that offered the Persians another route around that lead to a pincer move in which all but two of the Greeks died. There wasn’t just 300 Spartans against the might of the Persian Army, it was an alliance of some 7000 Greeks but it was the famous last stand that lives on in the memory, hence the memorial, the comics and the movie.
We arrived at Chrissa camping not far from Delphi a little while later. Set on a outcrop looking down to the Gulf of Corinth and the mountains all around, we have to say that we have never experienced a campsite with such outstanding views and the swimming pool was wonderful in the heat of this very dry and desert like area.
We liked it so much, we ended up staying four nights.
Delphi itself was an interesting archeological site to visit, some rebuilt temples, sanctuaries and theatres evoke what the place would have looked like in it’s heyday, and it made for an atmospheric walk around. The museum (entry inc in the ticket price so we went in) had some interesting artefacts that were found during the ‘great excavation’ in 1892.
Delphi is famous for being the centre of the world. According to legend, Zeus released two eagles from opposite sides of the world which crossed paths over Delphi. So, temples were built, votive offerings were made by all greek city states and The Pythia (the Oracle of Delphi) was consulted about important decisions.
More historical sites beckoned as we made our way to Athens for three nights (at an AirBnB), but first off we had to stop at VW garage (again) as another small but important part of the gear linkage had worn out and had to be replaced, which made changing into first rather hard.
There are lots of repair shops in Athens—as you can imagine—but Ione off the main busy and noisy streets looked like the one for us. We couldn’t have picked a better one.
Another one of these great and unexpected moments in life came to pass. We drove in, the mechanic was friendly but didn’t speak english. Across the road there is a typical ‘greek man’s’ bar and in there a local could speak english so we got to talking and getting the repair underway. A part had to be ordered which would take no more than 20 mins to get here from the local parts shop, but in the meantime into the bar we went, where the locals insisted on buying us beers. We were also offered some bread with feta and cold meats. It really was a funny affair, some of the other guys in the bar would go over to the repair shop and see what was going on to try and help, there was lots of laughing and the beer flowed quite freely (which Wendy had to drink the majority of as I was driving). A Greek guy, who spoke good French, also came in after a while and gave us some Raki, homemade from Crete where his brother in law makes it. So we stayed far longer than the repair of the van took but it was great fun and nice to speak to these guys and of course football is always a popular topic.
We drove the short distance to our apartment, dropped off our stuff and headed into the city for a bite to eat, to a very good Souvlaki restaurant, and did some people watching for a few hours over a couple more beers. It must have been our lucky day, the restaurant owner decided to buy us a round of beers too.
We’ve met some very friendly folk along our journey through Greece so far.
Well, Athens famous of course for one of the most iconic sites in the world, the Parthenon in the Acropolis citadel, is a busy city and a lot of it is pretty uninteresting to look at. It’s no surprise really given the recent history of the place but it is also atmospheric and has it’s own unique style.
It wasn’t even the first choice for a capital when Greece gained independence from the Ottomans in 1821—that honour went to Nafplio (on the Peloponnese) for around 13 years. Back then it was a quiet town and it wasn’t until nearly 100 years later, in the 1920s, that the population soared after refugees from Asia Minor settled here, more settled in the 1950s as war-torn villages all over Greece forced people to migrate to the capital in search of work.
Due to this population explosion, lots of ugly concrete apartments were built which sprawl for miles around.
Anyway, that being said, they are very keen on preserving and showing off the old ruins, the Acropolis being the obvious highlight, but we were unaware that there was a lot of Roman stuff too.
We spent our first day here basically walking around and getting a feel for the place, watching the slow and elaborate but surreal changing of the guards ‘dance’ at the tomb of the unknown soldier (which lasts well over 6 minutes) etc. Like Thessaloniki, there is a lot of graffiti around the city.
On the second day, we got up early to get to the Acropolis for 8.30am, which was a great decision as we could walk around and enjoy the experience for a good hour or so before the masses arrived and it was bedlam—some 20+ guided tours arrived and the queues to get in where huge. It’s good to start early sometimes.
It’s a bit of a building site, has been for years and probably will be for a long while yet, maybe till 2040 some say. Apparently It only took 10 years to build plus a few more years to embellish, but I suppose the greeks don’t have an army of slaves these days!
Athens was nice but Budapest is still our favourite of the big cities we’ve visited on this trip.
Next up, the Peloponnese.
Pelion
 |
| Camping in the old olive grove |
 |
| One for you Mama Mia fans, Damouchari down by the coast, used as a filming location apparently |
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| Bee Boxes like this can be seen all over Greece |
Pelasgia Beach
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| Our typical dinner of Tomatoes, Feta, Olives, Dolmas |
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| Evia to the left, the beach to the right |
Camping near Delphi
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| The superb views at Camping Chrissa |
Delphi
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| A similar view from the one at the campsite, just higher up on the edge of Delphi town |
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| The center of the world as marked by this spot, the real stone is in the museum. |
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| Temple of Apollo |
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| The Stadium |
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| Cleobis & Biton |
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| Sphinx of Naxos |
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| The Omphalos, the actual stone artefact found at the center of the world. |
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| A Charioteer, a rare bronze find |
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| Temple of Athena, across the road from the main site |
Athens
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| The bigger chap is the mechanic, the one in front of me is the one that spoke english |
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| Discus Thrower |
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| The first modern Olympics in 1896 were held in this stadium |
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| Hadrian's Arch |
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| Roman Agora |
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| Tower of the winds |
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| The rebuilt Stoa of Atalos |
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| Walking about |
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| Odeon of Herodes Atticus, must be a great place to watch live music |
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| Notice, not to many people about, see later photo... |
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| We sneaked Ludwig in to the photo, not allowed 'objects' here or at Delphi for that matter... |
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| Wonderful views from the Acropolis |
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| It's getting busy time to go! |
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| Just a few more people now! and the queues went all the way down the hill to the left. |
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| Looking down at the acient Agora |
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