Friend for dinner.

So, a quick blast back up through the Peloponnese (forever know known as ‘the Ploppers) would see us either having a free stopover at Ancient Korinthos or we would boot straight through to our next destination – Athina! Been looking forward to a bit of hustle and bustle, just for old times sake. We decided to commit the ultimate sin of the long-term-van-traveller and get on the recently built superhighway toll road (frowned upon in the new circles we move in; ‘So, did you take the stunning coastal back road that brought you through ancient blah blah and get a real sense of what a struggle it must be for the people that live there?’. ‘No, we blasted up the motorway, got a ham and cheese baguette from a service station and didn’t see a bloody thing…. smooth road though’).

Now we appreciate that Greece is having a bit of a hard time, and that you have to make the most of your tourist industry, but boy did they make us pay for taking the quick route back north: toll after toll after toll, and not cheap either.

We’d pay one lot of money, and think that was it, only to get 40k up the road to hit another toll. What!? Why?? Why are we bloody paying again!!?? We’ve only just paid misery-guts back down the road for this!! To make matters more stomach-ulcer-inducing infuriating we were stung with big truck charges. Everywhere else in Europe we’re classed as a car but for some reason not on this road. ‘Why?’ I asked a particularly walrus looking toll both trickster. ‘It’s the height of your vehicle, very high’. ‘WHAT”S THAT GOT TO DO WITH ANYTHING!!?? The air is free up there, there’s no road and you haven’t had to pay to supply the air that the top of the bus moves through!! I’m on the road, the strip of tarmac below the van and we’re only taking up a small bit of it!! ‘It’s the height’. Oh well, not much you can do but yes I/we felt particularly aggrieved by the charges (as anyone bothering to read this can probably tell). Saying that, one thing we’ve noticed which is rather sad and probably an indication of the severe economic cutbacks that Greece has had to implement is that a lot of road building appears to have been abandoned. I guess there isn’t the money to finish certain big projects so tolls are understandable. We’ve seen some new motorways that stop at a point, just leading into a field, or others that have newly erected directional signs with the name of a town/city crossed through as the exit junction hasn’t been built. Or, everyone could just be on holiday, hard to tell.

Due to the cost of the road (which was ultimately expensive but bloody convenient) we decided to push on through to Athens as coming off at Ancient Korinthos would have meant paying to get back onto the motorway again the next day. We’d researched and pre-booked a campsite in Athens (the imaginatively named ‘Camping Athens’) that was near to town and offered the fairly cheap vehicle storage that we’d been looking for. But, by going straight there we’d arrive a day earlier than planned. Would they be able to fit us in?? It’s bound to be packed what with it being July and near central Athens. We’ll go for it. If they can’t fit us in we’ll just have to run the risk of parking up somewhere in Athens and sleep in the van whilst all the rioting and carnage, raping, pillaging, burning of buildings and the collapse of civilised society as we know it went on around us.

Our enthusiastic arrival was met with a surly ‘you’re a day late’; we were actually a day early thus providing them with more business. ‘No no, we’re a day early’. ‘No, you’re a day late’. ‘No, really, we’re a day early, I sent you an e-mail and everything, open it up, check it out, we’re definitely a day early. ‘I don’t forget a thing, a day late’. This continued for sometime leading us to think that we’d lost the one place in Athens that we really needed and that our plans were, like the city itself, up in flames. ‘Anyway’ I said, ‘never mind about that, can you fit us in still…..? ‘Sure, we’re empty’.

Empty wasn’t actually empty. There was one other vehicle, a brilliant looking old Merc, which we noticed on the large site as we walked around with the camp owner looking for a suitable pitch. Huge site, loads of places to choose from… could have parked anywhere. ‘You go here’. ‘What, right next to the only one other van you have on the whole site?’ ‘Yes’. ‘Err, that’s a little close don’t you think, shouldn’t we give them some space like?’. ‘No, you go here, nice and windy’. Not a breeze in the air, nothing to cool the now extreme Athenian heat.

We couldn’t be bothered to argue but we both felt a little guilty as we brought the van around and parked it right next to the only other vehicle for miles around, clearly disturbing a fella sat outside his vehicle busying himself at his laptop. As we stopped in the pitch he looked up and said, ‘hey, your van looks nice and level there’ (that’s van owner speak) and we jumped out to say hello. Quick introductions and I said I’d go and get a cold beer from the camp shop for Helen and I. ‘No need!’ said our new neighbour as he produced an ice cold Mythos from his fridge for us. What luck again, what a lovely couple we’d just pulled up beside. Peter and Veronique - and their awesome self-converted beast of an ex-German Army van ‘Carl’ - from the Netherlands. Genuinely an awesome couple to meet.

As an aside; Helen and I have gotten used to, but bored of, talking about our trip to other people. We go through the same old routine sometimes. We’ll end up chatting to someone on a site somewhere and conversation will inevitably turn to travel plans. ‘So, how long are you away for?’ we’ll be asked. ‘Oh, ah, 12 months or so’ our slightly embarrassed response. ‘You?’ ‘Arrr, onlys ze two weeks’ will come the reply - usually through a bitter grimace and as we stand in awkward silence watching as the persons enthusiastically inflated dinosaur rubber ring deflates as they answer, letting out a whine as it does so…

Not this time!! Finally and bloody thankfully we got out-tripped!!! YES!! No need for travel guilt!! Turns out Peter and Veronique had set off on a journey much like ours - leaving a certain lifestyle behind with only loose plans and ideas ahead of them - but they are being far more intrepid. They are slowly making their way to Australia - sometimes in Carl, sometimes on bicycle when necessary - and will be travelling until late 2013. Good on them. We all spent a lovely evening/late night discussing the usual topics of conversations for people on the road for this length of time; routes, borders, places to see, hopes, absent friends, the absurd love you develop for your vehicle… toilet arrangements. If you get the chance to read this Peter & Veronique (and Carl) we wish you all the very best on your long inspirational journey and hope you travel safely. Please do let us know how you get on with your Chinese chaperone! We’ll of course be keeping track of your trek via your blog even if we don’t understand a word of it as it’s written in Dutch. Veel succes!!

A new day and a helpless new arrival! What dribbles, has trouble standing up on its own two legs and can often be seen wearing a nappy? Yes! It’s Matty George!!

Matt is the first of our friends to make the journey out to see us and we were really looking forward to seeing a familiar face, even if it was his. We’d arranged to pick Matt up from the airport in the van but decided we couldn’t be bothered. So we gave him some lame excuse about keeping the fridge cool that Matt, being very gullible, easily swallowed. Our new rendezvous point was Egaleo tube station not far the campsite. We had a little trouble finding it at first so Helen politely approached a gentlemen on the street and asked for the metro. Nothing, no response, no blink or twitch or anything, just a steely fierce death stare. ‘Metro?’ Helen repeated. Nothing. ‘Err, metro?’ she asked nervously for a third time only to be met with the same severe expression. Shit, he’s gonna attack Helen. ‘Ahhhh Metroo’ he suddenly smiled. Come on man, it’s not a huge leap from ‘metro’ to ‘metroo’!! We’ve subsequently found out that ‘metro’ means ‘metre’ in Greece so he might have though Helen was asking him the length of something, can’t think what.

We excitedly waited at the station for the arrival of our buddy but no sign for a while and it was really hot that day. After a bit of a mix up with where we had agreed to meet here was our first visitor, Matt, who had come suitably dressed for the 40-degree heat in thick cords, a heavy shirt and a backpack the weight of a dead pig strapped to his back.

We’d all planned to go Island hopping for a week or so and with tickets booked for the stupidly early ferry to Milos the next morning we caught up over a drink or two and settled in for an early(ish) night. Up and about when no sane person would be we caught our Superjet to the lovely island of Milos. Only a two-hour crossing on one of these fast things but you always run the risk of it turning into a river of vomit sourced from the feebler seafarer but mercifully this was a lovely smooth crossing.

Helen and I had never been to Milos; Matt had, but he didn’t mention it once. We took a taxi up to the lovely little fishing village of Pollonia and to Andreas Apartments where we’d booked to stay. Lovely little village and a great apartment that was surrounded on three sides by three very different beaches.

This was a particularly windy part of the island and as a consequence resulted in quite a swell. So, we spent most of our time bobbing up and down in the huge waves, snorkelling, getting dragged along large stoned beaches whilst trying to get out of the water in inappropriate flippers and losing our brand new snorkelling pipe to the heavy waters. We also set off on one of those longer than intended ‘Stand By Me’ type journey-of-life walks that is less about the scenery more about discovering what you are made of and eventually found ourselves scrabbling in flips-flops across Milos’ stunning volcanic coastline in 40 degree heat, lost, alone and unprepared with only our severe dehydration and circling hawks to keep us company. Being hardy souls we eventually made it to the main town of Adamas and crawling on all fours, sunburnt and parched we just about summoned up the strength to reach sanctuary.. ‘frappe…must…have….frappe…no milk…..one, one sugar…’ before collapsing.

One of the highlights of Milos was a beautiful meal that Matt and Helen cooked using the vegetables given to us by Andreas from his garden. He also gave us some fantastic goats cheese for free but we did have to watch as he anxiously moulded this into the shape of a bum whilst encouraging us to take a boat trip. Odd fellow.

Three days completed at Milos and up really early again for the short hop to Paros that took 7 hours for some reason. We were met by a scrum of desperate looking studio/hotel owners vying for business at the Paros port town of Parikia, a clear indication of how the number of tourists is down this year. With the knowledge that this would be the case we hadn’t bothered to book any accommodation and after a short search we’d managed to secure a lovely apartment in the old town that should have cost 145 Euros a night for just 50.

Paros, like Milos, was pretty quiet during our time there. You’ve got to feel for Greece. Numbers really are down this year and it’s such a beautiful place to travel, perfect in every way, that it’s a crying shame to see some businesses on the precipice of closure leading to an intense competition for custom. Undoubtedly prices are higher for some things - eating and drinking out and, oddly, toiletries – than we’ve experienced on previous visits but if you cook your own food and mix up the odd beer out with buying from a supermarket you can still have a reasonably cheap trip in the most stunning setting. Aside from fewer people and some increase in costs we can’t say that we’ve noticed a huge difference in atmosphere. There’s still the fantastic vibe of your Greek hosts zeal to ensure you have a great time, and lots of free watermelon.

So again we had a fairly relaxing time at Paros and it felt like we all needed it for one reason or another. You can’t go out and get blottoed as drinks cost too much, 10 euros per drink in most places for spirits/cocktails, but we did have a wicked night out with the owner of a restaurant who befriended us as we were his only customers. Greek hospitality being what it is he ended up giving us free alcohol to a value higher than the tip we left him.

Parikia is a brilliant place for a few nights stay and our time was spent either wandering around the old town in the evening or in the daytime searching out the best swimming & snorkelling locations, local and further afield. This led us to make the short-hop to Anti-Paros one day on the local ferry. Again, a truly beautiful place that was only marred by our decision to hire beat up old mountain bikes and cycle everywhere. Only Matt, Helen and I will ever know what we went through that day, there are no words to describe our pain, but we did eventually find what we were after right at the bottom of Anti-Paros. Before us was the most stunning empty little bay with crystal clear waters for excellent snorkelling and one of those typically Greek tiny white and blue churches on it . We had a right laugh watching each other take turns to dive down to the fissures in the rocks attempting to tease brightly coloured fish out of their hiding places. Awesome day, awesome fun. Until the previously mentioned race against time, want to forget, ride back to the port.

As you may know Helen and I had to leave our beloved cat Rita behind when we set out on our trip (Reets, if you’re reading this, we miss you girl) so we’ve taken to feeding strays and waifs along the way not thinking that we’d seriously consider catnapping anything and taking it with us but man have we just had our resolve seriously tested. Sat one day on our ground floor veranda when ‘What the bloody hell is this!? ‘Have you seen this cat!!? Allow us to introduce ‘Hoxton’, so named because of his fine, sophisticated Salvador Dali-esque tache that made him look like a bit of a Shoreditch twat. Awesome little fella that hung around the whole time the three of us were there. We all took great delight in surreptitiously feeding him under the nose of the owners who’d explicitly asked us not to. How can you not feed a cat with a tache?? We were so close to taking him with us just in case he didn’t get the food and care he needs but with facial hair like his we’re sure he’ll be fine.

One last ferry journey to return to Athens and a lovely final night together spent having a meal in town and a marvel at the Acropolis, all lit up.

That’s it for now. A long blog entry as we’ve been away from a PC for a while. We’d just like to thank Matt for taking the time to come and see us, for the hilarious time we all spent together and for the fantastic, brilliantly apt, pictures he took of us mostly without our knowing.

So, back in Athens and back to just to two of us. ‘Hang, on, who is this who has just wandered onto the campsite?’ It’s only our local Greece Correspondent, Ms Liambey!!

I wonder where we can all go and hang out together…

Ooo, get you and your vintage camera app.

Island hopping with Matty G (more to follow!)

More from the Peloponnese...

Right now pay attention everyone; this was our sightseeing week, so if you listen up you might even learn something.  You left us at Camp Skala which was right by the city of Nafplio - the first capital of Greece apparently - everyone in the area was obviously very proud of this fact as it was announced by nearly everyone we met.  Anyway, it is really rather nice, and has the remains of the fortified old city up on the hill behind from where you can get a fantastic view, however mainly for us it will be remembered as the day we got our fan....the sweet joy of air being propelled at high speed into our faces...ahhhhh.  It's awesome, thank you Nafpoli, every day is like a Beyonce video in the van now.

The next day it was onto Epidavros, one of the most important sanctuaries of the ancient world, built around 300 BC and dedicated to Asklepios - the god of healing.  There were some great ruins of the associated former buildings, including a stadium where the inhabitants held athletic competitions.  But the real sight at Epidavros is the stunning ancient theatre, which is in such a preserved state that festivals and plays are staged there throughout the summer each year.  The theatre was built with such mathematical precision that the acoustics are astounding; reportedly you can hear a match being dropped onto the floor of the stage from all the way up in the highest seats 54 tiers above.  We didn't get to try this, however unfortunately we were treated to a rendition of Adele's 'Turning tables' in a rather dramatic teenage fashion by an American girl...cringeworthy.  Still, once that was over we could get back to simply being in awe of this incredible place; in fact when you are sat 54 seats up, you can't quite believe that this huge theatre and surrounding sanctuary was only discovered in the nineteenth century...it's huge!  Great day, finished off with frozen yoghurt and another good blast from our best friend the fan.

With leg 1 of the sightseeing over we made a move south the next day, down the east coast to Leonardhio.  Originally we intending to stop here and split the journey however we arrived pretty quickly and then pushed on to Yitheo, on the tip of the Mani.  I was pretty chuffed about this as I get to be in the Mani while reading a book about the Mani - that is precision book-timing people.  The drive from Leonardhio to Sparta was also rumoured to be quite an experience; mountainous but beautiful.  Not more mountains and beauty I hear you cry, but this really delivered...WHAT a drive!  Gus made it feel really easy somehow, pulling up all these tough roads, and we were grateful yet again to be in something so small when we had to negotiate some very tight roads and low hanging balconies in the mountain villages.  Obviously all this took quite a while so we arrived at a campsite in Yitheo too late to see the start of Andy Murray's Wimbledon final and glory moment (and a potential end to a long running bet with Michael), however we found live streaming online and settled in the bar to watch the remainder of the match.  Obviously it wasn't great to see him lose, however...now this is rather British, I found it quite a joy to see the good ol BBC again...sad, I know.

The campsite in Yitheo was run by Dutch people, in fact it seemed like a bunch of people had got together in order to finance it, it had a very relaxed feel, was the first place to play decent music in the bar...the Doors and Richard Hawley no less, however the discovery of our first puncture on my bike left us a little bit stranded, particularly as we next discovered no inner tube...dammit we were gonna need a new tyre and a relatively big bike shop to get this sorted.  This left us unable to explore without moving the van, which we really didn't want to do as we thought it needed a break.  So instead we had a van service and repair day.  So hard we worked that day in fact (Michael definitely more than me I have to admit) that the Italian lady next to us who had watched us in hot disbelief, marched over in the evening and shouted "Bravo" placing a huge tray of cold watermelon in front of us.  True to form it was in fact the best watermelon I've ever tasted, so bravo indeed.

The next day, assured by the roadworthiness of our van, we set off on another incredible mountain pass towards the west coast, stopping on the way at leg 2 of sightseeing, Mystra.  Mystra is a remarkably intact Byzantine town built in the thirteenth century that at it's height, housed 20,000 people.  This was basically the 'power-house' of the Byzantine world, and pretty much ruled most of the Peloponnese until it was overthrown by the Turks.  There's some fantastic Byzantine architecture to be seen here, and the sprawling site has an incredible amount of frescoed churches with the most ornate paintings on the interior walls.  Awesome - we spent close to four hours exploring the site, but boy it was hard work in the heat. Both of us in agreement that these wonderful sites are probably better explored in the springtime, we decided to drag our sweaty selves to the west coast of the Peloponnese in search of a few days of paradise before heading up towards Athens.

And so we found ourselves just outside Pylos, after - yep you guessed it - another stunning mountain drive!  Found a great campsite right on the bay of Navarino with a sandy beach; it was one of those beaches though were you could walk out into the sea for 10 minutes and still the water would only be up to waste height, which for some reason makes you feel all embarrassed and like you're in a kids paddling pool.  Very good for swimming in though, especially on the calm mornings, then the windsurfers and kite surfers took over the water on the windy afternoons.  We spent three days here swimming and relaxing, and actually sleeping really well at last - no bloody dogs!  The bay and Pylos are both lovely - it seems to be some sort of holy grail for holiday makers, particularly from Germany - everyone that spoke to us about it went a bit starry eyed and said once they found it they all come back to the place year after year.  On our last morning we headed 6k up the coast to Voidokilia bay, which is shaped like a horseshoe, backed by a sandy beach and dunes, and a lagoon rests behind.  The bay is referred to in Homer's Odyssey, and there is a cave you can scramble up to (yep we did it in our usual walking shoe of choice - the humble flip flop) where according to Odyssey, Hermes hid Apollo's cattle.  There is apparently no other geological formation like this anywhere and it is considered an area of exceptional natural beauty by the Greeks....and they're not wrong, it's bloody paradise!  So yes it looks like we did find ourselves a bit of paradise on the west coast after all - swimming through crystal clear water and strolling over fine sand, we really didn't want to leave.  We have good things to come though...starting with making our way up to Athens where we are to be joined by our good friend Matt for some island hopping.  Life is definitely not bad at all right now.

Peloponnese pictures

Wacky Races.

Beautiful, majestic and awe-inspiring... but enough about me, how was our drive from Durres down to Greece?  Thankfully south Albania was unexpectedly and astonishingly beautiful.  We're both really pleased we came through this fascinating country and gutted that it all ended so quickly.

First off, everything you may have heard or read about Albania, particularly the Albanian people, is horse-shit (which, co-incendently, you see a lot of on the roads). It's an amazing place to visit and the people are the friendliest and most generous that I have met on this trip and it will probably remain that way.  Driving here is an absolute riot but not for the faint hearted or anyone that likes rules as there are none really.  Even with the on-set of the new roads that are being built you still get an amazing driving experience.  Roads with no signs or markings, new tarmac in some parts quickly turning into gravel tracks. Some had tarmac on one side, gravel the other, so you just drift from one side of the motorway to the other with either traffic heading towards you or the recently escaped inhabitants of Old McDonald's farm blocking your route. Roads can also be very uneven so you have to almost tip-top your vehicle along the right path plotting your route military stylee.

At first it's all a bit daunting but with the added assurance of newly purchased insurance we soon got into it and it becomes really quite liberating, driving how you want, and oddly enough it all becomes quite normal after a while and you forget where you are. 'Democracy!' as Leonardo called it. 'You are free to drive where you want and how you want!'

Anyway - if you want try this particular driving experience then you should do so sooner rather than later.  Some new roads are already built and more will follow.  We were told that these are being built for Albania by us good'ole EU types.  Seemingly not to help the country but just so that we can ensure our gas reaches us from Georgia in the future. The building of these roads is also leading to an explosion in development which will be good for Albania but could also spoil the 'uniqueness' that it has about it.  Helen and I had only been in the country a couple of days but it being a bit 'wild-west' in parts and a great place for new ventures we should soon be able to offer all-inclusive trips including accommodation, food and 4x4 hire (plus a chance to meet the legendary Leonardo)!!  Anyone reading this who has not been should try and go. I can't say enough about Albania, bloody loved it.

So the drive south.  We begrudgingly left Camp Pa emer, or 'No name' and spent the next half an hour or so traveling the 3km to the highway. This was along a road pitted with pot-holes and deep undulations that rolled you this way and that way.  It was through a local neighbourhood and all along our route were children smiling and waving at us.  We reached the recently built over-pass (see pic 1 below) but unfortunately we didn't have to cross it, would have been a laugh getting the bus over it.

To get out on to the motorway you just pull straight out onto the recently laid wide strip of tarmac and hope that all of the brightly coloured Merc vans hurtingly towards you bother to swerve. Once you're out, game on!  This motorway was lined by fantastic looking fruit stalls so we stopped to pick up some stuff.  And this is what gets me about this place. We bought loads of fruit off of this lovely lady for next to nothing, a pittance really.  Once we had paid for our chosen fruit she then gave us a load of free plums and apricots handed over with huge smiles and thanks and that's not just a one off either.  How can it be that people with seemingly so little appear to be the happiest and most generous?

Anyway - back out onto the main road and a good couple of hours fun; Helen weaving here and there having to look for the best part of the surface with the most grip (like a F1 driver) and also avoiding locals heading towards us on push bikes, often waving hello.  At one point the motorway was blocked across its entire width, without any warning, by fruit stalls and you had to break hard and switch to the other side of the carriageway.  It was lucky the fruit seller had big juicy melons otherwise we might not have seen her.

We decided to stop at Apollonia, a huge ancient city set up on a hill.  A brilliant place to take in some local history, even more so as we were the only people there and you could climb over the whole site!!  I sat up high in a auditorium where people would have sat c3000 years ago whilst Helen took a bow on the ancient stage and then 'look, some empty plinths let's go pretend to be ancient statues!' - awesome fun.  There was so much to see but it was so hot it wasn't possible. I'm sure we'll be back for more though.  The security guys at the place were so chilled out that If we'd had wanted to stay the night at this ancient, historical site with the van it would have been no problem.

Back out on the road and more of the same. We knew we had a steep mountain pass to get over before we settled for the night and were concerned with how the van would handle the heat, the road conditions and the climb.  There was no need for concern as the road was in great condition and the drive through this particular region was probably the best of trip so far, absolutely outstanding place South Albania.  We couldn't go fast (luckily) so put the van in 2nd gear, sat back and let it pull us first up and around the mountains and then slowly wind its way back down again (albeit with a screeching engine, but don't let that spoil the image).  Took a while but it was well worth it. Glorious. We were gonna free camp on a beach near the lovely town of Himare but Hooper insisted that I wanted a shower and so we ended up at a campsite near to where we were gonna free camp. Bad choice as it was a tweenie rave beach bar camp site that played shite Euro pap at full volume until the small hours, and we were parked right next to a huge speaker. Not a popular boy that night I can tell ya.  To cap it all off the showers were shit.

A new day brought mixed feelings (and bleary eyes) as it was time to make a break for the Albanian/Greek border.  We'd heard the roads weren't up to much but someone had shown us a route that took a minor road to the border. This had been relaid in part - turned to dust in others but still flat - so was a really chilled drive through more stunning scenery to the border at Konispol. After several viewings of Midnight Express I always get a bit twitchy at borders - "what if they need to up their drug smuggling count and see two Brits in a VW as the perfect place to 'find' something?" - so we approached the Albanian border with the Alertometer running at dangerously high levels.  As always a stern looking big old git takes our passports then..... Oo hello where you two from then?? Had a nice time in Albania have ya?? Where ya been?? stamp stamp bye then!!  Customs next.. I pulled up next to the guy in uniform expecting the full works only for him to wave like a child and say 'bye bye'.  We'd just left an odd, but brilliant country.

Easily through next set of border control and there she was, laid out before us in all her glory... Greece. We fancied a few chilled days and stopped at one of the first campsites we saw a sign for, Camp Sofas. What a bloody find this place was.  Amazingly beautiful site set into a gorgeous cove. Sofas' is a family run place and it showed.  The restaurant run by the mum, Eleni, served up amazing food and her son had a brilliant bar on site too.  We sat and watched the Euro final here with a load of Italians, good night that was!  The water was as clear-a-blue as you'd ever seen and we had a monumental swim out to an Island and then onto a beach that could only be reached by sea.  Proper relaxed this place.  I returned from the bar one afternoon after frappe numero 27 to find Helen sat painting an olive tree (painting on paper, not actually painting the tree) with one of the local cats that had clearly fallen in love with her sat in her lap. Sleep was hard to come by due to the heat, the bloody inconsiderate insects (that must have mastered amplification in order to be so god damn loud from the first sight of sun to the end of the day) added to the the mid-night calling of a thousand rabid dogs - but you can't have it all eh?  Lovely place that we hope to stay at again on our way back up, only with ear plugs this time.

We were pooped when we left due to lack of sleep - not what we'd hoped for - but decided to start free camping from that day and headed to the North Pelopennese, which happened to be HELEN'S BIRTHDAY!!!  Helen had a wonderful birthday which took the form of an extremely hot 7 hour drive (broken up with a fast food, but not horrible, kebab stop) and then a romantic night parked outside a taverna and a bottle of Mythos.  Outside the taverna was a good place to stop actually - in a little marina - and after getting over some initial free stop doubts we looked forward to a good nights sleep.  MORE BLOODY DOGS!! What is it with Greek dogs??  Not a peep all day then as soon as ya head hits the pillow.. bastards.

Up early to do some touristy stuff but not before we had a dip in the sea to wake us up.  Lovely way to start the day it has to be said.  Our touristy stuff for the day was a trip on the rack and pinion railway built in 1896 that runs the 22km from Dhiakofto to Kalavryta up the Vouraikos Gorge. We don't normally do the touristy stuff but heard that the train was a must.  Not at 19 Euro's each a ticket it's not but we took it anyway.  Not too bad but don't go out of your way to do it if you're ever in the area.  Anyway, the eventual destination is Kalavryta which experienced its own 'holocaust' on the 13 December 1943 when the retreating Nazi army took all the men and boys over the age of 13 up to a ridge on the edge of town and shot them all, 400 or so. There's a moving museum in town which occupies the old school building from where this tragedy all began.  All townsfolk were ordered into the school building, the men and teenage boys then separated from the woman and children and ordered to walk to their certain death up on the hill. The woman and children were locked in the school and this was set on fire but thankfully they escaped, only to then discover what had happened to their men after the Nazi's had gone.  Simply awful.  As a wise philosopher once posed: "WAR HUH, good gawd!! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!!".  I'd have to agree.

It was late when we got back to the van and set off further south.  We'd heard that Greek history isn't just about not being able to balance the books but that people lived here thousands of years ago, they were quite brainy by all accounts, and they've left some old stuff lying around that's good to look at. Another free stop on-route, this time by a fairly busy coastal rode. A bit dodgy and we weren't exactly comfortable with it but once the heavy set, no toothed, Algerian fella left us alone we were treated to a stunning orange moon rise.  I'd not seen one of these before.  The moon was huge and when we first saw it's bright dome peer above the town in the distance we thought the sun was coming up again. We watched open mouthed (not good in a country full of mozzies) as it rose gently above the town like a hot air ballon changing from first bright orange to yellow as it got higher.  We then settled down to the comforting sound of local dogs yelping themselves hoarse sounding like they wanted to kill us all the while hoping that no-tooth didn't return and nick the bikes.

So, now we are near the town of Nafpoli and not far from all the old stuff we want to see.  We're on a campsite and insisted that there are no insect infested trees near the bus and not a dog in town.  Happily there appears to be none.. what we have instead is a jet lagged cockerel in the yard next door who goes off every four hours!

We don't normally title the individual pictures but I wanted to with the ones below:

1- Albanian overpass!
2- Apollonia
3- Mountain pass
4- Motorway services, Albanian stylee!

Adio for now!

You gotta see it to believe it!