This part of the Peloponnese is very seismically active area and we felt a tremor yesterday morning. There was another one in the quiet early hours of this morning with a double bang and a small tremor. Apparently they have many tremors every day although most of them are too small to be noticed.
It was time to leave Camping Aginara Beach and say goodbye to our hostess. We had stayed longer than intended and would happily have stayed longer still if we didn't have other places to see. We were invited to come back for Greek Easter - very tempting but we will probably be in Northern Greece by then. We can highly recommend this campsite and will definitely return when we next visit the Peloponnese.
We had a relaxed start as we didn't have a long journey planned. We stopped at a shop recommended by Agelica so that we could buy some Yigantes beans to take home and also at a large supermarket to replenish supplies.
Our journey took us south along the National Road (E5) and then east into the mountains. Although there are lots of bends, this is a lovely drive through sparsely populated countryside with occasional pretty villages and great views. Unfortunately, the fallout (literally) from the Saharan sand weather meant that the long distance views were very murky.
We stopped at Andritsena, an important (but small) town high up in the mountains. It is the home of the oldest library in Greece and is full of history. We have been here a few times, the first time with our young son when there were only two restaurants open. We stayed in a small hotel and chose to eat in the restaurant run by an old couple. There were no other customers and we felt sorry for them. This was a mistake! There was no choice of food, we were simply served with what they had. That was the first warning sign and the second came when they presented our son with a free dessert - yoghurt and honey. I stopped him from eating it when I noticed little black pieces in it - with legs. They were ants. Our son was upset that he wasn't allowed to eat it and I had to subtely draw his attention to the creatures. Needless to say we suffered from food poisoning the next day. These days the town is a tourist resort and has many restaurants and cafes to choose from. We arrived just as a major funeral had finished and the many morners were stood around chatting and the main cafe was full of people.
We were heading for the Greek temple site of Bassae 10 miles from Andritsena but didn't intend to visit it today. We stopped at one of a number of excellent wild camping spots on the way and settled down for the night with a lovely view over the mountains.
Photos: Interesting architecture in the centre of Andritsena; The start of a 4hr 20min walk to Bassae (we decided to drive!) with the infamous 'ant' restaurant (closed many years ago) on the right; The threshing floor just below out wild camping site.
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