Tuesday 3rd May 2011 - Eretria, Evia, Greece

We didn't get far today! We had intended to travel down to the southern tip of Evia but had also spotted that there was an archaeological site in Eretria. I asked the campsite receptionist where it was and he explained that the museum and site were only about a kilometre down the road. We parked just outside and joined the five coach loads of children visiting the museum. Fortunately they had been divided into relatively small groups and we were able to view the excellent museum in a leisurely fashion. We hadn't realised how big a town Eretria was in antiquity and we were given a map of the main open site and other minor areas dotted around the modern town. After looking around one of the residential areas with some very large impressive houses, we set off in search of the 'House of Mosaics'. On the way we came across the Tourist Information Office (just east of the museum on the main road) and popped in to find out more about Evia. They were extremely helpful, told us much about where to go and what to see and loaded us up with very good pamphlets and an excellent map. They also helpfully told us that the House of Mosaics was locked but we could get the key from the museum. I went back to get the key and because I didn't have any identification with me, they came with me to open up. This was a good move as the lady struggled for some time with the second gate pulling and shaking it to get the key to work. It was worth the effort, the 4th century BC mosaics were really good and in an excellent state of preservation. They were housed in what was a very posh house with two courtyards. Apparently, this design of house started in Evia and spread across Greece. The house was effectively in two parts, a public section and a family section.
We lunched on some very tasty giro pittas before completing our round of the sites around the town and then returned to the campsite, completing a round trip of 2km! This time we found a nicer pitch right down by the water's edge with small waves giving us that lovely sound of the sea that would later lull us to sleep.
Photos: The Centaur of Lefkandi in the Eretria museum – his head and body were found in different tombs; The House of Mosaics; A baby tortoise in the Eretria archaeological site; A Shirley Valentine moment at the Milos Campsite.

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.

Sunday 1st May 2011 (May Day) – Near Thisvi, Greece

The WiFi wasn't working this morning so I went down to reception to check on it. I used my many years of I.T. Knowledge to diagnose the fault and suggest a solution – switch the wireless router off and back on. Of course it worked and I was able to post the blog up to yesterday. During this time we had a chat with the campsite owners who had been running the campsite since 1983. They also said that many of the campsites between them and Athens had closed, including the Blue Bay campsite and the EOT (government run) campsite just down the road. Apparently the Blue Bay campsite was very good but it was run by three brothers who fell out with each other and it closed last year. We said goodbye and left with a free Greek campsite booklet (more comprehensive than our book) and a mini chocolate Easter egg each.
We intended to us a minor road that would take us south across the mountains but must have emerged too far west on the main road and missed the turn. We decided instead to use the main road
just west of Thermopylae and were travelling towards it along the main road quite happily when the road suddenly turned into a very wide dirt track. After a certain amount of confusion, we realised that if we continued along the dirt track we emerged on the eastbound carriageway of the motorway! We soon turned off south on the road towards Gravia and we climbed steadily up into the mountains. At Bralos we tuned east and passed signs to many archaeological sites, resisting the temptation to investigate. We cut off again on a minor road to Davlia before crossing the E692 and travelling through Distromo and on to Hosios Loukas.
All through this trip on lovely rural roads we saw people picking wild flowers. This is a tradition on May Day in Greece and the flowers are often made into a wreath that is hung on the front door of their houses. The wreath brings Spring's blessing to the house and is is left there until early June. As we approached Hosios Loukas we saw a family with their car bonnet covered in flowers that they had just collected. The woman was just creating her wreath from them and she waved and called out a greeting as we passed.
Hosios Loukas is a monastery and one of the best examples of Byzantine architecture in Greece. We came here over 30 years ago and remembered being impressed but we couldn't remember much more! The setting, surrounded by mountains is lovely and the architecture and frescoes are beautiful. We were able to enjoy it almost to ourselves, probably because everyone else was enjoying their May Day family meal. We had a picnic overlooking the site.
Returning a short distance we took a road that travelled down the fertile valley full of olive trees and vines below the monastery. On then using deserted roads to Kyriaki where we were encouraged to demolish some bunting (actually red and white roadwork tape) that was too low for the van. This was very lucky for us as we were then able to ask for directions to the next village, only to find that we needed to turn right (no signs at all) and had demolish some more bunting. Between here and Aghia Anna we passed, literally in the middle of nowhere in the mountains, we passed a park with a children's playground and temporary rides. Families were there picnicking and the children were enjoying the rides, all obviously celebrating May Day although I am sure that it is also very popular in the heat of summer.
We came to an amazing viewpoint just before Thisvi. Here the road descended in many curves down to the village far below. People had stopped their cars to admire the view and we couldn't resist the temptation to wild camp. Parking just off the road, we got out our chairs and had a drink whilst taking the view of the Gulf of Corinth, its many islands and the hazy Peloponnese beyond. Although the view was hazy, it was lovely. It must be a fantastic view when it is clear – make a note to return! Most of the people passing us (many of whom tooted their horns and waved) were in pick-up trucks, a sign of the agricultural nature of the area and one such truck passed us with two lads standing in the back holding on the roll-bar behind the cab. “Good evening” they called out as they passed and as they got to the bend one of the lads got out with his bicycle and set of to free-wheel down the hill. We watched him go – I measured it the next day as a fall of 500m over a distance of 6km (nearly 4 miles) – what great fun.
Photos: Hosios Loukas; Mosaic of Christ washing the feet of his disciples; Mosaic of Christ; Wild camping in Henrietta with her bouquet of May Day flowers.

Saturday 30th April 2011 - Agios Serafim, near Kamina Vourla, Greece

We decided to stay another night and have a relaxing day planning and catching up on the blog. We started by investigating the local harbour exchanging greetings with an elderly couple cleaning and preparing their nets on a lovely old fishing boat. We also admired the tiny chapel by the harbour discovering that its interior was covered in beautifully painted frescoes.
Lunch was barbecued chicken consumed in the warm sunny weather. We were glad that we hadn't left the barbecue until the evening as by 17:30 it had clouded over, cooled down and were were being devoured by mosquitoes. We retreated into the van.
Photos: Fishing boat in Agios Serafim harbour; The Agios Serafim chapel and its interior.

Friday 29th April 2011 – Agios Serafim, near Kamina Vourla, Greece

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.

Thursday 28th April 2011 – Kastania, Greece

For all you motorhomers, I must start today's blog with a recommendation for Vrachos Camping in Kastraki. It is an extensive campsite with lots of space and excellent facilities. In the old part of the site there are two large public covered areas with tables and chairs and each one has three double gas burners and a large charcoal barbecue. There is also a refrigerated cabinet for campers to store food. The new section of the campsite has a similar facility next to its sanitary block. Talking of which, these facilities are also very good – plenty of very hot water in the showers and hand basins. The toilets have toilet seats and toilet paper (both unusual in most Greek sites) and you can put toilet paper down the toilet (almost unheard of in Greek campsites). There is a good restaurant on the site and free WiFi is available there. Together with its swimming pool (closed at this time of the year) and, most importantly, its location so close to the monasteries and the centre of Kastraki, it is an excellent site. When we left this site after our last stay three years ago we were presented with a small icon and a substantial book on Ancient Greek theatres. When we left this time I mentioned the icon and said that it had travelled with us in the motorhome ever since. We were then presented with a bag containing another icon (a different one, now also on display in Henrietta), another copy of the Greek theatre book (Simon, we will give you this one), a T-shirt, a postcard and an etching showing the Meteora monasteries. At €18 a day including electricity, this is a very good value site.
After shopping at Lidl in Kalambaka we cut across country on deserted minor roads until we arrived at Pyli south west of Trikala. Here we found the impressive Turkish-style bridge built in 1514 by Saint Vissarion. After a short walk and lunching overlooking the river, we set off to find the church of Porta Panagia (The Virgin of the Gates) that has unique mosaic icons. We found the church and hoped that it was still considered to be winter as the church would re-open at 15:00 but we seemed to be on the summer timetable and didn't want to wait until 16:00. However the church, founded in 1283, was still worth a visit and the architecture was intriguing, made up of a complete mixture of ancient blocks, pieces of masonry from old churches and more modern materials.
Our next stop was the Plastiras Lake, a local beauty spot very popular with the locals. What we hadn't realised was how high the lake located. We wound our way up on steep twisty roads constantly expecting to see the lake around the next bend. When we did finally reach it we followed the western side and found ourselves climbing again as the road took us high above the lake with occasional views across it. The weather was not good and the lake looked dark and cold in the overcast conditions. We reached a belvedere with, the Blue Guide told us, lovely views over the lake but just before we reached it, we drove up into the low cloud and had no view whatsoever! Descending at last to the lakeside at the dam, we were able to drive over it. Despite the Blue Guide stating that it was “cars only”, the limit was 15t and it was obvious that coaches were able to cross. On the opposite side were a row of wooden huts selling all sorts of tourist tat and the local ouzo and fire water. It must be said that the dam and the lake were underwhelming but obviously very popular with the Greeks given the number of tavernas that we saw. I suspect that the Greeks' love of water and the altitude (approx. 850m) make it attractive in the hot summer weather.
Many miles from the nearest campsite, we had decided to wild camp hopefully with a view of the lake and not in the clouds. As we started to travel up the eastern coast of the lake we drove past the small village of Kastania and came to a large flat area of land with enough space for 30 motorhomes. Access was easy and the ground stony so there was no danger of getting stuck. There was no view of the lake but there was a fantastic view down off the mountains onto the plain of Thessaly. A herd of goats and three sheepdogs were our only neighbours. Later a goatherd arrived and gave us a cheery wave as he persuaded two goats to stop sharpening their horns on Henrietta's bumper. Very powerful animals goats, they made the van rock violently! The swirling clouds alternately obscured and revealed the view until darkness fell.
Photos: The bridge at Pyli; Porta Panagia church; Goats on our pitch at Kastania.

Wednesday 27th April 2011 - Kastraki, Meteora, Greece

We had very light showers during the day yesterday but it started raining harder just before we went to bed and continued for a large part of the night. Fortunately, by the morning we were back to very light rain.
This is our last full day in Kastraki so we decided to do some more investigating. There is yet another hermitage cave on the outskirts of the village, Agios Giorgos Mantillas (St. George of the Kerchief). There is no hermit in residence now but the cave is still much visited by the locals who decorate the cave with colourful kerchiefs. The map showed a track leading from the village square but in fact it was a residential asphalted road lined with houses on both sides. We climbed up some steps to a small chapel above which was the cave that was full of colour. I was hoping to be able to get up to it but there was no obvious route and certainly no steps cut into the rock. When returning from our early morning visit to the monasteries on Monday, I saw a group of people in the cave and a rope hanging down from it. This may well have been a late name day celebration (all Greek churches celebrate these) as we had read that if St. George's day (April 23rd) falls in Lent, the day is celebrated after Easter and Monday was the first possible day. However it was clear that they had used a rope to get up and unless you are a climber, that is probably the only way.
The campsite map showed the track continuing and a footpath leading off around the rock mastiffs but given the 'footpaths' that we had attempted to follow before, I didn't have a lot of confidence that it would be walkable. However, we were pleasantly surprised. Not only was the footpath there but it was easy walking and interesting. It went through woodland dotted with knarled trees giving it a rather eerie feel in the damp overcast conditions. Due to the overnight rain, the grass and leaves were very wet and so we we after we had ploughed our way though them.
The map of Meteora displayed on a board in Kastraki showed a 'Monk's Prison' in this area but we had no information about it. Was it a prison from naughty monks or naughty lay people? And where exactly was it – the map only showed a vague arrow? We never knowingly found it but we did find the impressive remains of the hermitage of Agion Pnevma (Holy Ghost). Built into a natural cleft in the vertical cliff, there are scant remains of some walls and many post holes cut into the rock at the bottom of the cleft and hollows line the walls deep into the rock. Many metres above and now inaccessible (at least by me), an intricate series of beams and posts form a skeleton of the original extensive hermitage which must have had many floors.
We returned to Henrietta and spent the rest of the day catching up with the blog, posting it using the WiFi connection in the campsite restaurant and planning for the next few days.
Photos: Agios Giorgos Mantillas; Agios Pnevma; Beams and posts from high up in Agios Pnevma.