I have brought a folding e-bike in Cara's garage and have finally got an opportunity to take it out for a ride. After a rearrangement of the contents of the garage, sorting out the bike and assorted gear together with other chores, it was gone 12:00 before I left. Fortunately, the murk caused by the Sarahan sand had finally disipated and the views were much clearer.
The Bay of Navarino, one of Greece's largest natural harbours, is famous for the Battle of Navarino (1827) during the Greek war of independence when the Ottoman and Egyptian fleets were destroyed by a fleet of British, French and Russian ships. It was the last battle in naval history to be fought entirely with sailing ships. It was also the site of the Battle of Pylos where the Athenian fleet defeated the Spartans. The bay is large and sheltered by a long island that leaves two entrances - a large one at the Pylos (southern) end and a smaller, not navigable by modern ships, at the other (northern) end.
My bike ride took me along the coast with beautiful views and beaches on my left until I arrived at the northern entrance to the bay. Here, high on the hill above is the Old Navarino Castle built in the 13th century to defend the entrance. I continued on a track that took me over a narrow strip of land between two parts of a modern lake where there were some interesting birds including some flamingos, with white plumage rather than the familiar pink. The track took me to another beauty spot, the Voidokilias Bay, a beautiful semi-circular bay of blue-green water and a wonderful yellow beach. The bay looks fantastic from the air as I first saw it when on a plane flying into Kalamata - Google it and you will see what I mean.
It was gone 15:00 and I was somewhat hungry given that I hadn't had any lunch, so I rode to the nearest village and had a wonderfully cold beer and the poshest kalamari (squid) that I have ever had in Greece. The view from the restaurant was lovely and the food was very good. I decided that reversing the route would be rather torturous, so I headed through villages to the main road and headed back to the campsite.
Photos: View across Navarino Bay towards the small, northern entrance; The narrow strip of land that took me over the lake on the left; Voidokilias Bay - the Old Navarino Castle is on top of the hill on the far side of the bay; We used to see houses like these all of the time in Greece but not so much these days - the family are living upstairs and, at some time, they will complete the lower floor probably to allow one of the children to move in when they get married.
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