Greece
I went there for a week, and left a month later, absolutely loved it! Apart
from the ferry crossings, 8 hours and 35C on the car deck where you’re
meant to sleep, not pleasant, but a small price to pay.
I started in Igoumenitsa, then headed towards Mount Olympus. Compared to Italy,
Greek navigation was a doddle, almost all the signs were in English as well
as Greek, and they were easy to see, a real pleasure! I would also strongly
advise that you get off the tarmac, some of the views you come across are fantastic.
After a little adventuring along dirt roads at night, not particularly clever,
but fun, I end up driving over Mt Olympus, well not quite over it, but pretty
much as far up and around it that you can. I can tell you now, that some of
those tracks were the steepest I climbed in the entire trip. Going up and around
hairpins where the exhaust ended up dragging on the road. Slipping the clutch
in first just to get to the next corner. What fun, brilliant! It wasn’t
until later that I realised they hadn’t actually finished making the track,
and the bulldozers and diggers were still there, which explained a few things.
So how did the van take this abuse? One slow puncture and a louder exhaust was
the total cost, not bad at all!
After Olympus I headed down to Peloponnese, and didn’t want to leave again.
I went round the coast and found many fantastic beaches.
Through the centre.
To man made wonders.
And natural ones.
Beautiful towns.
Remote churches.
With speedy wildlife (it was a close race….).
And great cooks!
All in all I can’t recommend Greece enough. While I was there the UK press
ran several unpleasant stories regarding holidaymakers in Greece. I have no
idea what happened in their cases, as I found the Greeks to be the friendliest
and most helpful people in Europe. It was also one of the cheapest, with great
food, stunning beaches clear seas, the brightest stars and the most amazing
sites you can find anywhere.
GO THERE!!!
If you do, one little note of caution though, when driving along tracks, do
make sure they don’t end up going round a hairpin in an olive grove, and
disappearing into wheel swallowing sandy gravel. Or if you don’t want
to avoid this, make sure you’ve got a shovel with you. Otherwise you may
spend 3.5 hours, digging jacking and propping your way out with sticks. But
hey it makes a good story!
