We visit the Diros Caves

One of our beaches today

Diros caves

Gytheio

The wind continues today and we all could use a rest day, so today we decided to check out the Diros caves in the area. They where discovered in 1955 by a dog that crawled through a hole into the caves and returned several days later coated in red clay. His owner followed him the following day and found a vast network of caves, of which some 5 miles have now been explored. The Pirgos Dirou Caves are one of the oldest inhabited spots in Greece. and pottery, bone tools, and even prehistoric garbage have been found here. We rode in a boat through the caves. It reminded me of a science fiction movie or Lord of the Rings worlds. Amazing.

The rest of the day we had time to explore the town of Gytheio. Tomorrow we ride to the southern most tip of Europe and Greece. This is called the Inner Mani .

We rest and enjoy a dinner on the waterfront

Chasing Italians!

Mani Coast
So, it seems today is Saturday, day 16. Of course we had to start the day with another swim.. everyone would be so disappointed if we didn't. Lovely, but, we can see the clouds turning gray and threatening. After our breakfast Yorgos, who's riding with us today tells us today will be our most challenging climb. We're only going 35 k but it's straight up and straight down. We'll climb another 477 meters but the nice little challenge we have to day is.. horrendous swirling wind and a possiblity of rain. So we'll play it by ear.

Who's this up ahead? A group of cyclists on mountain bikes and full paniers. We find out there are 10 of them, ladies and gents, very friendly, bon journo, bon jorno! (whatever) and we seem to keep catching them all morning. There going about 100K a day, and are touring as a group for 10 days. The wind is tough for all of us but they will really have a time of it with 70K more then us. Yorgos says the wind should be coming and going as we go up the switchbacks and the road is quite good and not much traffic. So we start and it is gruelling with the wind, but it does come and go some. The rain starts as expected and we decide to wait it out in a SMOKE FREE!!! Taverna.. it is pouring too.. but stops in about a half hour and we only have 10K to go.

The rain stops and the wind dyes some. We have the last of this "monster" climb, Yorgos states ahead, but we continue.. Tamra chases and finds the Italians at our destination village.. Thank God!!! Today we stop at Areapoli.

The Beaches in Greece are from heaven

Just about enough time for a short swim before our ride today

So I think we're at day 15. Tamra and I wake up each morning and say... do you believe we're in Greece and we have to go swim before breakfast! What would our friends say if we didn't... so off we go.. Helen too... we swim and swim and swim.. do I have to get out? The googles we brought are awesome.. I can see to the bottom and I'm way over my head. Today we're off to a little town called Stoupa. Yorgos and his family say this is the most awesome beach... how could it be!!!

For all you bikers out there this day is biker heaven. Clear blue skies, not a touch of smog...all the smokers are in the internet cafe's..cough, cough. We'll ride 42 K today and two.. challenging climbs.. for 446 meters total.. lots of switchbacks, watch for the traffic, single file, be carefull and stop when you need too... boy we're climbers now. I'm up ahead again and what's this another arrow heading off for a view I'll bet... how can he possibly get the car on this road I think.. probably about .5 mi I go.. rugged but beautiful. I stop and enjoy the view for quite awhile.. pictures to come. I head back to the road.. no sign of our group.. but only one road Yorgos says.. so off I go.. hmmm no arrows, but what's this a dutch couple who speak English, but are LOADED down with the works! The lady (about my age) says they've biked from the Netherlands for the last 5 weeks! The alps where a challange.. I guess!!! but they've only got a few weeks left and then a plane ride home. I follow them for quite awhile and find out Stoupa is not far.. I stop in a nice Taverna and have a diet coke and chat with the owner a bit. I'll bet they're wondering where I am.

Finally I see the van and Yorgos! Yup, he was getting a bit concerned. We are in an even more beautiful place.. unbelievable view.. called The Lighthouse. I hurry to get into my bikinis.. yes you heard right.. I have a bikinis now and serious a tan problem. We're armed with sunblock though. Off to the beach we go... sandy, slowly deeper water, people everywhere. And... in all state of dress or I should say undress!! I'll bet we're hearing 10 different languages here.. all the babies and toddlers are in their birthday suits.. playing in the sand with mom or dad..

several women.. topless, without a care in the world.. all sizes. Tans are all pretty good, except us. We're not in a hurry though... we have 2 weeks to catch up.

Stoupa Street and tower house

We have a bit of a walking tour before dinner. The town just a few K before Stoupa is Kardamyli. Yorgos family comes from the area. This is the Mani peninsula and very rugged and untamed. The town has an area that is preserved and very isolated and is considered a good example of old Greece. This area is famous for it's tower houses and fortified family dwellings. They date from the time of the revolution in 1821 or earlier. This area is also where the Greek writer Kikos Kazantzakis met Alexis Zorbos and part of the story Zorba the Greek took place around here. A great story about Greece and a great film.

Lela in her kitchen

Dinner tonight is really special we eat at Lela's... the restaurant is famous all over Greece for the setting.. on the rocky ledge overlooking the ocean.. and the food. Traditional Greek food, with Lela supervising everything, still. She stopped by to talk to Yorgos and Pete... she was the most lovely 90 yr old I've ever seen. She was all in black, as the older women dress here, with a gold cross on her neck and a black scarf on her hair. She had wonderfull soft looking skin, that was aged with lovely wrinkles, from obvious smiling for all her life. She kindly allowed a photo which I will post as soon as I can. This meal was still even more different dishes... fried cheese again, rice and spinach with mint I think, baked lamb and potatoes, fava beans as a dip, yogurt eggplant and garlic dip, fried meatballs again with fried potatoes, bread of course, and more wine. The moonlight is incredible, but we are very tired.. the late nights and heavy meals are a challenge to us Americans. But we'll suffer if we have too.

Rest day at Kalamarta: Some pictures are up on the Blogs!!!

Kalamata

Today we rode to Kalamata, Yorgos's home town. We got to experience the modern side of Greece. It's busy, narrow roads, lots of construction!!! We have a beautiful hotel overlooking the sea. We all went for a swim and where glad to have a nap. After our nap Yorgos picked us up and we had a wonderful dinner at their home.

The people here are so gracious and welcoming. Dinner was prepared on the back yard stone stove. They have a gas burner that is placed in a opening in the stone. They have a stone on the gas burner to fry with very little oil. This is a traditional cooking place for a family in Greece. It would be very warm to do all the cooking inside. We are introduced to all the family as they prepare the feast. Vegetables roasted on the grill, fried fish, greens, potato salad (a wonderful combination of potatoes, peppers, onion, olive oil, vinegar and herbs, wine (homemade of course), bread, OLIVES from their orchard.. and a wonderful desert that I can't remember the name of.. but it was made with semolina flour. We got a chance to call our families and to relax under the trees and stars.



I was able to put up some photos on my other blogs from the trip so be sure and take a look!!! I still can't attach my camera so nothing current.

A Venetian Fortress on the sea

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.

We ride through the mountains of Greece

WE're off to \lampia today up over the mountains to Olympia. The road is through a rather remote area with small farms and villages. The mountains are very rugged and rocky. There are small pines and grasses, and herbs, you can smell them. The contrast of the countryside here is so dramatic. Just the other day we where by the warm beautiful ocean and now we have rugges mountains and sheep and goat herds. It is very quiet and very little traffic but we can hear the clanking of the bells on the sheep and goats.

We are climbing today. The grade reminds me of Buford but Greece offers a nice touch to these mountain climbs, every few kilometers they have a fountain for fresh running water. The goats use it as well as passersby. Today we stopped at one of the fountains just accross from a woman tending her garden. It was such a beautiful garden bull of ripe tomatoes, cabbages, eggplant and grapes. I greeted her and complemented her on the tomatoes. We chatted for a bit, which of course has a lot of sign language but we where able to get information about where we where going.. she was so impressed. She insited we all take a handful of tomatoes..(domatess in Greek) now we had part of our lunch. What a lovely county.

We stopped at a small remote village Arieso for lunch. Yorgos meets us. This small village has the most beautiful stone building everywhere. The square is all done in stone, as is the church, the school and tavernas. We are greeted by a lovely lady who owns the restaurant.. She says we are the first Americans to visit their village. She is from Romania, I believe, and she speaks English well. She chats with Yorgos and us for quite awhile. We sit and rest and enjoy this quiet lovely place. She tells us that most of the people have left the town and Yorgos supposes there may only be about 30 living there now. (still having trouble uploading pictures from my card, but I have most on CD)
We continue on our journey to our destination Lampia. I happen upon a small building that looks like a medical clinic. I'm a bit ahead of our group and as Yorgos says it's all about meeting the people. The Dr. who is working at this 2 room clinic is Ioanna Koniari. She works for the ministry of Greece and is only 8 mo. out of school. She was working in Stockholm but the ministry called her back to staff this very small remote clinic. She said she doesn't deliver babies here, just sees villagers with problems and goes to emergencys. She is planning on specializing in cardiology. we talk a bit about newborn cardiologic problems of course. She is very interested. She says they have many problems with newborns in Greece, they must be transported out and they have only 3 sites in Greece for NICU's. She would talk on and on and we exchange e mails and she will look for my blog.

We are staying tonight at a beautiful old in in Lampia. This is another small village in the mountains that is one of 6-7 small communities in a mountain side. We have the entire 2 nd floor to ourselves. It even has a kitchen for our use.
We are in for a very special treat tonight. Yorgos is cooking us dinner. If you think he is passionate about the Greek countryside he is even more passionate about Greek food. So tonight he is making us one of his family specialities

Kokoras Meheelopites or Chicke with Pasta.
He went to the local butcher and bought a rooster. This is the traditional meat for this dish. The rooster is Very Fresh.. includes his legs! Tamara insits this is for her.. Yorgos says this is important to eat the legs as it honors the rooster. Well there you go. So here is the recipe:
Fry the meat in olive oil... quite a bit.. maybe 1 cup or so, until the meat is browned well.
The meat goes in a large pot, with about 1 sliced red onion, 1 can of chopped tomatoes, about 1 cup of canned sweet peppers, red wine.. a few glups.. or to be technical about 1 cup I'd say..salt, pepper, the oil from the fry pan, some oregano, cloves and cinnamon. This mixture is them low boiled for about an hour or until it's tender. The meat is removed, and the pasta is added. Yorgos uses a very small stamp shaped pasta and this cooks for about 10 min. The aroma is heavenly. He prepares the wonderful Greek salad with feta and his olives, a loaf of fresh country bread and of course.. more wine! It's now about 8-9 pm and we enjoy probably one of the best meals I've ever tasted. We sit and chat and eat slowly.. for another 2 hrs or so, it's too good to go fast. Yorgos suggests this site for Greek cooking:
www.kalofagas.org


We chat on the long climbs and we stop e
Yorgos thinks of everything for us.. we have great markings to follow and he points out hazards as well as steep downhills. He even stopped and petted a rambunctios doggy as we rode by so he wouldn't chase us.

Siesta time in Greece

These little goats where getting some water at a roadside spring

Kalavrita, Greece

We arrived at Kalavrita about 4 pm yesterday. Our hotel looks like an alpine chalet. The little town is very high in the mountains and is the local ski hill. The streets are very narrow and it looks like a mix of Swiss country and renissance Greece. We where going to try and get a pastry or something when we arrived but everything is closed right now. Yorgos says this is the siesta time and nothing will open again until about 6-7 pm. I took my drawing pad out on our balcany and spent the afternoon drawing and just listening to the quiet. We Americans have a lot we could learn about life from the Greeks. Everything is quiet, no dogs barking, no children playing in the streets, no scooters buzzing around. The air is still and dark like a storm coming in. The only sound you hear is the breeze in the trees. Tamra and Helen are reading and trying to nap. There is a peace that everyone takes in. As the clock gets close to 6 pm I can hear a bit activity. A child calling for mama, a dog barking, someone sweeping... slowly all the noise comes back and the people begin to open for business. I hear a scooter going down the street and a distant sound of thunder. Siesta time... Yorgos says it's the custom everywhere to cope with the heat. Many people don't have air conditioning, people have a late snack and prepare for the evening. The retaurants are full of locals sitting and enjoying a drink or coffee.

Yorgos meets us about 7:30 to fill us in on our rest day tomorrow. Even though we are suppose to be resting from riding he has several places for us to see. Tonight we walk around the town square and he tells us the tragic story of this town. During WWII the mountains around Kalavrita where a stronghold for the resistance. The Germans took the region and wanted to teach the people a lesson so in Kalavrita on Dec. 13, 1943 they gathered up all the males over age 13, and led them out of town to a ravine and shot them all. They then gathered all the women and children locked them into school and set it on fire. They where able to break the windows and doors and many escaped. The Germans let them go without shooting at those escaping. We visited the memorial this evening.

Very somber, the sculpture below the memorial picture is of a grieving woman. Such horror. One of the inscriptions is a prayer for an end to war.

Kalavrita Place of Sacrifice Memorial

This is a beautiful area. Friday morning is cool and foggy so we all decide to go visit the caves in the area and a beautiful grove of trees called Planno trees (spelling?). We lunch on another wonderful Greek salad... we all love the fetta cheese and olive oil now. After our strength training via Helen.. Helen has always been so fit and into training. I finally give in and join the group.. we're all growning but very ready for lunch. Now Tamra and I head off for our mini bike ride to the local monastary. of Agia Lavra tucked away in the hills. This little chapel is where the Greek revolution against the Ottoman Empire was launched in 1821.

Monastary at Agia Lavra

Grotto shrine at Monastary of Agia Lavra

Tamra and Helen both want me to say hello to all. We are all having a wonderful time. Ah soo. (by by) The town is full of activity right now.. about 9 pm. Helen is enjoying a note from Bill and Tamra is off exploring the gypsey bazaar in the streets.. she's found some plastic bowls etc. for our now daily shopping for bread and greek salad and baklava feasts!! I'm going off to find that local gelatto shop.