After the goats had been taken down to the farm, the dogs adopted Henrietta as a substitute goat and guarded us all night. In the middle of the night, something spooked them and they started barking very loudly – and it is very loud when it is just outside your window! It may have been an Albanian bandit but, judging by the time it took to scare it off, it was probably a tortoise. After that it was a peaceful night with some rain and we awoke to cloud cover with no view of the plain or of Kastania village.
Soon the clouds parted and by 10:00 we had full sun but it looked as though fresh snow had fallen on the mountain peaks high above us. We continued up the east coast of the lake on a road that was generally much lower and with more views of the lake than the road on the western side. Eventually away from the lake near a beautifully sited monastery with the snappy name of 'Holy Metropolis Thessaliotidos and Fernariofersalon' (closed on Fridays). The drive down from the mountains gave spectacular views across the plain where we were headed.
Just outside Karditsa we filled up with fuel and the very friendly lady wanted to know where we had been and where we were going to. She seemed to approve of our itinerary and was genuinely delighted to meet us – she wished us well and insisted that we had a few refreshing perfumed wipes for the journey. The Greeks are so welcoming and friendly.
Arriving in the village of Kallithiro we set about locating some archaeology mentioned in the Blue Guide. The village is sited on top of ancient (4th to 3rd century BC) Kallithera and recent discoveries made when building new houses have been displayed by building the houses on stilts, leaving the ruins below. It is quite intriguing to walk along the street and suddenly find a stretches of ancient walls and road underneath a house. What is now called the 'Kastro' was Kallithera's acropolis and walls, towers and gateways are visible. Of course, a church has been built on top of the hill but fortunately they chose to build it outside the walls leaving the archaeology undisturbed.
On our way back though the village I decided to buy some eggs. The first shop only had chocolate eggs and the second shop didn't have any either but I decided to buy some of their tomatoes. When I went into the shop, the lady was watching a large screen television mounted on the wall. And there were William and Kate just about to take their vows. We were offered a seat by the young woman who was amused to find that we were English. So we watched the vows and the giving of the ring and, most important said Jane, we saw the dress! We could not believe our lucky timing – who would have expected to see the royal wedding in a Greek shop. Having said that, the Greeks press has been dominated by the wedding for weeks. Every radio and television news programme covered it – it was the only part that we understood!
We were asked again about our trip and with many smiles and wishes for a 'good holiday' we walked on to the van. Here we met a lady on a bicycle who launched into a great one-sided conversation. We explained that we were English and didn't understand Greek but that didn't stop her. We worked out that she was asking why we were there – the archaeology, the Kastro, where had we been and where were we going to? She gave us advice as to where we should go. It should be remembered that the Greeks are very religious and most of their trips involve churches or monasteries. Sure enough, although we only worked this out afterwards, she said that we should go to the nearby monastery of Petras. Many good wishes and she rode away. The Greeks are so welcoming and friendly!
We made for the Blue Bay campsite at Agios Konstantinos and found ourselves on a new section of motorway near Thermopolae. This was a pay section and were disappointed to find that the charge for motorhomes is very high compared to cars – cars paid €1.10, we paid €3.90. This was more than the charge for transit vans and cars towing trailers and we can only think that it is related to the height of the vehicle. We left the motorway at the second Agios Konstantinos exit and looked for the campsite. We found it with the road to it blocked by bollards – it was closed. The campsite guide said it was open from April but, as is very common with Greek campsites, this date is only very approximate. We then took the old road back north, a much prettier road next to the sea and through attractive resorts including one with banks so we were able to obtain some cash. We found our next target campsite well signposted a few kilometres off the road at Agios Serafim. The Venezuela campsite is next to the sea and beach in a quiet position. The facilities are more basic than Vrachos in Kastraki but there was plenty of hot water and an extra bonus of liquid soap by the washbasins. We were the only touring van on the site but there was a restaurant and it was open. It appeared that there was WiFi on the site and the signal strength was excellent but I only got 'limited or no connectivity' when I connected to it. I went to reception and after much experimentation and a phone call to their son, the wireless repeater mounted under the eaves of the sanitary block directly in front of the van was brought back to reception. This worked a treat. My guess is that Henrietta was parked directly in line between reception and the repeater and this was blocking the signal. I was able to use the WiFi sitting outside at our pitch but it only worked inside if it was perched on the pillows at the back of the van, the closest point to reception. Still this allowed us to catch up on emails, check the rugby scores (Bath beat Newcastle but not by much) and watch the highlights of the Royal Wedding on the BBC website.
Photos: The Plastiras Lake in better weather; The long-named monastery; The inhabitants of Kallithera must have been very short when the Kastro church was built; A beautiful butterfly on Kallithera's Kastro.
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