Monday 21st January 2019
We woke up to fog in Thessaloniki, but within an hour or so the blue skies had returned.
We made our way to Ikea and the AB supermarket for supplies. Then carried on to Zampetes Motorhome & Caravan dealers. We’d been recommended them by several people and, as Andy was still feeling poorly, it was the best place to stop. Even being careful with 2 leisure batteries, the electricity will only last three days. Zampetas had free EHU, water and and waste disposal. The owner was lovely too. We stocked up on blue stuff for the loo and he let us use the washing machine for €5. Although the place was noisy we didn’t mind. Even the free WiFi was good and enabled me to catch up on the blog photos. Not an easy feat as we had 5 weeks worth of posts to catch up on!
With 3 days R&R and the washing done and dried, Andy was feeling a bit better so we carried on.
We returned to the AB supermarket for more provisions including more Weetabix!!
Then onto the Tombs of Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. We passed another toll, the 3rd one so far. Luckily they classed us as a car so the most we paid was €5.50. The road down to the tombs went through acres and acres of fruit trees and vines and always in sight of snow capped mountains.
Luckily for us, the majority of sign posts are in English as well as Greek so it wasn't hard to find.
The tombs are a UNESCO World Heritage site and although as you enter the site it just looks like a grass covered mound, it was well worth the visit. You walk down a path that takes you underground where your eyes have to adjust to the dim light.
All the discovered artifacts
were on display, gold crowns, ivory decorations, vessels of all shapes and sizes etc. all from around 300BC.
We weren’t supposed to take photos though, whoops.
When the archaeologists uncovered the royal tombs, they found lots of amazing items inside, something akin to finding the tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings. Highly recommended.
We walked back through the village past one of the larger shrines and a tat shop that had stayed open with a stall full of pomegranates.
Everything else was closed for the winter and we had visions of some tumbleweed blowing across the road. We guessed it must be a busy place in the summer.
Our sleepy spot for the night was next to the beach and a roadside shrine. We spent a quiet night there but when we got up in the morning it was raining quite hard. There was nothing for it but to truck on to Delphi.
We decided to drive along the toll road again as it was much faster and safer in the pouring rain. Unfortunately this time they charged us as a class 3 because we were higher than 2.2m. It cost £36.36 in total, ouch. The only good thing about it was the amount of rest areas with toilets. We passed the famous Mount Olympus on the way, (shame most of it was covered in mist and fog) and miles and miles of olive trees.
The light was fading and we were getting hungry so we knew we couldn’t reach Delphi in time. Following the trusty Park4night app, we found a sleepy spot in Molos right next to the sea.
Everywhere you go there are stray dogs wanting food but the dogs there had learnt to wag their tails against the side of the van to get attention. Although very endearing, it was a bit of a pain in the middle of the night lol.
We took the scenic route to Delphi up over the mountain roads. Wow what a drive! Blue skies, hairpin bends, views to die for dotted with the remnants of winter snow until we reached the archaeological site and museum.
Delphi is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Built on the lower slopes of Mount Parnassus, overlooking a dramatic ravine.
The site was sacred to the ancients, who came here on pilgrimages to worship Apollo (god of light, prophecy, music, and healing) and to ask advice from the mythical Oracle. It’s made up of the crumbling ruins of numerous temples, a theater, and stadium, dating from between the 8th century BC and the 2nd century AD. It’s not very big compared to Ephesus, Hierapolis or Troy, but interesting all the same. A big plus were the information boards being in 3 languages, English, French & Greek.
We weren’t allowed to park there overnight but 500m down the road was a pull in with a water tap so we stayed there the night.
Sunday, we used the same tickets we’d bought for the archaeological site, to visit the museum. It was a great little place full of artefacts that had been uncovered from ancient Delphi. Nothing was younger than 300BC.
The bronze statue was the most important find apparently. It was the only complete one they’ve uncovered. The rest were made of marble.
Coach loads of people came and went but my favourite was this one.
After lunch we continued on our way to the Corinth Canal.
The amount of litter at the sides of the road was heart breaking but nothing different to what we saw in Romania and Bulgaria.
We drove through fertile valley punctuated with white washed towns and abandoned fuel stations. Undulating hills and white fluffy clouds atop snow covered mountains. We even saw a couple of Refugee camps!!
Stray dogs were everywhere as usual, trying to survive. Then on the mountain roads 6’ snow poles stood guard on the edge. We picked up the toll road again where we found the toilets in the rest area. Twenty minutes later we were at the canal and parked up on some waste ground alongside the water.
Not long after, the siren sounded and the bridge over the canal started to descend into the depths. It must have gone a long way down as the ship that came through was a big one, pulled along by a tug boat. Half an hour later the bridge was back up and cars were driving across it again. What a feat of engineering!!
