By the side of the road to Kalamata €3 a bag!
Greek oranges
Category: Greece 2017
Greek friendliness and hospitality
Met a lovely Greek couple in the Methoni campsite who were down from Patras for the weekend getting their caravan ready for the summer months. The whole family have been coming to this campsite for 15 years. Their daughter lives in north London near Clissold Park and it turned out that the mother loves travelling on the 73 bus and he loves shopping in Primark!
They were so friendly, inviting us to contact them when we were back in Patras.
They also advised us only to stop in campsites rather than ‘free camping’ places as it isn’t safe. For the first time in Greece I’ve seen people begging – coming up to the van and knocking on the windows (though this was only near Patras)
Methoni
Our third day in Greece and have moved south to Methoni, staying at Camping Methoni recommended by Sian and Phoebus. Definitely our sort of town and our sort of campsite. A relaxed feel and most of the people staying here are Greek. Right by the Sea, here is the view from our van
fabulous!
Went out for a meal this evening and had really interesting food, different to what we’ve had on the islands. Artichoke with peas, green beans (thick runner beans rather than thin beans), leek pie (delicious pastry) and potatoes done in the oven. Wonderful herby tastes of parsley dill and of course oregano. The town has two fresh fish shops so the barbacue is coming out tomorrow.
Pylos
Spent a couple of days in a campsite on Golden Beach a fabulous bay in the Messina area of the Peloponnese (the first finger). Doing some domestic chores – washing clothes, making bread, but then got our bikes off the back of the van an went on a cycle ride to nearby Pylos and I didn’t have to push my bike even once up several hills and hairpins!
Torre Guaceto
Cycled to a wonderful beach at Torre Guaceto recommended by Judy Pevan who’d posted photos of it on Facebook the previous week ( so Facebook does have some good uses).
Next stop Greece!
On board the ferry for Greece. We’re doing ‘Camping on Board’ so we sleep in our van on the garage deck. All very new and exciting!!
This has been great. We could hook up to electricity so could use our Remoska for cooking (gas not allowed) and they had showers and toilets for us to use. There were only 6 motorhomes on board and 4 of those left at Igoumenitsa so we pretty much had our own facilities. Very nice ‘Superfast’ new ferry, making our way down the Greek coast to Patras. Definitely recommend it. We sailed from Bari but you can also go from Ancona and possibly Venice. You need to book early to get ‘Camping on Board’. This made the overnight crossing pretty cheap £260 return for a 16 hour crossing, discounts being available for early booking and age!
Alberobello – UNESCO heritage site
Alberobello is a truly extraordinary town. it contains large numbers of buildings called Trulli.
I felt as though I was in hobbit-land.
Pompeii
I had never been to Pompeii and it was a revelation. I had no idea of the size and that it was a city. It had an amphitheatre which held 20,000 people and a large theatre for plays which held 5,000. It is huge and amazing in terms of the preservation and how you can visualise the lives of the people living there. I’ve now started to read Mary Beard’s ‘Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town’ which is very readable, and they’re just like us. Here are some photos.
Walled towns in Umbria
Walked to the nearby walled town of Bevagna.
The town seemsed to specialise in cashmere. Found one which had a knitting machine from early in the last century
Gualdo Cattaneo
The next day walked to a small townin the other direction
Pian di Bocco site in Umbria
Now staying on a ‘green campsite ‘ in Umbria. They have an olive farm producing their own olive oil and various other products. It’s called Pian di Bocci near a village called Bevagna.
They have a number of animals including some one week old baby goats – very sweet.
