Sunday 24th April 2022 – Aginara Beach

Happy Greek Easter.
There were fireworks last night from the neighbouring village of Glyfa and when we looked out through the windows of the van this morning, there was smoke rising gently from further up the campsite. Preparations were well underway for the Easter meal that we were all invited to. Five sheep were being spit roasted over charcoal and the sixth spit held kokoretsi – a Greek traditional delicacy for Easter – sheep offal wound around a spit and roasted. It sounds horrible but I have had it in the past and it was rather nice.
It was a very relaxed morning and as lunchtime approached we all gathered around watching the barbecue, taking in the lovely smells and getting hungry. Most of the guests at the campsite are German but there was a Dutch couple who I had heard speaking English. I said hello to them and we then heard Agelika announce from afar “You can sit at a table together” – so that was decided then!
When the lambs were ready we dutifully sat at a table with Henk and Geke and had a lovely afternoon. The food was excellent and the company even better. They are a lovely couple and it was fascinating to hear how Geke had started a primary school with 3 pupils (‘Holland’s smallest school) and grown it into a school of 750, all in eight years! All the Dutch are a very tolerant society, the primary school system is mostly segregated with Dutch nationals attending different schools to the non-Dutch who attend ‘black’ schools. Henk taught in a ‘black’ school with mainly Turkish and Moroccan pupils but neither he nor Geke agree with that system. When Geke set up her school, she announced that she would take pupils strictly in the same proportions as the national and non-national populations in her area. This caused her many problems as she had to refuse entry of some pupils from both sides in order to keep the proportions correct. She received criticism in the press and even received death threats. What a fantastic example she set and there is much discussion in Holland now about changing the segregated system.

Photos: The barbecue – in previous years they have babecued 11 or more lambs!; Every table was laid with the traditional red eggs (and other colours these days!); Our table before the food arrived; And after it arrived!; The campsite taverna with all the guests.

Saturday 23rd April 2022 – Aginara Beach

 

I was keen to have a bike ride in this area, something that I didn’t manage last time. I rode to Arkoudi where we had walked to on our last visit and then to the neighbouring Loutra Kallini. Loutra is the Greek for spa and I wanted to find the spa itself. The resort had a number of very large and very posh hotels and I followed a sign to the spa without finding anything. As I headed north out of Loutra, there was a brown tourist sign - ‘Roman Baths’. I hadn’t realised that there were Roman remains there. Much to my surprise, there was a Greek tourist coach there but it was a very small site and they soon disappeared.
We have passed many springs in the mountains on this trip and they are often used by locals to collect spring water and by travellers to fill their water bottles. This spring, however, was obviously much better for your health as demonstrated by the strong smell of sulphur often associated with spas. Why is it that the water has to smell of sulphur before it is good for you? Is it a case of ‘no gain without pain’?
The most obvious remains here were quite modern, relatively intact but obviously abandoned. The small pool in front of the building was white and channels through the earth took small trickles of spa water that looked quite evil with green slime much in evidence. Just around the corner there was better evidence of the spring with clear water gushing from a modern construction of pipes and valves. I am guessing that some of the water is taken off to the smart spa hotels while the rest is allowed to flow across the site. The water was tepid rather than hot.
The Roman bath remains were sparse and the gate was locked so access wasn’t possible. However, there was clear evidence of hypocausts (underfloor heating).
I cycled on to Kastro where a mediaeval castle sits proudly on the top of the hill. Clamoutsi Castle was built in the 1220s and is in excellent condition. It is open to the public but it is quite likely that we will go there later, so I decided not visit today. It was lunch time and I went back to the centre of the village and found a kafenion (café) with lots of locals in it. I ordered a beer and was presented with a small plate of meze (nibbles) to accompany it. There was octopus, beans, potato, taramasalata and tomatoes – an excellent snack.
I then cycled down quiet lanes seeing farmers in their fields of cloches. It appears that most of them must have down their job of bringing on the plants and now that the weather is warmer, they are removing them. The main crop appears to be water melons but we have also seen courgettes and other plants that we didn’t recognise.

Photos: Loutra Kallini – the old spa and the ancient Roman baths; Some of the spring water is piped to an accessible area – difficult to bath in but perhaps it cures sore feet?; The meze at lunchtime with the castle visible in the background; A larger than normal roadside shrine with its well-tended contents.

 

Friday 22nd April 2022 (Big Friday) – Aginara Beach

We woke at sunrise on Greek Good Friday to that lovely view.
Instead of heading down to the main road along the Gulf of Corinth, we took the road along the southern end of the lake, again marked as green (picturesque) on our map. After a very pleasant drive we joined that major road close to Nafpaptos and followed it to the Rio Antirio Bridge. This is a beautiful, stylish construction and makes crossing the Gulf much easier. The bridge was expected to replace the ferries that had plied the route for many years but they are still in operation, running a frequent service 24 hours a day. This might have something to do with the prices with our motorhome costing €21 on the bridge but only €11 by ferry.
We were heading south of Patras to the campsite where we started our visit to Greece. Agelika, the owner, had invited back to spend Greek Easter and we delighted to do so. We stopped at a large My Market supermarket just as we turned off the main road and joined the many shoppers making last minute purchases for the Easter weekend.
We arrived at Aginara Beach Camping to be greeted by Agelika as if we were long lost friends.

Photos: We passed a dairy close to the lake where milk was being transferred from churns on a pickup truck into large tanks and above cheeses were drying in the open air, a very traditional Greek method; A typical Greek chapel freshly painted for Easter; Crossing the Rio Antirio Bridge; Angelika’s delicious stifado.