Greece Ancient Momument tour.

[Brenhden]

I have a standing invite out there from a couple that I know never really fancied it always thought of other places first, but you've wetted the whistle perhaps I need to go (thumbs)

cheers Spud

This might help convince you:

2017-04-0219.07.23.jpg (27.26 KiB) Viewed 1204 times

There is a lot more of this that you can't see too!

[Simon_100]

I have a standing invite out there from a couple that I know never really fancied it always thought of other places first, but you've wetted the whistle perhaps I need to go (thumbs)

cheers Spud

It's 'whetted' Spud, otherwise you'd better see a specialist ... :whistle:

Regs

Simon

[Redmurty]

I have a standing invite out there from a couple that I know never really fancied it always thought of other places first, but you've wetted the whistle perhaps I need to go (thumbs)

cheers Spud

It's 'whetted' Spud, otherwise you'd better see a specialist ... :whistle:

Regs

Simon

at my age and when I get excited it's "wetted" (thumbs)

cheers Spud

[Brenhden]

Bren’s Peleponese Ancient Adventure.
Two things motivated me to do this trip. First was the character called ‘The Oracle’ in the The Matrix as I’ve always loved the word and the idea; second was the 2016 ABR Castle Challenge which I managed to bag 22 out of a possible 40 Castles in six days. Whilst buzzing round Scotland I realised I really ticking things off a list is something I really enjoy. Initially I wanted to ride to Greece and back but it would mean taking too much leave away from my family and buying a faster more reliable bike than anything I currently have in the stable. A few weeks of Googling and a plan was formed…

29/03/17 – Brexit Day!
I boarded withhand luggage only at 0500, there was a lad playing the Bazooki at the gate which felt like a good omen for an authentic Greek trip!



I was sound asleep before the plane took off and slept until the tea lady came round in time for the end of the Alps and when I woke it was to see another plane scudding through the sky right at us, it was miles away and a good bit lower but I’d never seen that before and it was exhilarating.
We landed in the Sunshine and minutes later I was on a bus heading for the centre. This was my first taste of the roads and I was amazing at the number of Adventure bikes and traillies I saw. XT250, XT600, XT660R, 250 dommie, EX-1, Funduro, 690SM, 1100GS, 1150GS, 1200GS, DL650 (standard and police edition), 990R, 1190R, Pegaso, Transalp and AT750.



Hopped off the bus and a quick hot walk had me settled in the room (with a balcony looking on to the Parthenon!) and ready to explore. My planned itinerary left no time for relaxing so I needed to bag my first Ancient site today. The receptionist had spent a few minutes teaching me to say thank you in Greek *Eff-har-ears-ta* so I considered myself bi-lingual and hit the streets. Five minutes’ walk and €10 and I was in the Acropolis and over the next 90 minutes I walked every inch. It’s really slippery underfoot and full of Americans taking selfies but the temples, theatres and views are amazing. Just a shame you can’t touch any of it.



That done I wandered the Plaka (Turkish quarter) and ate some street pizza and had a local wine in a lovely distillery bar called Rettos. By now I was flagging and headed home for what would become the daily routine of laundry, call home and journal writing. On the way I passed a homeless lady who on seeing me started screaming in a US accent “It’s all over William, you son of a bastard, the lord is watching you”! That evening I drank in Drupes and Drips and ate fried cheese and a whole squid in Piato El Greco.

[Brenhden]

30/03/17 Riding time 9 hours, dogs in road also 9.
Awake at 0500 and listening to R4 news and read The Odyssey until breakfast of yogurt and fruit, cake, local doughnuts and honey, cheese, eggs and bread. Checked out and sat waiting for the bike people to arrive writing post cards. Motorent were great and spent ages explaining how the roads worked (don’t ride in the rain), fitting me a helmet, and going over the bike (A Suzuki Inazuma250) making sure we were in agreement about the condition.



All set I rode off into the Athens rush hour traffic like Bambi on Ice and was immediately engulfed in locals who seemed to have a suicide pact going. My Suzuki had clip on handlebars so had nowhere for my SATNAV to attach and my only map didn’t cover the city. I managed not to get lost but it was tricky work and I stopped several times to check Google maps on my phone. I also locked the front wheel up several times as the roads are so incredibly smooth! And covered in pot holes. Quite a combo…
An hour later I was free of the enormous sprawling chaos and riding up the E962 towards Delphi, it was cold and damp and I soon pulled over, put all my clothes on and managed to fit my Satnav to the wing mirror. The bike has no wind shield and my chest was freezing but luckily I had got a plastic phone bag for Christmas I put it on and deflected the worst of it. I passed a lot of pine forest, farmland and industry before I found the ski resort of Parnassus (who knew there was skiing in Greece?) and finally on to Delphi at around 1330. After mucho faffing with my top box (my helmet and coat won’t both fit in it) I went in. Delphi, like all of the historic bits of Greece, closed at 1500 so I grabbed a ticket and started exploring.



It’s a 2500 year old mountain side site filled with monuments and temples etc, and a large contingent of US and Italian school kids, shrieking, fighting and scowling. Wandering round I chatted to a travelling German student called Christian about the best places in the world to visit, he told me it was Andalucia so that’s in the list and I told him it was Wales because you can climb on the castles…



Ate a pizza pie and got bothered by a lot of cats and went in the museum, which was completely excellent and then suited up and headed off. My SATNAV decided it had had enough of Greece and that was that for the trip… The sun had come out now and suddenly I’m riding a bike beside the Med and it was awesome.



I was feeling great as I zoomed through a police check point road trap and twice the speed limit! Amazingly they weren’t stopping bikers so I just carried on along the E65 coast road and stopped at Paralia for a swim in the sea.



Refreshed and tucked behind the non-existent windscreen and found some hairpins and a corkscrew before the mighty Rio-Antirrio Bridge. It was completely awesome but had a very annoying toll as it took me ages to find some change. What happened next was much less cool. I took the wrong exit off the bridge and started heading East instead of South and got stuck in a loop of roadworks and industrial estates that cost me an hour. The only upside was I got a photo of the bike, the bridge, a ferry and the edge of a castle all in one shot!



It was getting late but I still had the light so I pushed on down the E65, which at this point is a pretty boring road of hothouses veg farms, I was aiming at The Fotis Rooms in Skafidia as one of the directors where I work is called Fotis and I thought it would be funny. I got there at dusk and it was shut.



Gutted, I’d been rinding for about nine hours and I was getting sloppy. I pushed onto to a town that Google maps told me was full of hotels but on arrival all the were was boarded up buildings and barking dogs. On the road back I passed Fotis again and it had some lights so I went in and found the family owners were there, I said please and thank you until they let me in and fed me gyros and Fix beer, did my routine and slept like a log!

[boboneleg]

I think it's plainly obvious why you took this photo, three beauties in one go eh!

(one of them isn't you) :laugh:

[Brenhden]

31/03/17 Riding time 6 hours, dogs in road 13.

I woke around 0730 and was alone in the taverna, I packed and managed to fix my tank map holder. Paid €30 for room and dinner and hit the road for Olympia in the Sun shine. 40 minutes of smooth tarmac later and I rode into the town that services the site. I parked got my armoured bits off and into the topbox and walked into the site. It is massive. As big as a town centre and thankfully not too full of school trips.



I wandered round the running track, the statues paid for by cheating Olympians and the temples and the cisterns (these are always celebrated in Greece where water is scarce). The nicest thing about this site is its location, it’s in a sort of leafy meadow between gentle hills, you can really see why they built it there. Again my half price ticket covered the museum so I quickly popped in and was amazed at the stuff they had there.





Onwards to town and some postcards, and sandwich and a coffee and I was back on the hot and sunny road.
Next stop Apollo and the roads between the two were some of the best and some of the worst of the trip. Head out of town I joined a lovely new wide road which suddenly stopped at the T junction. I turned left onto the old windy country road and the 250 was darting between hairpins, a little further on I spotted some Armco just to the right running parallel. It looked like I’d missed the main road but on inspection it was the same new road I’d been on before but had since been abandoned before it was finished and now was ravaged by neglect, young trees were growing out of cracks in the tarmac and the slip roads were crumbling. This is what a real recession looks like. A bit further along and I was on a road that was covered in land slide, it’s pretty common in the this part of Greece and I guess the council can’t afford to clean them up.





Rising up higher in the mountains and I passed fields filled with ancient ruins of towns that must have been 1000 years old but in this country they are so common that no one but the sheep are interested! I arrived at Apollo and was the only one there except the super helpful ticket man, and my half price entry to the site also got me a bit of a guided tour as I was the only person he’d seen all day. It’s another ancient town but smaller and perched on the top of a mountain and the main attraction is hidden under a permanent marquee right at the top. On entry I was expecting a huge pile of rubble but what was under there was just about the coolest thing of the whole trip. I fully standing ancient temple. I’ve never felt so much like Indiana Jones in my life.



I wandered round in awe that this thing was still standing especially as the rock it was made of looks like dried, cracked clay. When I was done I went to see the man again and he told me a British chap (not Elgin this time) took all the artefacts to London when the Turks were in charge in 1824. This was particularly depressing as most of them aren’t even on display. My sunglasses fell to bits at this point and I was very pleased the helmet had a built in sun screen. I struck out for Messini and instead of using the map I followed Google who failed to find the waterfall I wanted then I also failed to buy lunch as my Greek is so bad and got so lost I had to have a sit down and get my bearings. I finally arrived at Messini around 1600, about an hour after it closed but as it’s in a valley with a town above it you get a cracking view of the site, which I think it better than Olympia.



As I’d already seen a couple of places like this I thought it better to press on rather wait till morning. Next stop the Pylos. I took the easy route and the smooth coast road from Kalamata to the west coast was lovely.


A note on road signs.
I can’t read Greek without stopping and thinking about it. An upside down L is a G and that sort of thing is hard to get used to. When I buzz past a Greek sign I can’t translate them quick enough. However there are often secondary signs in our alphabet just behind which is helpful, but different signs have different translations of the same town name, so variously Pylos becomes Pilos, Pilas. Lots of local towns have similar names so you do end up wondering if you are going in the right direction…

I arrived in the Sunny, slightly posh, marina town and pulled right outside the hotel I was hoping to find. After two or three agonising minutes where I thought I had lost my passport and a brilliant ride in an old fashioned doorless lift



I was in my lovely room with view of the marina and the sea looked invitingly refreshing so a quick dip was in order.



That and the daily laundry done and I watched the sun go down on my balcony with a beer before wandering into town.



I visited a bakery for a crispy crepe and a few bars for snacks and wine before a posher looking but deserted place for sardines and more wine. Be the time I left it was packed, I’ll never get used to how late people eat on the med!

[micksea]

absolutely fantastic,thanks for sharing (thumbs)

[Brenhden]

01/04/17 Riding time 6 hours, dogs in road7.
Next morning I woke late and hungover. I went down to breakfast and the lady said they had just eggs. She then served me cake, jam, French toast, ham, cheese before finally bringing out a plate of eggs, a lot of bacon, toms and a cheese toastie!



Stuffed I waddled off and packed and set off for The Palace of Nester. It was an easy ride just along the coast and a beautiful, sunny, clear day too.



My helmet is a bit tight and yesterday it pushed my head phones into my ears leaving them bruised so today I’m riding without ear protection and as a result slower. I cruised through the olive groves up to Nestor and even though it looked closed it was open and again I was the only visitor.
I honestly think it might be the best view I’ve ever seen. From the palace you look down onto Pilos bay which is a natural inlet surrounded by hills, these were reflected off the surface of the bay and looked amazing.


The palace was cool too. After sitting there a few minutes imagining being King Nestor (I bet the view has hardly changed) I suited up again and rode off for a waterfall that was recommended by Dimit , it was sign posted from the main road and I was soon taking my roadbike down a perilous, rubble strewn goat track wishing I was riding one of my DRs, a short hot walk and I was down at the pretty waterfall and I stripped off and got in. It was freezing and full of wildlife, I had a frog on me and there were loads of insect larvae and water beetles.



Hangover now completely washed away I dressed and walked back up to the bike.
The Ride to Mystras was something I had planned as it looked like the best route on the island so I whizzed to Kalamata and after a brief stint on the toll road going the wrong way I got on the E82.



I mercilessly ragged the 250 across the scenery and about 20 hairpins up to the snowline and back down again. It was freezing at the top and there were goats but it was awesome.



I arrived about 1415 and spent a few minutes massaging my sore head. I wandered into the 13th Century castle complex but was told I was too late to enter by the ticket lady.



No big loss as the view was awesome and the it gave me time to potter into Sparta at the bottom of the hill. It’s just a normal town these days but I managed to grab a photo of the statue in the centre.




My planned route for the rest of the day was back across the mountain range and then down the coast to a pretty beach resort, then down to the southern tip of the island the but I wasn’t really in the mood and could feel weariness building in my riding. Two minutes later I decided to miss out a whole days riding and go to Githio instead, as soon as I did I felt like a weight had been lifted, so I put the tunes on and cruised down the flat, straight, warm, road to the seaside.
An hour later I rolled into town, went along the pretty seafront until I found a nice looking café and had a Greek coffee, they had rooms for €35 and 10 minutes later I was settled for the night in another room looking out to sea, happy days. I walked around the town at 1800 and had some more random bakery produce, a beer and finally settled in a taverna that the locals all seemed to be eating at. I had some superb pork and mint meat balls and headed home for the evening to write postcards.

[Brenhden]

02/04/17 Ride time 5 hours, dogs in road 14.

Woke early and got to see the sun rise from the balcony.



Walked down to the harbour to post cards and then had cake and bread for breakfast. It was a beautiful morning and I set off feeling refreshed and excited. The road to Monemvasia was smooth, fast, sweeping, sunny and empty.



I got there changed into shorts and explored, it’s a medieval place like Mont St Micheal perched on a big rock just off the coast. I roamed the cobbled streets, amongst all the bloody cisterns! and set my sites on the small castle at the very top. The sun was baking as I stated climbing and dressed all in back and with the impatience of someone with a lot to see I puffed my way all the way up to the top for a photo and look at the view my Alpinestar GTX boots doing an excellent impression of a pair of proper hiking boots.



By the time I was on the way back down I knew I should have taken more time as my head was spinning and I was soaked with sweat. I left the town and grabbed my swim kit and spotting a little jetty threw myself in the shimmering sea.



Feeling a bit cooler but still pretty sick I downed some water, cola and a cheese pie, suited back up and set off for Nafplion. The fresh air of the ride soon sorted me out. Mone to Sparta was easy, Sparta to Tripoli was easy and Tripoli to Nafplion was a sports bike dream.



First over some long low hills, then to a complex of freshly tarmacked hairpins looking over a beautiful bay before riding along the coast under one of the coolest looking castles I’ve ever seen. I pulled into the seaside resort town tirging and had a coffee in a big seafront café while searching Google for a cheap hotel. I found I place called Pension Bon Nuit and booked in and had a well earned nap. That night I grabbed a takeaway kebab and some cookies and stayed in the room reading Odysseus.