Friday 6th May 2011 – Inoi, Greece

Our aim today was to get off Evia and to Thebes in time to visit the museum there. However a combination of mountains, windy roads and slow lorries (even slower than us!) meant that we weren't going to get to Thebes museum before the likely closing time of 15:00. There are no campsites anywhere near Thebes so we decided that we might be able to find a restaurant on the outskirts that would allow us to stay overnight in their car park if we had a meal there. We have used this option on a number of occasions and it works well. However, at Jane's suggestion, we decided to go to the museum first to ensure that it was actually open. Our Blue Guide published, we think, in 2007 said that the museum had been undergoing restoration but was reported as having been reopened. Well, it hasn't and shows no signs of being opened in the near future. The Blue Guide describes Thebes as being “as undistinguished today as it was glorious in antiquity” and we have to agree. Fortunately the museum, although closed, was well signposted and we found it quite easily. Getting out of the city was slightly more difficult, involving many rather narrow one-way streets but we managed it and took the old national road towards Elefsina. We intended to visit Eleusis tomorrow if we could find it – this would be our third attempt. There are no campsites in this area either so we decided to find a place to wild camp somewhere off the national road.
After passing the very impressive tall walls of the 4th century BC fortress of Eleutherai we turned off the main road and ended up on the outskirts of the small village of Inoi. We found an excellent, flat area off the road near to the church of Agia Triada. We went off to investigate the village and found that the centre was based around the main road and we bought some wholemeal bread (called Mavro – black in Greek), sweet bread and baklava from a very good baker who also spoke English. Across the road there was a shop selling the local wine straight from the barrel. After trying the different wines, we bought two 1.5 litre bottles one of white and one rosé both of which were not resinated.
Photos: Wild camping pitch in Inoi; In Inoi the bakers start very young; Jane at the Inoi wine cellar just before I was about to lie under a barrel and open the tap – unfortunately the proprietor arrived before I could do so!