Greece - Week 33

Monday 28th January 2019

We’d made a bit of a school boy error (or Turkey had spoilt us, not sure which) and hadn’t remembered that yesterday was Sunday and there were no shops open in Greece. Always trying to be prepared, we had coffee mate in the cupboard and an “emergency meal” in the freezer, so it wasn’t too much of a problem. The first job of the morning though, was to go to Lidl to buy the essentials.

We drove over one of the Corinth Canal bridges into the area called the Peloponnese. It looks like a hand on the map with 3 fingers and a thumb and had been recommended to us.

First stop, Nafplio. The drive down was mainly through agricultural land and orange groves as well as the usual olive trees.

We chose to stay at the port where there were lots of other motorhomes, (mostly German).

The harbour, surrounded by hills, had a lovely seaside feel to it especially with the beautiful colour of the water. Palm trees always makes a place look lovely in my opinion and for me, the icing on the cake was the view of the Bourtzi that looked like a very large sand castle complete with a Greek flag.

It’s alleged to be the prettiest town in the area with its imposing castle high on the hill and the old town with its narrow cobbled streets.

We walked around the old town in the afternoon and stopped at the supermarket and coffee shop.

As we sat there eating our cakes, the wind got up. We could see the swell of the water up the side of the harbour wall and the white breakers on the sand castle out in the bay.

Andy put the stabilisers on the back of Harriet which seemed to work a treat as we both had a good nights sleep.

Before we set off to our next destination, we filled the van with water from the tap on the edge of the harbour and drove to Palamidi castle. 

We could see the fortress from where we’d parked, high up on the hill overlooking the town. It was a big place to walk around and the views alone were worth the €4 entrance fee. The colours of the water were amazing.

 

Trucking on, we headed for Ermioni, another little harbour town with a ferry service to Hydra (Idra). The road took us inland and up over the pine covered mountains. We drove through small narrow villages, past little churches and road side shrines. Through orange and lemon groves and as we drove down the other side towards the sea, we could see small islands in the distance.

We followed the Park4night sleepy spot on google maps to the harbour, and parked up. We had the whole place to ourselves. A little while later a Greek guy explained that we should move along a bit as there was going to be a market in the morning, so we thanked him and moved. By this time we were hungry so went in search of something to eat. There were places open but everyone was smoking so we carried on until we found a pizza place just up the road. It was delicious and the people running it were lovely. Very friendly and welcoming.

When we got out of bed the next morning, the market was in full swing. We bought some baby cucumbers and a cabbage for €1.10 and went up to the shops in search of some milk.

When we got back to Harriet the sun had come out.

Definitely the best thing about travelling around in a Motorhome, is that the view from your window changes everyday. Today was no exception, we were loving the little harbour.

After lunch we walked around the peninsula. Pine scented trees acted as a canopy as we followed the path around the turquoise sea. It was a tad windy in places but the blue skies and sunshine made up for it.

We walked past fishing boats, citrus trees, date palms and beautiful buildings including one that we though must have been a windmill at some time.

We had a great view of the islands including Hydra, where there are no motorised vehicles allowed. Transportation is only by your own feet or donkey!!

There were some other motorhomes parked near us, and although we didn’t manage to speak to the Italians, the Dutch couple were lovely and so were the couple from Mauritius who, like us, were travelling around Europe.

Before we knew it, it was dark again. How quickly the days disappear. Time flies when you’re having fun, so they say.

Next morning Andy went to find a bin to put the rubbish in while I washed the breakfast pots and prepared tea for later. He’d disappeared for ages until he came to get me. He’d been talking to the couple from Mauritius Jean & Lesly who we’d met the day before and had invited us into their van for a cuppa. It was lovely to swap stories and hear all about their adventures.

We said our goodbyes and got ourselves ready for our visit to the little Greek Island of Hydra.

We went to the tourist centre to buy the ferry tickets (€16 each return), and then sat at the end of the jetty and waited for the boat to arrive.

The journey only took 20 mins and luckily for me, the sea was like a mill pond. There are 2 boats a day in wintertime, 6:45am (yeah right lol) and 2:00pm. We chose the latter and had 4.5 hours to look around before we had to return.

 

Because the island is traffic free, it had a real laid back feel to it.

It had its own voluntary fire brigade and police station and the local children go to the school there. The place was just beautiful and very clean.

We did see the odd essential vehicle but no cars.

We had a great time wandering around the maze of cobble streets. Think there were more cats than visitors lol who all seemed to take a shine to Andy.

At 6pm as we sat outside the harbour cafe drinking latte and Irish coffee just as all the church bells started to ring, and before we knew it the ferry arrived to take us back to our sleepy spot in Ermioni. What a gorgeous place!!

Next morning it was time to move on. We made our way around the coast, sometimes at the waters edge sometimes driving past the backs of hotels.

Huge Aloe Vera plants and cactus were dotted amongst the usual orange, lemon and olive trees and swathes of yellow wild flowers lined the sides of the road.

We saw some flocks of sheep being looked after by their shepherds and a bee keeper in full bee keeping regalia, as well as lots of smoke plumes rising into the blue skies from the piles of branches that had been pruned from the olive trees.

We followed the winding road as it snaked its way up through the mountains, then as we dropped down the other side, the view that opened up before our eyes was spectacular. Little unspoilt bays and tiny rocky islands, all surrounded by the glistening waters of the Aegean sea. Wow, what a drive!

Just 30 miles from Ermioni and we had reached Galatas. As it was Saturday (again!), we found the AB supermarket and stocked up for the weekend. After the cheap standard of living in Turkey, Greek shopping seemed extortionate but probably no more dearer than home. Just a bit of a shock to the system. We called into the garage to fill up with LPG and water and while I wrote the blog Andy gave Harriet a wash.

As we drove through the town to our parking spot, locals were out shopping dressed in big thick coats and boots with scarves wrapped round their necks. It was 18oC and we had the air con on lol.

Our sleepy spot was on a free car park at the waters edge with the stunning view of Poros, a small Greek Island 5 mins boat ride away.

We went a walk along the waters edge and back around the town, but most of it was closed for siesta time.

We did find a place a bit further along from where we’d parked with free WiFi. So we thought, before we leave, we’ll download some more “Suits” from Netflix.

Sunday morning came round again and it was time to decide where we were going next. We had to be in Athens to meet the film crew on the 5th February so we made plans to visit the little Island of Poros first and then drive half way and stop at the Corinth Canal again.

We took the water taxi (€1 each) to the little Greek Island. Although it needed a bit of TLC compared to Hydra, it was great fun trying to find the clock tower through the maze of narrow streets and alleyways. You just had to be careful not to get run over by the motorbikes and scooters. We eventually found our way there with a little help from google maps. The views were great and well worth the effort. We caught the water taxi back again and set off for the Corinth canal.

We love "Truckin'N'Lookin" because you never know what's around the next corner. We pulled into one of the laybys on the way down one of the hills, to admire the view we could see from the road.

Not long after, we arrived at the Peloponnese side of the canal and parked up for the night.