It was only a few hours to our next destination, another mountain village called Arkochori. We only had a couple of nights here but we wish we had allowed more! The visit started well when we pulled up in the middle of the village. John jumped out to find the exact location of our guesthouse and a lovely older man with a friendly smile immediately helped us. Actually, John didn't 'jump' out. He was still really sore from his bike crash, to the point that he couldn't drive. I had to drive really slowly around all the mountain bends to avoid hurting his ribs.
For a change, our accommodation was a larger room, which was really comfortable except for the hard Greek bed. John had to take some time off riding to let his injuries recover so it was good to have a nice room to do it in. The owners were lovely too.
I checked out the village. It was small but well-loved and very charming. These paving patterns in the roads were unique.
This old house showed the timber and rock construction underneath the render.
The village was scattered across a slope between two small hills. A church stood on each hill, of course.
This church was an unusual design and colour.
Our room was the only red room on the building. In fact it was the only red room in the village! We have no idea why one room was a different colour. The owners rebuilt the place from scratch in the traditional local style.
I went for a walk in the nearby forest on our first full day. The wide track I was following suddenly veered off into denser forest and became a rough, overgrown track. I didn't want to go there but my only other option was to return the way I came. I bit the bullet and took the rough track. It turned out to be ok but, while I was walking along, I suddenly heard a crashing noise in the forest not far from me. I had clearly startled something. It was too big to be something I didn't need to be worried about, however I figured it was most likely a deer. I didn't think it sounded big enough to be a bear. (I didn't know at this stage that there aren't bears in this area.) I heard it run a short distance, then it started to make a strange barking-type noise, but it clearly wasn't a dog. I was shitting myself. What the hell was it? The good thing about it making this noise is that I could tell where it was and it clearly wasn't coming closer to me. I kept walking as fast as I could and managed to record its noise along the way.
I later sent the recording to the lovely volunteer we had met at the bear and wolf sanctuaries. She confirmed what I suspected - it was a jackal! How cool!
One of the reasons that John picked this village (he did most of the Greek leg organising) is that it had a great restaurant. The restaurant turned out to be ok, however the best place to eat was the local taverna/cafe. The locals gathered here after church, or for their morning coffees and everyone was really welcoming. I don't think they get a lot of Aussies in the village, although we met a few at the restaurant as it's fairly well-known in the area.
Our next destination was another mountain village called Palaios Panteleimon. Our guide book mentioned it briefly and said it was lovely. It sounded ideal for us - off the radar and beautiful. We pulled up in the car park outside the village (cars aren't allowed in the village) and found ourselves fighting for space with floods of tourists, cars and tour buses. OMG!
We carried our gear through the village. People gathered across the paths to take family photos, tourist shops lined the cobblestoned paths and a singer serenaded people as they walked past. This was so not what we expected - or what we like. And we would be here for five days!
Our guesthouse had looked lovely online but since those photos were taken, the ground floor had been completely converted to tacky tourist shops.
We had a balcony but it was wedged between two shops! So many buildings in this village had amazing views to the mountains and/or the sea and we looked out onto the back of the shop next door. The window in the photo below is our room with a tiny balcony outside. We sometimes sat there in the evenings watching men wait patiently outside shops while their wives went inside, haha.
Meanwhile, our car had the most amazing view from the car park!
Fortunately, we soon got to know people and they were lovely! The waiters at a couple of different restaurants were fantastic. Some were Albanian and they loved that John remembered the Albanian word for 'thank you'.
I've been trying to avoid gluten to see if it helps my ongoing hives issue, and I couldn't eat the free panna cotta that one waiter brought out, so he brought me a bowl of fresh figs. They had been picked locally from a tree that was over 100 years old They were green, which I thought meant that they weren't ripe, however they were incredibly sweet and delicious! It was a warm evening and the figs had been refrigerated. How special!
People come to this village from many other countries and it seems to be popular with people from Slavic countries. One of our restaurants had menus in Russian, Serbian, Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian as well as German, English and others.
The village was lovely, once the tourists left at the end of the day! The old chimneys were like something out of a fairy tale.
The Mt Olympus massif soared over everything.
Sunset.
First up was a temple that had the bones to be a hugely atmospheric place. It was partly submerged in a swampy area and walls and columns poked up through the water. Sadly though, a backhoe was working noisily right near the site, ruining both the look and the ambiance!
There was so much greenery around this roof that the chimneys looked like they were planted in the vines!
A huge fig tree arched over a lovely path. I sheltered under it for a bit while it briefly rained one morning.
Mountains rose majestically in the background.
The village was a popular wedding destination and we saw weddings most days. It was interesting to see all the different styles of dresses.
The village sat about 550 metres above sea level and, for the first time in weeks, we could see the sea!
Most houses had been fully restored while some still sat slowly decaying.
On my walks, I found myself walking through forests of chestnut trees. The chestnuts were huge. These ones were the size of softballs!
We had read that they make a local tsipouro from strawberry trees here. We love the fruit from strawberry trees. I don't know what their proper name is but the tree produces a small red fruit that looks a bit like strawberries. We asked for it at one of the good restaurants. The waiter said they didn't sell it but he brought some of their own personal supply out for us to try! It was good.
Our waiter was a bit of a history buff and he told us a few really interesting stories. Apparently, during WW2 when people were starving, they survived on chestnuts, wild greens and wine!
Chestnut trees and sea views.
One day I walked to the nearby village of Poroi. It clearly hadn't been 'discovered' like our village had. More houses were in a state of disrepair there.
I arrived at about 12.15 and was hungry. There were two tavernas but neither was open until 1pm. This taverna sat prettily on the main square under a plane tree.
I don't think we'll ever get used to the Greek operating hours. I had to be satisfied with a couple of handfuls of wonderful blackberries beside the track.
The first trees were starting to get their autumn leaves. I would love to visit the Greek mountains in autumn!
Sunset.
We had discovered that part of the reason our village was so popular is that is was just a short drive from a hugely busy coastline - the Olympus Riviera. Hotels lined the beaches all along this stretch of coast so we avoided the sea and headed out to check out the ancient city of Dion instead. It opened at 8am so we got there just before it opened to avoid the crowds. We figured, correctly as it turned out, that no self-respecting Greek person is going to be awake at that hour! Apart from a couple of archaeologists, we had the place to ourselves!
By the 5th century BC, Dion was an important city and, over the following centuries, was subsequently conquered by various invaders. Most of the current ruins are from Roman times.
Roman public dunnies are always quite thought-provoking!
There were some great mosaic floors.
The floor under the Roman baths was a maze of pillars.
It always amazes me that wooden cart wheels can create grooves in rocky roads. Can you imagine how many carts and chariots must have trundled along the road to do this?
The mountains formed a lovely backdrop to the ruined city.
This pretty, innocuous site hides a deeper secret. This was a temple and oxen were sacrificed here - 100 at a time!
A separate museum housed pieces found at the site. I've never seen carved footprints before but ok, I get it......
..... But carved ears?
This contraption was found in one of the rooms of a mansion. It's the world's oldest keyboard instrument! Weirdly, it was somehow water-powered. It's called a hydraulis.
The other amazing find was a huge mosaic in wonderful condition. Once again, I fail to understand why things like this have to be removed from their original site and transported to a museum. Surely this could be somehow protected in situ. Seeing things like this in a museum means so much less to me than seeing it in its original location. They built a special building just to house this, so cost can't always be the main reason for moving it.
John was healing well and had started to ride his bike again. I picked him up from a ride and we explored the area by car. I then realised it was all downhill back to our village. For the first time, I jumped on his bike and raced downhill all the way back home. It was such fun!
We got up early on our last day and caught the sunrise.
It was time to begin the last leg of our mainland journey. We had to return the car, which we had had for two months, to Thessaloniki, then move on to Kavala where we would be staying. We decided to bus between the two cities, however the logistics of getting the bike and all our bags on a bus were daunting. We had a lot of trouble just buying the bus tickets, let lone finding out if we could put the bike on the bus. In the end, we drove five hours to Kavala, going around Thessaloniki in the process. At Kavala we dropped the bike and all our gear at our accommodation. We had a slight hiccup there where Heather the Navigator got the address wrong and made John drive through a maze of narrow streets unnecessarily while the owner was waiting for us elsewhere. Whoops!
We then turned around and drove back two hours to Thessaloniki where we returned the car. We were sad to goodbye to Niko. (His number plate started with NKO. His name was obvious from the start!) It had been a great car and had been a large part of our adventures.
We walked to the street we stayed in previously and caught up with the family who ran the restaurant there. Eleni recognised us straight away and gave us a big hug! Sadly, the cafe across the road was closed so we didn't see Stefania, our favourite waitress.
The bus was fast and comfortable and we were soon back in Kavala again. We had a fabulous small apartment there. It was on the edge of the harbour with fantastic views to the old town and the castle perched on top of the hill opposite.
The sunrises from our balcony were spectacular!
I explored the old town. Castle walls, built in 1425, enclosed a fort, and lovely old buildings squeezed into any gap they could find.
With no room for traffic, the streets in the old town were peaceful, and gorgeous doors and windows decorated the colourful houses.
The old mosque, a remnant from Ottoman times, was brightly coloured.
The castle was open early and I was the first in. A sign on a big wooden door to enter the castle grounds said "Push". I pushed. Nothing happened. I tried pulling but that just made it bang. Then a voice called out from the other side of the door. "Push! Push!" I gave it a good shove and the door opened. Why they just don't fix the door, I don't know!
I had fun exploring the castle. A really narrow stone staircase wound up the inside of the watchtower. My arms were brushing both sides as I climbed. My understanding is that they make these narrow so only one person can get in at a time, a handy feature if the person entering is your enemy.
The watchtower.
Inside one building was a pile of cannonballs. They were so heavy!
My favourite part was walking along the walls. There were no guard rails and a fall could cause serious injury. We love that the logic is left up to us. John calls this natural selection, haha!
There were great views over the old town.
Looking in the opposite direction, the new town wasn't quite so attractive! A huge aqueduct linked the two parts of the city though.
The aqueduct was probably built by the Romans but Suleiman the Magnificent restored it in 1550. It was quite spectacular.
In one place, a couple of old houses were built in the arches.
The town grew wealthy on tobacco and dilapidated tobacco warehouses were scattered around the town.
This scene, filmed from our balcony might seem very romantic but those bloody buskers used amps and kept going till the wee hours, plus our neighbours on both sides sat out on their balconies talking and laughing for almost as long! It was an earplugs night, for sure.
Kavala wasn't really what we expected. We expected pretty, and we got gritty. For the first time on our trip, we had beggars approach us in restaurants. A young Greek couple with a baby bought a gyros for a very outgoing and over-confident street kid. I found homeless people sleeping on the small local beach. We don't know why this was the case only here. Maybe there are refugees nearby? You generally don't see many homeless people in Greece as families will usually look after their own.
As soon as we got a couple of blocks back from the foreshore, the streets got rougher. It wasn't terrible at all, but it was such a change from where we'd been and we haven't seen much of this outside Athens.
We saw this sign on the side of a building. Would you trust the shoe or haircut people with your tattoo?
On our last night we found a fair. We jumped on the Ferris wheel. It was a bit of childish fun!
As sad as it was to be finishing this stage of our trip, it was also exciting to be starting the next leg. Greek islands, here we come!
Heather and John
