Trusting in the power of google, we’d spotted something on google maps which sounded interesting… The Sunken City of Ancient Epidaurus.
Now, City is a bit of an exaggeration, but the sunken roman villa under ~1m of clear blue sea, now inhabited by colourful fish and a million spiky sea urchins was certainly worth the gamble! Being Greece, it was also on a nice sandy beach with Taverna!
Dragging ourselves away from the sea, we explored Nafpilon, a town that loves it’s castles. Briefly the capital of Greece, it’s now a wanderers dream, narrow alleys and 1000 steps to the gate of the highest castle (we gave Eddie a break and did the lower castle instead!)
Next stop, Ancient Olympia – Birthplace of the Olympics.
It’s incredible how well preserved some of Greece is, artefacts from 2400-2600 years ago look as if they are still waiting to be fitted to buildings or used. Some interesting artefacts that gladly, Eddie didn’t ask too many questions about!
At the Stadium, we saw the exploits of 2 new Olympic Athletes, Usain Bolt – relax
At the end of the Ancient Olympia day, we asked Eddie what we’d done. “Woke up, Had breakfast, Had Fun, but we didn’t go on any trains” So of course we had to fix this.
The Diakfto – Kalavryta railway climbs up a narrow canyon. Special narrow gaugue single track line, rack and pinons on the tranks, tunnels, bridges, cuttings – it’s got it all. The gorge route is so narrow that the footpath runs up the railway line, but “Drivers are used to looking out for hikers” so it’s all OK, just hope you don’t meet a train in a tunnel!
At the end of the line we hopped in a taxi to Cave of the Lakes for a tour. Sticking true to the rest of the trip, the taxi had his air con switched off just to give us that van-like experience we’d been used to since leaving home.
The Cave of the Lakes had some seriously impressive bridges and lake pools. But for the name of the tourist cave, only 3/13 lakes are visible, and at this time of year a distinct lack of water in the cave made it feel a little mis-sold. The large Bat population was not mis-sold, and we saw loads of swooping flying bats all over the ceiling and scaring one of the other tourists with a low pass.
Back in town we selected a Taverna with a view of the railway for another outstanding Greek lunch. This turnout out to be handy, as with only 3 trains a day, when we’d expected to see train no. 2 arrive about as we started lunch, and it didn’t we suspected something was amiss. Turns out there was a problem with the track, so train 2 was 2 hrs late, with our booked seats on train 3 being replaced bt a bus. Trains > Buses, so we quickly changed the ticket and enjoyed our ride back down through the gorge.
A final Peleponese campsite under the Rio-Atirio bridge gave us a night of ferry watching. Strangely, despite the crossing being given a bridge in 2014, the toll price on the bridge is so high that the ferries contine to run! For our van Bridge, EUR 21, Ferry, EUR 6.50. According to Eddie, Ferry > Bridge, so that was the plan for the morning sorted.
The part of the morning we hadn’t planned was the Thunderstorm! Exciting weather = Van relax, so it was around 11am before the sun broke through and we actually caught the ferry across the strait.
Looking for weather resistant activities, we went to the Salt Mine museum at Missolonhi to see the simple but effective evaporate salt pools that have been harvesting salt from sea water for centuries.
End of the day, and end of the Greece section of our trip. Since our Honeymoon in Greece, we’d been keen to return. And by Van was great! Mainland Greece is full of mountains everywhere you go, the, food is incredible, getting veg & salad for the boys to eat isn’t a challenge at all, the weather is mid 20s and sunny in October and wild camping spots with breathtaking views have spoiled us. Thanks Greece!
Parenting Responsibly 