Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Olympia to Vartholomio

Our camping experience at Olympia turned out great. When we returned from seeing the sights, there was a young man setting up a tent in the site next to ours. He was Casey from Phoenix, AZ and had walked the pilgrim's trail to Santiago in Spain. He was seeing the historical highlights of Greece (Athens, Delphi, and Olympia) before returning to a friend's house in Spain. We had a great time discussing our travels at a taverna in town.



This morning as we were loading up, a couple from British Columbia wheeled their bikes up to the gate. They were heading south where we had come from and we assured them that the scenery was wonderful. They had been disappointed with the flat uninteresting scenery from Patra to Olympia. We had to agree with their assessment during the ride today. We had a nice sojourn on a small country road this morning.



Then we were heading north through farmlands and small depressed towns. The number of closed businesses was shocking. This area has no tourist attractions and the economic crisis in Greece has hit it hard. Our destination town had no hotel, but this wonderful tower and church.



We asked at the local cafe and they directed us to the next town, Vartholomio. All the better, we have 5 less kilometers to ride to Kilini, where we catch the ferry to the island of Kephallonia.

3 comments:

mas said...

Sad about the change to lesser scenery and the local effects of the recession, but GREAT news about the tortillas! Where were they from? Is that an REI Half Dome? Nice tent. Very impressive to see all the camping you're doing. Amazing to hear about the cheaters in ancient times. As usual, you are doing a fantastic job of communicating the people and places--I feel like I'm there!

love, mas

Dave and Belinda said...

Thanks Mark, the tortillas were made in Sweden! We really hadn't paid attention till you asked. What a surprise! Swedish tortillas in Greece! Good eye Mark! Yes an REI Half Dome. The selling point on this tent for us is that there are two doors, one on each side. No crawling over your tent mate in the middle of the night for those calls of nature.

SANDY said...

THE TRIP GETS BETTER AND BETTER.. SUCH VARIETY AND FABULOUS FOOD. TRAVELING BY BIKE CERTAINLY HAS GREAT VIRTUE. WENT TO A NEW MEXICAN CAFE RECENTLY AND THE WERE MAKING THE TORTILLAS FRESH ON THE SPOT. AWESOME TO SAY THE LEAST. Thanks for the darling top for mothers' day. It is perfect. Had the first present from Bron ever and so appreciated by Mom. You really give me the travel bug all over again and now that I can move easily, I can hardly wait for the next trip. Our new Spyder is great fun and we look forward to many miles in the near future.