Friday 18th April 2008

We decided to have a relaxing day today to get into the Greek way of life with a walk into the local village later. However, we got so relaxed that we never did make it to the village. The building work on the café behind us gave us lots of entertainment with the arrival of the mixer lorry and the pouring of the concrete being the highlight. We chatted at great length with the two American ladies, Pat and Sandy who were very easy-going and conversation flowed effortlessly. We invited them over for a drink later and then got down to the job of more relaxing.
After a Greek salad for lunch, I spent quite some time getting my blog up to date on the laptop. Then we sat down in the sun to plan the next few days before we were due to meet up with Glenn and Venice. After that, we sat and studied the sea. The mountains over the other side of the Gulf of Corinth were very misty but we watched the 1cm waves lapping against the shore. The sea was as flat as glass with no breeze to disturb it but when a distant ship passed on its way to the Corinth Canal, the waves increased dramatically to 2cm. Perhaps, by observing the ships and the wave height, I could work out how long it took for the wake of the ships to reach the shore? On the other hand, I could just sit and relax – I chose the latter. This really is a hard life!
Pat and Sandy joined us and I served them with a lovely chilled Italian white wine that turned out to be red – I was obviously too relaxed and I hadn't even had a drink at that stage! For the second year, Pat and Sandy had flown from the USA with their two cats, bought a secondhand motorhome in Holland and driven down to Greece. Preparations also involved a 2,000 mile drive across America to leave their two dogs for six months with a very good friend. Last year they drove down through Albania, which sounded like a great adventure but this year they caught the ferry from Venice to Patras. With the Dollar so weak and the price of oil so high, they had found everything much more expensive this year. The motorhome purchase was an intriguing arrangement where the company guaranteed to purchase the vehicle back at an agreed percentage of the purchase price depending on the time that they kept it (65% after six months, 60% after twelve months etc.). The water pump stopped working yesterday and I suggested that it might be a fuse. However, without any vehicle manual, they had no idea where the fuses were. We set out with a torch, disturbed the cats and eventually found the fuses cunningly hidden behind a flap in the glove box. Sure enough a 10 amp fuse had blown but it was a different design to the spares that I had, so Pat and Sandy will buy some spares tomorrow and we hope that that cures the problem.
On the way back to Henrietta Jane and I stopped to look at that view across the Gulf whilst we waited for Pat and Sandy. The sea was still like a millpond and then I thought that I saw a dolphin. I rushed back to van to get the binoculars and as we watched we saw more and more dolphins leaping as they made their way across the Gulf – magical. After the entertainment had finished, we all moved back to Henrietta and a evening of very pleasant conversation followed.
Photos: Our pitch at Camping Akrata Beach; Pat and Sandy enjoying their unusual Italian white wine.

Thursday 17th April 2008

At 02:30 we heard the sound of the securing chains being removed from the lorries and the changing sound of the ships engines told us that we were approaching Igounamitsa. Soon the deck was full of the noise of lorry engines and the shouts of the deckhands as they directed the reversing lorries and positioned them to take the ramp down to the deck below and out on to the quay. This was achieved surprisingly quickly and, after a quick glance at Igounamitsa out of Henrietta's window, we were able to settle back to sleep.
We woke to the daylight and opened the shutters to see the mainland drifting past. All of the lorries on the other side had gone and we were able to see islands passing on the other side. It was very hazy and the mountains on the mainland looked as if they were cloaked in smoke.
As we approached the port of Patras we got a rather hazy view of the Rio – Antirio bridge, a marvellous engineering achievement that connects, over the Gulf of Corinth, the north-west tip of the Peloponnese with the south-west tip of Northern Greece. I had no idea that the bridge existed until we were flying back from Athens after a holiday and I looked down at the scenery. I recognised the Gulf of Corinth and saw what I thought was Rio and Antirio but they were joined. Once we got home, the wonders of the Internet allowed me to establish that it was a new bridge that had only just been opened.
We left the port and headed towards Corinth, getting a better view of the Rio – Antirio bridge on the way. We stopped off at Diakopto, parked at the harbour and wandered into the town. Diakopto has a narrow-gauge railway that links it with Kalivrita high up in the mountains behind. Many years ago we had stayed in Kalivrita and had walked down the railway line through the gorge, a recognised footpath. The gorge is beautiful and walking this way gives wonderful views with glimpses of the sea. The walk involves many stretches over bridges and through tunnels and it is important to have the train timetable with you so that you can avoid the trains. The gorge is very narrow in places and the water rushes down below the railway lines and under the bridges. We really enjoyed that walk and we wanted to repeat it, however we found that the line was closed but, in typically Greek fashion, there were no signs to say so and we had to ask. A lady in the waiting room then explained that the line had been closed for one year and was not due to open again until October. Fires had damaged the railway in Spring 2007 but the main problem was that the tunnels had to be widened to accommodate new rolling stock. We found out later that the work should have been completed earlier this month but the deadline had been extended by 6 months – so, it is not only England where railway repairs overrun! We realised that we could catch a bus and still do the walk down the gorge but, when we enquired, we were told that parts were blocked and there was no way around them. I highly recommend the walk to anyone who reads this but leave it until October 2008 or, if they are still working on Greek time, Spring 2009. We will have to return at a later date – any excuse to visit Greece!
After getting supplies for Horiatiki (Greek salad - cucumber, tomatoes, olives and the wonderful feta cheese) and picking up two Spanokopita (spinach pies), we returned to Henrietta for lunch. We headed for a campsite that we had identified just a little further along the coast – Camping Akrata Beach. We knew that we were in Greece as there was a complete absence of signs and it was only when we went well past, turned around and headed back that we spotted some very faded signs. We arrived at the site and were greeted by a man who bid us “welcome” with a broad smile and a handshake. He then said that the site was actually closed but that wasn't a problem because we could stay for free, “Things are simple in Greece”, he explained. So, we drove down to the end of the site and parked with the only other guests, two American ladies in a Dutch motorhome, 4m from the sea with a pebble beach between. The view beyond was the Gulf of Corinth with the mountains of Northern Greece beyond – perfect.
The owner of the campsite had being doing a lot of work over the Winter, building a new café / bar and demolishing and rebuilding the shower block. It looked very professional but was not yet complete, hence the fact that he had not officially opened. He had to be ready next week, before the Easter weekend and they were working all hours to achieve it. They had just connected the electricity today and he was confident that they would have hot water and showers tomorrow.
Photos: Arriving at Patras; The harbour at Diakopto.

Wednesday 16th April 2008

Today was principally about getting to Brindisi to catch the ferry. However, we didn't have to be there until 17:00 and the journey was only one and a half hours, so we were able to have a very relaxed morning that included long showers basking in the glorious waterfall of hot water in our private bathroom without the concern of using too much water or running out of hot. When we paid the bill, it came to €17, including electricity and private bathroom – a real bargain and €1 per night cheaper than the basic, but pleasant, Camping Nameste that we stayed at the two nights before. Jane plotted a route via an abbey (Santa Maria di Cerrate) and we called in just as it was closing. The custodian kindly let me in for a quick look around the small abbey church and museum. The church (no photographs allowed) was intriguing – my guess is that it had partially collapsed and been rebuilt. On one side it had faded frescoes that had been deliberately chipped in order to roughen the surface so that plaster could be applied. The other frescoes on the same wall had almost certainly been covered with plaster. The opposite wall had random pieces of frescoes that were in excellent condition, much brighter colours but, as a whole, they didn't make any sense. I then noticed that many of the pieces were upside down. The wall had probably collapsed (earthquake?) and then reassembled without any regard for the original fresco. I guess that the intention was to plaster all of the walls and therefore there was no need to take any account of the frecoes. The museum, with more preserved frescoes and a folk museum section was also good but I only had a very short time to look at it.
This area has its own version of Truli-like dwellings, stone built without mortar and we saw many of them scattered around in the fields. They are more like the original Truli buildings, generally low to the ground and lacking the sophistication of the multi-Truli complexes. We were told that they were used as very basic farmhouses and were now either abandoned or used for storage. There was one of these buildings, together with a large covered well complex near to the abbey and almost certainly connected with it.
We stopped at a hypermarket in Lecce and stocked up with typically Italian food and drinks before continuing to the port. We wanted to top up with LPG because we knew that it would be difficult to get hold of if Greece and it had been three weeks since we had last filled up. We had seen quite a few fuel stations that stocked LPG as we travelled through the south of Italy but, of course, we didn't find any today. We arrived at the port at 15:30 to be told that we were too early to check in but we were able to ask about LPG and were directed to a garage 2 miles down the road. Unfortunately, they had run out of gas but directed us to another garage further on. This time we were successful and now had enough gas to last us approximately 50 days – enough time to find a source in Greece, we hope.
We collected our tickets and drove into the port. We had purchased 'Camping on Board' tickets that allowed us to park the motorhome on an open deck and stay in it during the voyage. At €201 (£160) it wasn't cheap but we didn't have to pay for a cabin that we would otherwise have needed for the 16 hour crossing. We were directed to park as we would have to wait for most of the vehicles to be loaded before we could take up our appointed position. I never cease to be amazed at how many lorries can be fitted into ferries like this. Large articulated lorries, some with trailers, tankers, vans, four coaches and a very few cars arrived, parked and were then called forward for loading. They all disappeared into the ferry's mouth, mostly backwards and were swallowed. As more and more arrived and disappeared, we began to think that there wouldn't be enough space for us. At last, we were called as the first of the motorhomes because we were going to Patras and the others were going on the shorter crossing to Igounamitsa. We were placed next to large holes on the side wall of the deck giving us excellent views out to sea and the other motorhomes were positioned on our inside. The last of the lorries filled the deck obscuring our view out of the other side of the ship.
We went to investigate the ferry and came across the four coach loads of 16-18 year old students finding their cabins and inspecting everyone else's. We were glad that we weren't staying in those cabins – very little sleep was going to be had! We found the 'Deck Bar', equipped with very comfortable cane furniture including a couple of cushioned settees, one of which we occupied. We sat with our first, but certainly not our last, ouzo in Greece and watched the entertainment. This consisted of a constant stream of students coming up the stairs, through the bar and out onto the deck. Random and posed photographs were taken and in one case a video camera was used to record the whole trip, which must have produced a riveting spectacle! We saw some groups many times and then there were individuals,separated from their group, obviously trying to find them again. Fascinating – Jane was in people-watching heaven!
Then it was time for the ferry to leave and we were able to watch from outside the bar as the sun set and Brindisi faded into the distance. We went back to Henrietta and had tea whilst we rocked gently with the motion of the sea.
Photos: Poppies on the way to the abbey; The Tulo-type building next to the abbey; Sunset leaving Brindisi.

Tuesday 15th April 2008

We were 'down at heel' today, passing through Lecce, heading east to the coast and on down the back of the heel to the very south east tip of the Italian boot. We travelled through flat land with huge olive groves similar to those in Greece, with apparently randomly scattered, old, large trees rather than the Spanish smaller trees, planted in neat rows. Spring has really arrived here with carpets of bright yellow flowers covering the floor under the trees and, where the ground had been disturbed, mixed with tall, vivid red poppies. The sea was a lovely, dark blue but in the shallows turned into a beautiful turquoise and looked very inviting. We came across the 'Grotte Basiliane' at Rocca Vecchia' where there were complexes of sea caves and, in the 8th century AD, people had built many houses by digging into the soft rock along the shore line. These houses were very close to the sea and must have been very exposed in the Winter storms. All along this stretch, the shore line was rocky and the land started flat and low-lying but later, higher land created sea cliffs and better views. This coast is the closest to Greece and was settled extensively by the Greeks in ancient times although there is very little evidence of it now. There are however many towers and castles scattered along the coast, a reminder of the turbulent times that the inhabitants went through, being attacked by a string of foreign invaders.
Capo Santa Maria di Leuca, also known as Finibus Terrae (Land's End), is where the Adriatic and Ionian seas meet and is the south eastern tip of Italy. It is also where Peter is said to have landed in Italy to spread the word of God. As such, you will not be surprised to learn that there is a large church there. The first church was built in 343 on the site of a Greek temple to Minerva which was said to have crumbled when Peter appeared. Call me a cynic, but I suspect that it crumbled when the locals took it apart to build the church! The church was destroyed several times during Turkish raids but always rebuilt on the same spot. The church that we saw was the sixth on the site and dates to 1720 but in the first half of the 18th century, in order to protect it from frequent pirate attacks, it was fortified with towers and drawbridges. The stonework of the church had just been cleaned and a huge amount of work was being done on the very large courtyard in front of the church. It was no great surprise when we found a poster announcing that the Pope was to pay a visit in June this year.
Once we turned the corner and headed west along the south-facing coast, everything changed. The land became flat, sandy beaches replaced the rocks and the very calm sea of the east coast was replaced with large waves, whipped up by the strong wind, painting the coastline white.
We meandered our way along this coast to Galipoli where we knew that there should be an open campsite. Galipoli (not the infamous Turkish town in the Dardanelles) was called Kallipoli in Greek times and, being in a strategic position, was attacked many times over the years, including the Normans in 1071, the Venetians in 1484 and the British in 1809. However, we only intended to invade the campsite and we actually received a warm welcome at what turned out to be the most sophisticated site that we have stayed a so far. A very large open-air swimming pool complex was open and ready for use although there was nobody using it, probably because the water was freezing cold. And this was a first, we were presented with the key to our own private bathroom with toilet, bidet, washbasin, shower and constant hot water! Real luxury!
Photos: The Basiliane Grotto with the remains of a rock-cut house and, yes, the sea really was that colour; A collapsed sea cave at Basiliane Grotto with the peninsula and fortification behind. The water was very deep in the collapsed cave and was obviously used for swimming and diving in the Summer; The church of Santa Maria di Leuce at the Italian Land's End; The rough south-facing coast just west of Land's End.

Monday 14th April 2008

I woke to a very strange sound. Through the haze of sleep it sounded for all the world like a child playing a kazoo. As I came to, it became clearer – it was a child using a kazoo to make the sound of a cockerel. No, it was a cockerel with a crow impediment! How could that handsome-looking, proud cockerel that I had seen yesterday make a sound like that? I imagined the hens looking up at their master, hearing him crow and all falling about laughing. I couldn't get out of my head the image of the hens rolling about in the dust, holding their sides, aching with laughter whilst the haughty cockerel crowed with his kazoo pointing up to the sky.
Shortly after that small local trains went in both directions on the railway line and the campsite dog started barking, so that was the end of sleep. Still, it wasn't too early and we had no noise during the night, so a good night's sleep was had by all.
Today we wanted to explore Lecce, so we caught the bus from the bottom of the lane and arrived shortly afterwards in the centre of the town. Lecce is the largest town in the heel of Italy and, with its university and attractive architecture, it is surprisingly sophisticated. We found half of a Roman amphitheatre in one of the main squares (the other half is under an important church) and, close by, a rather forlorn Roman theatre with a very small but interesting museum displaying sculptures and mosaics from the theatre and amphitheatre. You won't be surprised to hear that Lecce was a Greek settlement that was later taken over by the Romans.
However, the main attraction of Lecce is the architecture, specifically the baroque architecture. In the 17th century the whole of the city decided to give the buildings a baroque make-over. We have seen huge amounts of baroque architecture in Italy and it has normally appeared over-the-top, heavy and very grey. This architecture was certainly over-the-top but, crafted in golden sandstone, it had a much lighter touch. The star of the show was the Santa Croce church with its front covered in intricate carvings that mix the religious with the pagan – I spotted a green man, earth goddess, Hercules, Romulus and Remus in addition to many mythical beasts. We turned the corner to be confronted by the façade and let out a collective “Wow”. There were many other examples of lovely architecture and we had to remember to look up as we wandered around the streets.
Opposite Santa Croce we found a small shop with a couple of Internet terminals and we were able to book our ferry crossing to Greece for Wednesday. We had tentatively arranged to spend Greek Easter (27th April) with our friends Glenn and Venice who have bought a house in the Peloponnese. We were able to email Glenn to say that we had booked our ferry and were delighted to receive the response that we were still welcome. We are looking forward very much to seeing them again.
That night we had the campsite to ourselves including the only shower cubicle containing two showers. However, they were very basic and we opted for our our luxury on-suite facilities.
Photos: The church of Santa Croce in Lecce; Detail of the Santa Croce façade with the Green Man and earth goddess.

Sunday 13th April 2008

We wanted to see more of the Truli and took the recommendation of the campsite owner to take the minor road to Martina Tranca and from there to Locorotondo and Fusano. We saw hundreds of Tuli dwellings on this route and it was clear that they were extremely common over a very large area. Many were still in use as farm outbuildings, farmhouses and normal houses with little evidence of the holiday homes that were common in Alberobello.
We continued north to the coast at Savelletri and the archaeological site of Egnazia – yes, yet another pre-Greek / Greek / Roman and, this time, mediaeval site. The were a number of interesting parts of this site. The 4th century BC underground chamber tombs with stone steps leading down to large doors that protected the entrance to a large underground chamber tomb, often consisting of more than one room and with painted plaster walls. These were reminiscent of, but not as elaborate as, the Mycenaean chamber tombs. There was also an intact 'cryptoporticus', an intriguing underground structure. Imagine a cloister dug out of the ground but with the central courtyard left unexcavated. This leaves you with four long, wide corridors forming a square and these corridors where then covered with a barrel vault that was at ground level. We saw a smaller example of a cryptoporticus at Velia (see 3rd April 2008) and this was below a building thought to have been used for cult worship. The information board at Egnazia simply said that it had been used for a number of purposes including a public warehouse for food storage. I assume that, as the building was underground, it would have cool and therefore helped to preserve the food. The other interesting area was the coastline close to the Acropolis where tombs had been dug into the rock on the shoreline. Libation pits were also in evidence with the circular depressions connected to tombs by channels. Some of these tombs have subsequently been covered, which gave an interesting appearance, a cross between a cemetery and rock pools. Jane was very impressed by the sign on the site that stated “'Snake-A-Way' repellent treated area to get away snakes. Nevertheless, pay attention”. Jane paid a lot of attention and wondered whether she could buy some 'Snake-A-Way' for future use.
We then turned inland to follow a straight-as-a-die (must be Roman?) road to the outskirts of Lecce where we found our campsite 'Nameste' that is also an organic farm. With a vocal campsite dog, three more with campers nearby, a free-roaming cockerel with harem (no eggs available – “too cold”), a little owl hooting as it hunted around us and with a shiny railway track running, slightly elevated, right next to the site, prospects of a good night's sleep did not seem good.
Photos: A country Truli house with a vineyard in front – the painted symbols are traditional and have Christian, pagan or magical meanings. Unfortunately, this symbol was not in our guide, so I can't tell you what it means; One of my favourite of all of the Truli that we saw – a genuine rural Truli complex with steps up to the roof and access to the cistern outside the door. This shows how little light would be let in, so the walls of the rooms were painted white to help but it must have been still have been very dim. Sewing and knitting was done sat on the seats outside as it was too dark inside; Inside the cryptoporticus at Egnazia; The rock-cut tombs on the shoreline below the acropolis at Egnazia.

Saturday 12th April 2008

We decided to have a totally relaxed day today and didn't leave the campsite, in fact we didn't stray more that a few yards from Henrietta.
I made some bread – a malted brown loaf and an olive spiral loaf, made by rolling out the dough quite thinly, covering it with sliced black olives and then rolling it back up. I used to make all of our bread at home but this was only the second time that I had made it on the Odyssey. It was great to feel the springy dough between my fingers and smell that wonderful aroma as the bread was baking.
We had the olive bread for tea with ham and cheese, an ideal combination and it was good to have some some more bread with more substance after all of the very pleasant but very holey Italian bread. Not that I am complaining about Italian bread as we have actually had some excellent bread of many types: wood oven cooked; olive bread; with added maize flour, giving a yellow colour and on one occasion (the only time that we have seen it), wholemeal rolls. With the exception of the wholemeal rolls, it has always been white bread and, almost invariably, full of holes.
I had enquired about Internet access and had been told that I would be able to connect my laptop but this proved not to be the case. I had to use their computer but the Internet connection wasn't working. After trying for some time, I was on the point of giving up when the owner arrived and explained that the connection had stopped working that morning. They were trying to contact their technical support when it burst into life and I was able to update the blogs, check emails and download lots of those wonderful BBC podcasts. It is great to be able to keep in contact with British life by listening to news, current affairs (From Our Own Correspondent, Crossing Continents), financial programmes (Money Box, In Business) and lifestyle programs (Excess Baggage, Ramblings with Clare Balding) and last, but by no means least, The Archers.
Whilst I was on the Internet, the owner told us that there was going to be a dance that night in their very impressive hall and, as campers, we were entitled to free entrance. It sounded interesting. So, at 21:40, just after it had started, I went out to find out what it was like. I got as far as 50m from the hall, heard the electronic organ playing ancient dance music and turned back.
Photos: Bread of the Day – Malted Brown and Olive Spiral.