Receiving shelter from lovely camper fellows
After spending our last Leks (Albanian currency) at a grocery store, we headed towards the border to Greece. The border crossing however took longer than expected. There was quite a car queue in front of us due to the custom check. Two guys wearing a uniform looked into every single car. Everyone had to open the truck - the car in front of us even had to take of the cover of its sparewheel which was attached to the rear door and another British off-roader had to drive to the side and take EVERYTHING out of his car before he was sent to drive through the X-ray. This procedure easily took him half a day, but the custom officers were very strict! We were already a bit worried about how much time we would waste here, but luckily, after asking us a few questions and quickly looking into the back of our Defender, we were allowed to pass (yaay). In Greece, we stopped at the first small coffee place we found to have an espresso and to use the bathroom and we almost forgot to put on our face mask before we entered the place. In Albania, no one really cared about the Covid measures, in Greece it was a lot different. We had to show our vaccine certificate just to sit outside of the restaurant, the measures were a lot stricter here. We drove on towards the Vikos Gorge, which is listed as the world's "deepest gorge relative to its width". We first stopped at the stone forest. Since we packed up very quickly in the morning due to the rain, we were still wearing our yoga outfit, (leggings/shorts, a shirt and Flipflops (thongs) - all the Greek tourists in their winter jackets were looking at us a bit strange :D It was indeed a lot cooler up here in the mountains, so we quickly put on our jackets. We then headed towards a viewpoint of the gorge which was quite impressive. Bianca and Andi, our Austrian friends, texted us that they were still on the road, since they had to take a detour with their massive truck. We figured we would already drive on and check out a few possible sleeping spots. We found some wild camping spots close-by on our app. We shared our location with Andi and Bianca and then we left the paved road and drove up a gravel street and it was a beautiful drive. Unfortunately, the sun didn’t come out. We were already a bit worried about the temperature during the night… We drove up and up and just when we figured that we should turn around to go and find our Austrian friends (we didn’t have any service up here) they showed up behind us in their truck. We figured that it was a beautiful spot to spend the night even though it was a bit cold. We played with the dogs, drank a bottle of wine outside and discussed some dinner possibilities to cook with what we had in both our fridges. It soon got dark and even colder so Andi and Bianca invited us inside their truck to cook and eat dinner. We were very happy to not be left outside 😊 Together, we prepared a very tasty ceaser salad – it was a cozy and fun dinner.
Introduction to the Greek camping community
When we got up the next day, it was very foggy and freezing, it was hard to leave the bed. We decided to quickly pack up and go find a place to have breakfast somewhere inside and make some further plans from there. Bianca and Andi wanted to check out the viewpoint of the gorge. They did not have a certificate, therefore, they really could not get into any restaurant ☹ we said goodbye, hoping we would see each other again somewhere along the trip. We would have loved to go for a few hikes in the area, but unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side this time. So we decided to go down further south to the Peleponnese peninsula, where the weather forecast was better. It was quite a long drive down there and it got already dark, so we decided to stay on a camping site for the night. We found Ionion Camping, a huge site which was actually quite beautiful and well equipped. There were still a few campers who all were camping close to the beach, but the rest of the huge camping site was empty. We could only imagine how this place must look like during summer. There was even a small bar but they only served frozen pizza, so we decided to cook some pasta on our own. On the camping site were a lot of other German speaking campers from Switzerland, Germany and Austria, and they were all very interested in our Defender and the trip we have planned, so we barely had time to write some more in our blog or plan our trip because we were talking so much :D In return we received many tips for places to camp in Greece, since most of the campers came here every year.
Learning from Archimedes
The next day we left the camping site and headed towards Olympia, the place where the Olympic Games were invented back in ancient Greece. The archelogical site was huge, we were walking around for a couple of hours and there would have been more to see, but we were getting hungry and really wanted to find a restaurant to enjoy some Greek dishes. We found the Symposio Tavern, a very traditional Greek restaurant and the food was delicious! Most restaurants were closed, so we were lucky to have found this place. There weren’t many guests so we talked to the owner for a bit, who was a very friendly man and told us a lot about his family-run business as well as life in Greece. On our way back to the car, we passed the Archimedes Museum. It was open and there was no entry fee except for a voluntary donation, so we thought we will quickly check it out - a great decision!! It was an amazing little museum which showed many of the great inventions of the ancient Greeks. The woman working there took the time and walked with us through the whole museum and explained everything we wanted to know, it was great and very interesting. We definitely lost track of time and when we stepped outside again, it was already getting dark. We quickly stopped at a grocery store to get some things and then drove towards Elea beach, a place that was recommended to us to spend the night. Apparently, it is the beach where a lot of long-term campers meet for wild camping during the off-season. It was pitch-dark when we arrived there and there were not other campers. We parked the Defender between the pine-trees and went straight to bed.
Local shopping
It is always exciting waking up in a place which we didn’t really see the day before if it was already dark when we arrived :) We got up and found ourselves in a little pine forest at the beach. We started the day with a yoga session and took a (cold) shower and then packed up to drive off again. Just before we were ready to leave, a car drove towards us and stopped – we were already a bit worried about getting a fine, instead, it was a very freindly couple from the town who own an olive farm and they came to sell olives, olive oil and more delicious things. Since we figured, it would be nice to bring some Greek olive oil to Africa, we bought 2 big bottles and also treated us to some nice olives. Our next stop was Elea again (same name, different town). This time, it was a town a couple of hours further east on the Penelopesse peninsula. We read about a nice spot directly at the beach where we wanted to camp. We found it without any trouble and spent another night on a private little beach. For dinner, we prepared a Greek salad and in the morning, we woke up early with the sunrise and enjoyed a coffee and the view. After our daily yoga flow (we started a 30 day yoga challenge by Tim Senesi :-) it is available on Youtube if you’re interested), we packed up our things and headed towards Monemvasia.
Exploring Monemvasia
Monemvasia is a small town on an island, which is linked with the mainland by a causeway. It is a BEAUTIFUL little town with very narrow streets - really, if you ever happen to be on the Pelenopesse Peninsula, make sure sou’ll visit this place!! We were strolling around and after every corner we wanted to take some more pictures because everything looked so nice. Again, not many restaurants were open but there was a nice bar on the top of the small town with a breathtaking view, where we enjoyed a cocktail (ok two). Then we headed back down and just in front of the entrance gate, there were another few bars and restaurants open. We went for another drink at Emvasis, a very nice cocktailbar and they were just putting up a super cute christmas decoration (I am a huge fan of that!!) The waiter recommended us to drive to Neratziona Beach and camp directly on the beach for the night. He told us it would not be a problem during off-season and that the place was beautiful. He also helped us to make a call to a mountain refuge, where we wanted to book 2 beds for the next day, but the guy working there only spoke Greece, so we were very happ to get some help :) The beach which he recommended was just a 30 minutes drive away, so we drove there after dinner at Oinomelo, a very nice restaurant and we were indeed rewarded with a beautiful spot to sleep. The next day we got up and decided to take the ferry to Elafonisos, an island that looked very nice and could be easily reached from where we were. When we got to the ferry port, there was only one other car. The man in the car told us that he lived on the island and he explained that during off-season, there was nothing going on over there. Nevertheless, there was one restaurant open where we could have breakfast, so we decided to park the Defender and just go on the ferry without it and go check out the restaurant for breakfast. We found the place and ordered a fresh orange juice, a cappuccino and scrambled eggs on a toast. The weather was turning again and at one point, we could barely see outside the window of the restaurant due to the fog and rain, but then it cleared up again and we took the ferry back to the mainland. We then started the drive towards the EOS Spartis Mountain Refuge. We wanted to climb Taygetos mountain, the highest mountain of Peleponnese (2’407m) and therefore slept at the refuge hut where the hike started. Since we knew that it would be freezing cold up there during the night, we figured it would be nicer to sleep in the hut. The drive up there was quite easy, the road wasn’t too bad against all the reviews that we read. We were the only guests inside of the hut, however, there were about 20 guys sleeping outside in tents! They were preparing for some bigger outdoor excursion and therefore spent the weekend up here. We were quite happy that we didn’t have to spend the night outside in the car because it was getting very cold! The hut was basic: one room with a table and chairs and a few mattresses to sleep on. It was a quite uncomfortable night, but we got up early anyways to start the hike. The summit of Taygetos mountain gives shadow in the shape of a pyramid at sunrise and sunset, which we wanted to see, but the tour guides recommended us to not start the hike that early because it could be dangerous due to the ice and snow.
Reaching the summit
We therefore left the refuge at 7am just a little before sunrise. The hike was very beautiful and well marked. At times, it was very windy though and on the very last part before we reached the summit, there was indeed some snow. The view from the top was beautiful and we even saw the shadow of the pyramid, not in the clouds but the mountain threw its pyramid shadow on the other surrounding mountains. We were the first one on the summit that day but on the way down we crossed a few other hikers who were on their way up. The sun was out all day and once we left the exposed ridge of the summit where it was very windy, it was actually quite nice to hike back down. When we reached the Defender and the refuge, we prepared a small meal because we were a bit hungry after the hike and then drove back down towards the coast again where it was very warm, around 20 degrees Celsius. We headed towards a camping because we desperately wanted a nice warm shower. We found Camping Argolic Strand in Drepano. It was a very very nice camping, in fact, we both found it to be the cleanest camping of all camping sites we have seen so far on this trip. The owner, a lovely old lady, was very nice and welcoming, we were more than happy with our choice. There were even a few restaurants open in walking distance, so after a shower, we enjoyed another delicious greek dinner.
Last nights…
Eventhough we loved the camping, we still decided to leave the next day because it was already the last night which we would spend in our Defender before we would ship it to Africa!! And we figured, it would be nice to spend it once more at a lonely hidden place somewhere on the way to Athens. First, we went to visit the Ancient Theatre at the Asclepieion of Epidaurus, another ancient greek landmark. It was a nice surprise when we got there and were told that the entrance was for free that day because it was a Sunday (and off season). The theatre is still used nowadays for some concerts and is therefore in a great shape. Afterwards, we drove to the Corinth Canal, a man made canal of 6,4km which connects the Ionian Sea with the Aegean Sea. We lost a bit track of time with all the sightseeing, and when we started checking for spots to sleep at, we realized that it was a Sunday and all the shops were closed and we didn’t really had food to cook. So we had to look for a restaurant and a sleeping spot close-by. We found both, however, once again it was already dark when we parked the Defender for the night. We were a bit disappointed because of our bad planning since we really wanted to enjoy the last night on a lovely spot. When we woke up the next day, we found ourselves on a lovely little private beach and without intention, we parked the car perfectly so we could watch the amazing sunrise over the sea without even leaving our bed :) It was in fact the perfect spot to wake up to in the Defender for the last time on the European continent (at least for this trip).
