Monday 2nd May 2011 – Eretria, Evia, Greece

Last night was the first night in Greece on this trip that we have not heard the lovely call of the Scops Owl. It fact we heard nothing until well after dawn when the first pick-up trucks started to pass us. We had hoped that the view would be clearer today but the opposite was the case, we could not make out the coast of the Peloponnese.
We descended all of those curves down to the plain – nowhere near so much fun as on a bike and stopped in Thisvi at 'O Fournos' ('The Oven' - a bakers) for bread, tiropitta (cheese pie) and spanokopitta (spinach pie) for lunch. We saw the scant remains of the wall of Ancient Thisvi on the outskirts of the village before heading off to the Valley of the Muses. This is where, on the slopes of Mount Helicon, the nine muses (epic poetry; tragedy; comedy; lyric and love poetry; choral song and dance; sacred hymns and mime; harmony and instrumental music; astronomy and speculative thought) preferred to stay. We saw the valley from the village of Neochori (literally 'New Village' – there must be hundreds of these in Greece) where we also saw a disused watermill with a huge waterwheel. Unfortunately, we by-passed Thespiai whose ancient inhabitants honoured the god of love above all other gods. Phryne, famous courtesan and mistress of the even more famous sculptor Praxiteles (4th century BC) lived here and the beauty of her breasts was legendary. I had hoped to see whether any of the female residents of Thespiai were direct descendants of Phryne but was thwarted by my navigator who insisted that she was simply following the shortest route.
Our next stop was Orchomenos, a fascinating site occupied continuously from the Neolithic (possibly as early as 6,000 BC) through to the time of Alexander the Great (4th century BC). It was the capital city of the Minyans, a pre-Greek people who settled here next to the Kopaic lake in the middle of the second Millennium BC. The outflow from this lake disappeared down swallow holes on the periphery and eventually appeared at the sea opposite Evia. The Minyans set about draining the lake by enlarging the swallow holes and channelling the water down then. This was the largest lake in Greece and draining it was a massive project – the earliest known such project in Europe. What was left was a vast, highly fertile plain.
There is not much to see on the hill where Orchomenos was situated, just the remains of a tower near the summit but the views over the Kopaic plain are worth the walk. At the base of the hill are the remains of a theatre and the so-called Treasury of the Minyans – a tholos (beehive) tomb. The roof of the tomb has gone but the remaining courses of massive stones are impressive and the small burial chamber to one side is complete and has a beautiful decorated ceiling.
Much of ancient stones of the site are incorporated into the church of Panagia Skripou, the former Convent of the Dormition. It was built in 874 and a tour of the exterior found reused statue bases ans inscribed stones from the ancient site as well as beautifully carved friezes and a vertical sundial that are contemporary with the building. Much of the building in built from sliced-up columns from the ancient Temple of the Graces (or Charites) – the local cult. The church was locked but just as we were about to drive away, we saw someone go to the church and unlock it for a service. We were allowed in and were able to admire the 9th century frescoes in the dimly lit interior.
We drove on to Gla, another Minyan town, once an island in the Kopaic lake, but quite different from Orchomenos. Walls 2.8km long run around the edge of a low hill that sticks out of the plain. It is a wonderfully atmospheric site but it is huge and difficult to investigate. We picnicked below the Western gate looking up at those ancient defensive walls.
We took the motorway south and paid €6.25 (about £5.70) to travel the two junctions before we headed for the island of Evia. We really must stop travelling on motorways.
Although Evia is the second biggest Greek island (after Crete) it is so close to the mainland that it is joined to it by two bridges. We wanted to cross over the old bridge that is in the same place as the first ever bridge built in 411 BC. We managed it and then battled through the very busy Chalkis city desperately looking signs for southern Evia or Eretria before finding ourselves on the road to the new bridge with no way of getting off it. So, within a few minutes we had managed to cross both bridges and we were soon crossing the new bridge again back to Evia. Navigation was not much easier this time but we did manage to get on the correct road. It was a long time before we got out of the urban sprawl around Chalkis and this remind us of our only other visit to the island. This was many years ago before the new bridge was built and we were on a three week tour of Greece by car. We arrived in Chalkis and were very unimpressed by the industry (more prevalent then) and that urban sprawl. We turned around and headed back to the mainland and the rural Greece that we loved.
The scenery finally improved and we were soon at our campsite, the only one that we know of in southern Evia, Milos (Mill) Camping in Eretria. There were two German motorhomes already in the site both of which were towing Smart cars and shortly after we arrived, an Austrian couple arrived with their converted Land Rover. They were the same couple that had been at Meteora the whole time that we had been there. This is the second Austrian couple that we have met this holiday with converted Land Rovers, both very proud that they were British and so well built and they were both hoping to go to Syria but found that the borders were closed. Quite a coincidence. Why do Austrians want to go to Syria? I should have asked the question.
Photos: Disused water mill at Neochori; Kopaic lake from Orchomenos; Ceiling of tholos tomb burial chamber at Orchomenos; This British Marshall steam roller (serial no. 79896 for you enthusiasts) was outside the Orchomenos town hall.