Today is Tues, I think. We've lost all track of time and place. We're meeting people from all over Europe. I guess Greece has been a vacation spot for centuries. We've met people from Austria, Switzerland, England, Albania, Australia, France.
We started today from Piros Greece. A beautiful city in a natural cove. Yorgos says it is the Ionian Sea. It is a little harbor with several boats and fishing. It looks like a storm is coming in over the mountains. This is usually a perfect time of year for Greece. The tourists are minimal and the weather is in the high 70's. The winter is usually a few months off and usually they have rain like we've had for the last few days. Hard rain, pouring rain. I'm sure it has washed out many of the roads we've traveled on in the mountains.
We did about 50 K today. We have some really steep climbs today, but we're in no hurry. There are LOTS of hills in Greece!! Just like Steve Largent warned me. But the views make up for the work. We walked to town for dinner tonight. We ate by the water in one of the many restaurants. We where able to order from the menu and found several dishes we knew, so we had our own meze. We took pictures of the town as the sun went down. Tamra and I stroll back to our hotel and shop for lunch for tomorrow and for post cards. The town keeps going well into the late evening. The towns have such contrasts. In the square the people gather for coffee and traditional snacks, small children play in the open square well into the evening, in the bathrooms you must put tissue in a basket, not down the toilet because of the small old pipes, lots of solar panels on the roofs, many small "smart" cars buzzing by on roads that are about 6 feet wide and 20% grade, it seems, old farmers with their produce hanging off the back of their scooters. Never a helmet is seen.
The next morning we off again through olive groves and acres of farms of all kinds of food, Tomatoes, eggplants, and Pomegranate trees. Tamra is scavanging again for our breakfast. She says pomegranates are one of the new super foods we should all try and eat, along with almonds, Kiwi's and more I'm sure she'd fill us in on. They're full of antioxidents and is the new natural prozac! Ok with me.. I'm sure it will be pretty tasty with yogurt and honey in the am.
We heading to the city of Vounaria which is on the coast again. We stopped at the fortress of Methoni. This is an incredible structure. It was built in the 15 century by the venetians. This point of Greece is obviously another stategic point. The fortress is just like a mideval castle with vantage points, moats, a turkish bath! It is on a high rocky ledge and you can just imagine the battles that happened here. I met a very nice couple from UK who tell me they use to just through their prisoners off the ledge to the sea and their death. I probably took 50 pictures here and Tamra took more. The water is so clear you can see to the bottom. (we're still unable to up load any pictures.. so what you see is all from other web sites.)
The Venetian Fortress at Methoni
We continue along the coast line now. More up and down. We pass through small villages and everything seems to be under construction, especially on this coast. We see farmers with their produce all along the roads. We stop at a secluded beach for a swim and lunch. I meet more travelers.. Austria, Switzerland, all of them mention Obama, thumbs up whenever I tell them we're Americans. Everyone should experience swimming in the Mediterrarean at least once in their life. The water is as clear as can be, warm and gentle lapping waves. We swim and swim. We brought our goggles so we can easily see the bottom and the few fish below. I'd love to spend all day here but it seems we're packing up again... off to our next stop.
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