Greece – Judy and Valerie On the Road

Ferry from Igoumenitsa

We got the ferry back from Igoumenitsa to Venice. It left at 6:30am and so we decided to park overnight in the car park at the terminal. After a bit of confusion where we found ourselves in the parking area for trucks we found a spot for the night. In the morning we were glad we’d made this decision as by 5am there was absolutely nowhere to park.

We had been told to go to the check-in at 5am which we dutifully did to be met by a huge queue. It took us over one hour to reach the counter – next time we’ll get there earlier.

Kefalonia

We took the ferry from Astakos and stayed in the campsite at Argostoli, but each day drove around the island visiting other beaches and villages.

Agia Kyriaki was a beautiful beach with a taverna where the owner would let you stay in the car park (N38.3103, E20.4888). We thought we might wild camp there until an Italian camped there showed us the invasion of ants in his van, but we had a lovely swim in the wonderfully warm water.

Fiskardo was a very pretty town with a beautiful harbour with lots of boats. The town was full of cafes and very tasteful gift shops (rather expensive). We had some delicious ice cream and sorbet.

Our friend Caroline described Myrtos beach as the loveliest beach she’d ever been on – sandy, white pebbles and turquoise clear water. It certainly looked lovely but the road down to it looked far too steep for our van. Still at least we saw it from above.

We drove to a lovely little beach called Trapeziaka. Again it was a very steep and narrow road down and unfortunately as it was a Sunday lots of people had driven there and quite a few of them were leaving as we arrived so we had to try to reverse up the hill to let them pass. Then there was a burning smell and we realised the clutch was overheating so Valerie had to run down to all the cars coming up to say “sorry” in Greek and persuade them to reverse, as we couldn’t. The upside was that there was a great taverna at the bottom so we ate a delicious meal as we waited for the clutch to cool down, and all was well.

Delphi

We felt we couldn’t go to Greece and not visit Delphi again as it’s such a magical place. It’s hugely impressive, because of the beautiful location, the height of it, and the sheer number of monuments, even though many are just the pedestals of statues, and you have to imagine what they would’ve looked like with their enormous statues on top.

In ancient times Delphi was considered the ‘navel of the earth’ and was home to the Oracle of Delphi and the Temple of Apollo.The location is extraordinary and you can understand what drew the ancient Greeks to this site.

Archaeological investigation in Delphi started in the second half of the 19th century, but it was not until 1892 that a systematic excavation began under the direction of Théophile Homolle and the French Archaeological School of Athens. The site was buried beneath layers and layers of stone and there was a village on top. The village had to be totally uprooted and relocated so that the archaeologists could uncover the ruins.

Archaeological Museum

The museum is definitely worth visiting. It has some amazing statues. We especially liked the one of the dancing women and the one of the charioteer which in its original form would have had also the chariot and horses but only the charioteer had survived.

Delphi Camping

We stayed again at Delphi Camping – a wonderful site with stunning views over the Gulf of Corinth. The campsite is owned by the Kanatas family and they also produce olive oil. This olive oil called ‘Mer des Oliviers de Delphes’ is produced from olives of the olive groves of Amfissa – Delphi. These groves have existed for over 3,000 years being the oldest in Greece . Here the ancient Greeks cultivated olives and produced oil before any other part of Greece did and the Kanatas family have cultivated olives and produced olive oil for hundreds of years. The olive oil is called by a French name in order to honour the French team who discovered the Delphi site and worked on the excavations.

Pindos Mountains

Papigko

In the Pindos we stayed again in our favourite spot at the side of the road next to a spring between the two Papigko villages (N39.9691, E20.7229) and on our first evening were joined by a suprise visitor come to take a drink.

The man who runs the health food shop that we like in Ioannina, Nature and Life, recommended a lovely cafe/bookshop in Megalo Papigko called Koukounari. Giorgos who works there was very friendly and welcoming. The cakes looked wonderful but we managed to resist.

Hike to Astraka Refuge

We decided to try the hike up to the Astraka Refuge where people walking the long distance Epirus trail are able to stay overnight. It was going to be quite a strenuous hike climbing about 1,000m up to 2,000m and it was very hot. We started at 7am having prepared our breakfast and lunch the night before to take with us. The trail starts from Mikro Papigko so we first had to walk there across the old stone bridge and then start on the trail proper. It is about 6k in length and has several springs on the way up with covered areas to shelter from the sun. It was the weekend and what we didn’t realise was that this was a favourite hike for local people. We must have seen over 100 people on the way up and down, including runners! Of course, as you go higher the wind is cooler which helps and when we got to the top there was still snow on some of the peaks. It was a beautiful walk, and the higher we reached, the more wild flowers there were.

The refuge gets it supplies via a group of pack horses and on the way up we met the string of horses coming down. When we reached the refuge we met them again coming up.

Via Natura Voidomatis

We moved on from Papigko to a new ‘campsite’ on the edge of the Pindos national park by the Voidomatis river (39.9694, E20.6612). The site is still being established and they also do river rafting.

We went for a walk called the ‘ Ice Age Trail’ which follows the river . There are many information boards relating to the Paleolithic Age 15,000 years ago when the world was emerging from the ice age and our ancestors lived along this river.

The Voidomatis river is amazingly clean and clear and an extraordinary colour. The walk was beautiful but more strenuous than we’d anticipated – quite a bit of scrambling and it was very hot, so we ended up getting a taxi back.

Along the way we climbed up to see the remains of the small Agii Anargiri monastery. All that remains is a tiny chapel with a small door and when we went inside we discovered the remains of beautiful frescoes covering the walls and ceiling.

And then on our way back to the river …

Ioannina

Again we stopped for a few days in Ioannina staying at the campsite by the lake and walked into town drifting between cafes.

Folk Museum

We visited the folk art museum which is housed in a 19th century Ottoman Manor House.

It displays traditional costumes of the area , musical instruments and household items such as looms and old kitchen utensils.

Many of the outfits were felted overcoats with rich embroidery elaborated with red silk strings

Wooden Carvings

We went to a fascinating exhibition called “Carving wood, sculpting memory with the shepherds of Haliki” housed in the Gadi Foundation in Ioannina.

For centuries shepherds have taken their flocks up from the lowland plains of Thessaly to summer in the cooler pastures of Haliki in the Pindos mountains.

Natasha Drisou-Lemonos, who curated the exhibition, has interviewed shepherds over many years. She transcribed their words to accompany some beautiful black and white photographs mainly from the 1950s to the present day.

The shepherds use wooden crooks which they carve with intricate patterns. Some were displayed in the exhibition together with some beautiful crooks, boxes and other objects carved by the wood sculptor, Christos Gevrou.

Jews in Ioannina

The old synagogue is located within the walled Castro.

It is likely that the synagogue survived the German occupation as a result of the actions of the mayor of Ioannina, Dimitios Vlachides. It seems he convinced the Germans that the Greeks would use the building as a library and that the Torah scrolls and other sacred material should be placed in the municipal museum.

After the war the handful of Holocaust survivors returning to Ioannina sent these to other synagogues including Jerusalem. Many Israelis visit this area and there are three direct flights to Ioannina from Tel Aviv every day!

We have written more about the Jews in Ioannina in our 2019 trip.

https://judyandvalerieontheroad.com/index.php/category/trip/greece-2019/

Metsovo

Metsovo is a beautiful town in the Pindos mountains and is often called ‘The Jewel of Epirus’. It is a Vlach town, a people who are historically nomadic shepherds who’ve lived in the region for generations and whose origins are from neighbouring Balkan countries.

It is a village that has managed to maintain its traditional stone architecture, which used to be typical for the mountainous regions of Epirus, a place once famous for its stone masons: many buildings here have the traditional schist stone roofs, rather than the tile ones.

There is a trail going through and around the town called the Ursa trail. Ursa is Vlach for bear. As speakers of french and portuguese will recognise Vlach is a romance language.

Folk Art Museum

The Metsovo Folk Art Museum is also well worth a visit. It’s is a beautiful stone house which belonged to Evangelos Averof-Tositsas, who was also foreign minister. He bequeathed it to the town. Each room is furnished as it was in the past, with wooden floors,ceilings and furniture, including beautifully carved chests and rocking cradles, and gorgeous, richly coloured woven tapestries on the walls.

Art Gallery

The Averoff Art Gallery was really interesting. It’s on three floors – ground floor and two lower floors. There is a permanent exhibition which displays a selection of 250 paintings, drawings, sculptures and engravings by the foremost Greek artists of the 19th and 20th century with a great variety of landscapes, still life and portraits, including portraits of the town’s main benefactor and his family. There was also a fascinating photography exhibition by Kostas Balafas called “Travels in Metsovo”. The black and white photographs gave a picture of life in Metsovo in the 1960’s and 70’s. Particularly striking was a wall of portraits of older men who had clearly led their lives outdoors. They were all so different from one another, mostly with very wrinkled faces, full of character

Wild Camping

We stayed a couple of nights above Metsovo in the car park at the Ski Centre which has a wonderful spring (N39.78487, E21.15880). Lots of stray/wild dogs which were not aggressive and which looked so sad we ended up giving them some tinned sardines! The first day we went into the town but the second day we went for a walk on the Ursa Trail which we could access directly from the car park. We of course managed to get lost and were ‘rescued’ by an Israeli couple who introduced us to an App called ‘AllTrails’ which I definitely recommend.

Velventos

We happened upon our next stopping place Velventos in park4nite because it was convenient between Mount Olympus and Metsovo and we’re very glad we did. The town is situated by the second largest reservoir in Greece with mountains on all sides.

The camper stop itself is in the beautiful wooded grounds of Alsos, an outdoor bar run by Antonía and Christos who made us very welcome.

On our first night we went to the bar for a drink and met Antonía’s friends Lena and Athina. The next day we explored the town and spoke to many people in shops who all wanted to know how we’d found our way to this village and where we were staying. Valerie’s Greek is coming on by leaps and bounds. Later that day we cycled to see the Skepasmeno waterfalls which is obviously a favourite picnic area for local people. On the way we passed many groves of bright red fruit which we realised were peaches and discovered that Velventos is famous for its peaches, exporting them across Europe and even has a peach festival in the summer. In the evening we ate at En Velvento a local taverna in the town. The main street is closed to traffic in the evenings and the whole town seemed to be out on their evening volta. There was a great atmosphere.

The following day Lena took us into town to show us the sights. Firstly and very importantly we stopped for a coffee in the plateia where we met a group of her friends who gather there most days. We were again made very welcome.

Next Lena took us to meet her mother Stella who lives nearby and we had a tour of her house, built in 1910. The house was very interesting with wooden floors and ceilings and was filled with photographs of all her family.

Lena then gave us a guided tour of the Folk Museum which was fascinating and we learned so much about life in the town in the past.

On our way out of town we stopped at the peach cooperative and bought a box of 22 fabulous peaches for 9 euros!!!

Mount Olympus – home of the Gods

We camped at Sylvia Camping on the coast under the mountain. The campsite is pleasant with its own little beach and coffee bar on a beautifully situated terrace, but there is little else within walking distance. We found a restaurant further along the shore where we were entertained by a turtle and numerous kittens.

The following day we cycled to Litochoro at the foot of the mountain (a journey which was much longer than we’d anticipated and a continual ascent) and discovered that this was the day of the International Olympus Marathon – Running with the Gods!

The runners start at midnight from Dion – the sacred city of the Macedonians, run up Mount Olympus topping each of the three peaks and then down the other side. Runners come from all over the world – amazing! We saw them coming in throughout the afternoon.

They’re very keen on mountain running and marathons in this part of Greece. The Ursa Trail has a marathon, and when we hiked in the Pindos up to the Astraka Refuge at 2,000m we met a number of runners going up and down the mountain.

We then wild camped overnight at the Old Monastery on the mountain. That afternoon we walked to the Sacred Cave, and in the the morning hiked up and back to Prionia – a beautiful walk

Thessaloniki

After staying at the Sakiá campsite for about 10 days we went off to Thessaloniki, staying at the same park4nite parking lot by the sea where we had stayed in 2019 (N40°35’23” E22°56’41”).

We were able to get into town easily on the number 5 bus for 1€, although always very crowded! We love Thessaloniki – it has such a history and mixture of cultures. It had been conquered by the Ottomans in 1430, and only became part of Greece after the first Balkan War in 1912.

As well as spending quite a lot of time in cafes and the bazaar/market, we went to various museums, churches, Roman remains and to the area right at the top of the city to see the city walls and fortress. The city also has an extraordinary number of sculptures, both old and contemporary, which you just come across when wandering around.

Museums

We went again to the Archaeological Museum and to see the stunning collection of beautiful Macedonia gold items recovered from cemeteries dating from 4th- 2nd century BC. Here are some photos.

Jewish Museum

Before the Second World War 50% of the city’s population were Sephardic Jews, because when the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, many settled in Thessaloniki. Between 1941 and 1943 the Nazis deported all the Jews in Greece to Auschwitz and Treblinka where of course they were murdered.

The museum provides a grim chronicle of the destruction of Greece’s Jewish population by the Nazis, but also a fascinating insight into Jewish life in the city over nearly 500 years.

Churches

The city’s best loved church is Agios Demetrios, dedicated to the city’s patron saint. The church was almost entirely reconstructed after the huge fire in 1917, but the first church was constructed on the site in the 4th century AD. It has several beautiful mosaic panels dating back to the 8th century.

Arch of Galerius

The arch was built to commemorate the victory of Emperor Galerius over the Persians in 297AD. Its piers contain weathered reliefs of the battle scenes and it is quite an extraordinary sight on Egnatia Street.

The City Walls

The city was initially fortified right after its foundation in the late 4th century BC but the present walls are dated back to the early Byzantine period around 390 AD. Their defensive abilities are quite impressive! They were 7 kilometres long while at some points they were up to 10 meters high and almost 5 meters thick. A number of fortresses and defensive towers were added during different periods of history like the Tower Of Trigoniou.

The walls originally went right down from the top of the city to the sea and you can still see fragments of the wall now and then throughout the city.

Statues and Sculptures

The sculptures throughout the city are really impressive particularly the national resistance memorial which commemorates the courage and sacrifice of the Greek resistance during World War II and the Holocaust memorial. This made in 1997 and depicts the seven branched menorah and flames in a complex of human bodies. The memorial is situated in Eleftherias Square where the Nazis rounded up the Jews in 1942 to torture and humiliate them.

In the second sculpture below the ‘branches’ have lights hanging from them powered by solar panels and light up at night. The piece aims to raise awareness about renewable energy.

For more information on the sculptures see this link https://thessaloniki.travel/exploring-the-city/art-culture/sculptures-monuments/

HS Velos

Walking along the seafront we saw a strange site – a war ship – HS Velos. This ship belonged to the US Navy during the second world war but later became part of the Greek navy and played a vital role in bringing down the military dictatorship which had controlled the country since 1967. Below is the information in front of the ship.

Rotunda

The Rotonda is a huge, circular building which was constructed by the Romans, then consecrated as a church in the 4th century AD, became a mosque in 1590 and was once again consecrated as a church in 1912, when the Greeks captured the city during the Balkan war. Inside there are no seats and no altar. It is a big, bare, very peaceful circular space with lovely mosaics on the walls and ceiling.

Sakiá market

We visited the Saturday market at Sakiá, the local town. It had been pouring with torrential rain but we finally set off on our bikes. We made a number of purchases – fruit, vegetables, olives, honey but then adjourned to the local cafe, initially just for a coffee but sitting there was so enjoyable that we progressed to lunch.