travel – Page 45 – BitsOfMyMind

August 4, 2015

Conquering Greece – Day 3 : Florina to Igoumenitsa

Weather: Sunny and then rain
Departure: 11h00
Arrival: 22h00
Date: 02/08/15
Distance: 381km

Me and Alban had planned to have coffee the next day but I waited for a while in the lobby of the hotel for he was nowhere to be seen. I went out and grabbed my caffeine fix and something to eat and when I came back, there he was. The night before, he had pitched the idea of him riding with me to Patra as a passenger and again he did that morning. Not that I did not want to have him with me. Circumstances permitting, it would have been a thrill but given the road ahead and the state of my bike (crooked steering, sketchy brakes, underpowered) and the limited room, it was not possible so we parted ways there.

It took me an hour to find gas but otherwise, everything about this day was perfect. The roads (save some unrepaired stretches), the amount of trafic, the views. Canyons, peaks and no cars to be seen. So I drove along at a steady pace enjoying my time very much in wild northern Greece all the way until Konitsa, where I stopped for some much needed food.

Konitsa was entirely build on a mountain side, with pretty alleyways and charming ambience. It had an old arch bridge of the likes I had never seen and was gateway to the national park of the Aoös gorge. The setting was beautiful and for minutes I was torn between making a stop there or continuing to my planned destination.

I picked the latter. In Ioannina, a large regional town, I stopped for a picturesque break near the old city walls on the side of the lake, still pondering if I should stop or not. Again, I kept going. At a gas station, I asked for direction to Igoumenitsa (a city on the western coast and my objective for the day) and was correctly directed towards the shortest route, a highway, which I took thinking I was somewhere else on the map. Not wanting to skip on the nicer roads nearby, I promptly exited the highway and proceeded on a local road.

Once I hit the first village, the rain started and given the state of the road, I took the decision to stop. I was in Polygyros, a townlet of about 60 inhabitants perched high up in the mountains, It had a pretty church and town square with trees where I had found shelter under. On seeing me there, a couple sitting under their porch waved at me to come and sit with them so I approached.

They offered me coffee and a chat in very rudimentary English with the man (who was a retired sailor) until their teenage son showed up. He was more proficient that his parents which enabled us to have a more complex conversation about me, them, Greece, Canada and what I had to do with all of this. Having finished my coffee I stood up to leave; they had offered me food several times, which I had had to decline. It was getting late (19h00) and I wanted to make it to Igoumenitsa before nightfall. Then the son told me that his mother wanted very much to cook me something and that it would be rude not to accept. I yielded, sat back down and moments later, had an omelette, a salad and some bread in front of me, all coming (except the bread) from the garden and chicken coop they had in the back. Delicious.

The remainder of the road took time as it was a succession of hairpin turns with patches of gravel here and there. I passed many timeless Greek villages, cows, goats, old women sitting by the side of the road. Beautiful.Once I had reached the principal road I was aiming for, I told myself that this little excursion in the back country was worth it and that I’ll have to try it again. Late on time, part of the way to Igoumenitsa was done in the dark, with shitty headlights and a dirty helmet visor. Dangerous. After a bit of searching, I managed to negotiate myself a room at a decent price and stayed there to write and to rest. Igoumenitsa, a port town, did no seem to have a lot to offer.

August 4, 2015August 9, 2015

Conquering Greece – Day 2 : Nikiti to Florina

Weather: Cloudy
Departure: 14h00
Arrival: 20h30
Date: 01/08/15
Distance: 360km

The night had been so hot I had trouble sleeping and would wake up intermittently drenched in sweat and grasping for air. That being said, it was extremely nice of Félix to have given me a place to rest. So when morning finally came, I made my way to the dive shop, signed the paperwork got my equipment and departed again to the dive site: a shore dive in a camping site that is owned by the Bulgarian Orthodox church.

Underwater, it was nothing very different than the other dive I had done in the Mediterranean: weeds, soft corals, sponges and small fishes. Thankfully though, the other guy on my team had a good level so we decided to spice things up with a “free fall” jump from the top of a wall at 12 meters of depth down to the bottom at 30, a huge sand plain. In the course of the dive, we crossed three very apparent thermoclines and went from a top water temperature of nearly 30C to 15C at the bottom.

Out of the water, I packed my things quickly and jumped on the bike to try and make it as far as possible. Edessa was my objective. Except for the part where I cut through the mountains around Polygyros, the road was uninteresting. Boring roads have an advantage, you go fast on them. Their accessibility and efficiency makes them preferred trade routes, which has the consequence of attracting businesses who congregate on their side. However, Greece’s economical situation being what it is, lots of them have closed shop and left vacant the building they once occupied. Added to that, the government, lacking the funds to properly keep nature at bay, has let the roads become overgrown, hiding road signs and lampposts in dense green foliage. This and the fact that it was Saturday all contributed in making the outskirts of cities look as if they came straight out of a post-apocalyptic future. No one in sight, nature retaking control, old abandoned vehicles and stray dogs. I was a lone ranger traveling the country in search of redemption.

Since I was making good on time, I changed plans and pushed my day’s objective 100 km further to Florina, a city at the very north of Greece and some kilometers from the border with Macedonia. As I was going up the mountains, the view got nicer and even with a forced stop due to scattered thunderstorms, I arrived in Florina with a bit of daylight to spare. Exhausted, I settled for the first affordable hotel, dropped my things and grabbed a gyros. That day, I had only eaten two cans of coke, three slices of bread and bag of chips. Amazing how the body behaves differently when kept on adrenaline. Anyway, Florina appeared to be a nice and lively small city, with restaurants and bars full of people. Despite the grim economical outlook, the Greeks keep on living.

While sitting in the square, I got approached by another traveler looking for conversation. I had planned that night to go back to my hotel room and catch up on my writing, but instead spent hours talking with Alban (from Albania). He was studying in Germany and decided to leave for the summer and hitchhike through Europe. Along his journey he had met refugees from all the wars in the middle east going the other way trying to reach Germany. No writing was done that night.

August 3, 2015August 4, 2015

Conquering Greece – Day 1 : Thessaloniki to Nikiti

Weather: Sunny Departure: 11h00
Arrival: 18h30
Date: 31/07/15
Distance: 260km

Up bright and early, I showed up at the agency and took possession of my new two-wheeled companion on time. I knew the bike was an Honda Varadero 125 and I was pretty excited about it since I had owned one a few years back. I had taken this bike across Europe so I knew very well that despite its small engine, it was capable and comfortable enough for the long journey to come.

She was not in the greatest of shape though, with 75k on the counter and a roughed up body, I quickly noticed that she was an earlier model than the one I was familiar with. A carburated model and a picky one for that matter. Nevertheless, once the engine got warm, everything was fine so I took off, made a stop at a motorcycle shop to buy gloves and hit the road.

For the first couple of hours, progress was slow. I was taking back country roads, signage was poor and the riding (at 38C) was far from enjoyable. I was actually starting to wonder if there would be anything to write about this day.

And then I crashed.

I was following the highway on a service road in a bad state of disrepair, but at least there was no trafic to deal with. I went up a steep hill and as soon as I was on the other side, I noticed to my horror that the road about 50 meters down was completely flooded and proceeded to do an emergency braking procedure. I had so little distance that I applied maximum pressure, but due to the gravel on the road and the downhill slope, the bike started to slide. I released and hit the brakes again. More sliding. Soon, I lost control and dropped the bike while both she and I continued sliding for a couple more meters. her on the right side, me on the right knee. We managed to stop ten meters short of the river. I got up, swore profusely, made sure nothing was broken (on me) and got the bike up on its stand. My jeans were torn and exposing a pretty deep gash on the right kneecap, my left calf was scratched all over but otherwise, I was ok. The motorcycle got out with a bent brake pedal and a scratched fairing but was in working order.

Not bad I thought after having calmed down a bit. I took a glance at the river. It appeared deep. Too deep to ford and anyway, I was going too fast. If it was not for my fall, I would have most likely crashed in the water and ruined the bike for real. Going down in this case was the best option.

I normally would have stayed longer to collect my thoughts and maybe take a couple of pictures for posterity, but the sun was pounding on me and the air was barely breathable. I had to get the wind going again. Some kilometers later, I finally found a bit of shade and stopped to have a cigarette, tank my water canteen and treat my wounds. Was a fall really the only course of action I thought? In this situation, yes. But a good driver will simply never get himself into that sort of mess in the first place. This accident was avoidable. My mistake had been to assume that the road was fine on the other side of the hill. Never make assumptions I reminded myself, that’s one of the key principles of defensive driving.

Slightly mad and still shaken, I made it for the highway and in little time reached the dive shop in Nikiti. Everyone was out diving, so I refilled on water, ate some sandwiches. Decided on not letting this incident ruin my day of riding, I jumped on the bike and headed for the peninsula. The road was excellent and the views magnificent, hairpin turns in mountains and slaloming bends along the coast. This 2 hour ride brought back the peace in me.

Once back in Nikiti, I entered the shop and got annoyed looks from what appeared to be the owners. They knew about my arrival but their welcome was anything but warm. I inquired about a room and got a rude reply that the cheapest option was 30 Euros. Expensive but given the location, I could not hope for anything more affordable. Félix, a French instructor that worked there offered to take me to the house where the room was, informing me while walking to the car that the owners were Bulgarian which explained their apparent rudeness while in reality they were being friendly.

Once there, I was informed that there had been a misunderstanding and that the room was occupied. This greatly compromised my stay here as I had check on the web and there was nothing below 80 Euros in this resort town (popular with Bulgarians and Serbians). Félix right away understood the situation I was in and kindly offered me a place in his tiny apartment, which I promptly accepted under the condition that the beers would be on me that night. It had been a while since he had had someone to speak French with so I think for that reason alone he would have appreciated my company, but since we shared many common interests, we got along great.

Earlier today, I had seriously considered the idea of driving back to Thessaloniki and return the bike, but I don’t yield to fear, it’s just there to be overcome.

August 2, 2015August 4, 2015

Conquering Greece – Intro

It had been a while since I last went on an adventure riding trip. I was overdue for some motorcycling around. Going to Greece was an excellent opportunity to get my fix. I knew the countryside was full of beauty and there was no better way to check them out than with my own set of wheels and at my own pace. Greece is famous for its islands and apparently they are a must see, but they’ll still be there for the several decades older version of me to enjoy. For that matter, most travellers I encountered were heading there, which further motivated me not to follow them and go my own way.

The plan almost fell through. In a great spur of wisdom, I had decided not to book the bike in advance in spite of now being the high season. The result was that I was left hanging in Athens. There was only one rental agency for motorcycles there and all they were offering me was a large bike at 80 Euros a day with a 250 km daily cap on distance. As experience has shown me, that is not nearly enough, but more importantly, if I’m going to be paying this much money for a bike, I’ll ride it until I can no longer feel my ass.

Luckily, Thessaloniki, the country’s second largest city had an agency and through them I managed to book an Honda Varadero 125. Not a powerful bike by any standard, but roomy and comfortable. Also a machine I was extremely familiar with, since I used to own one.

A look at Google maps back home had indicated that Greece was very mountainous. On closer inspection of a map I had bought in Athens for the trip, I confirmed that this was indeed the case. Some section of roads that the makers had deemed worth driving through were highlighted on the map and most of them were north and west of the country.

That’s the direction where I decided to head. With a full week of riding ahead of me, I’ll have time to improvise the rest.

August 2, 2015August 4, 2015

Athens, Greece

I had not reserved any hostel but had some marked on a map I printed off the web. Option A was full, so I had to resort to a 45 minute walk to option B with all my gear right in the middle of an Athenian summer day, which in the process forced me to revise my previous definition of “hot”. Luckily, they had a dorm bed for me, with A/C. After a massive nap to ward off the effects of a sleepless night aboard a plane, I set out on foot to explore the city, first climbing mount Lycabeus to get a nighttime view of the city while sipping on a Greek beer: life is not so bad…

The stadium where the first Olympic games where held

Walking around is pretty much all I did during my time in Athens, in the day and at night with a beer in hand. There is loads to see and learn about, but it was high season and everything was seriously crowded. Athens, in the likes of Rome, has the vast majority of its attraction and tourist districts concentrated within a square kilometer or so. Other city in the world will get more visitors, but here, the concentration of selfie stick and sun umbrella weaving individuals gets to extreme levels. I’ll gladly spend an afternoon looking at rows and rows of Greek vases, but not if I have to wait one hour in queue and not with masses of tour groups clogging every passage.

The Acropolis, under never ending restoration

I did see the acropolis, because I had to and for the occasion got up extra early to get a headstart on the swarms but otherwise all I did was roaming around in the cooking heat of the city, checking out the Athenians living their lives and drinking extreme amounts of water while barely going to toilet.

Abandoned and foreclosed buildings were abundant in the capital so I absolutely had to do a bit of urban exploration. My visit to the derelict “Peace and Frienship Stadium“, home of the Olympiacos basketball club, turned out to be the highlight of my stay. That day, I had visited the Acropolis in the morning and had taken the metro to Piraeus to walk around the famous port, which was nothing like I had hoped it to be and overall a huge disappointment. On my way back to the metro station, I decided to cut trough was appeared to be a park, but was in reality leftover sport facilities from the 2004 summer Olympics that the Greek could just no longer afford to maintain. I like a bit of urban exploration. There in the background the stadium was standing and I thought it must have suffered the same fate at its neighboring buildings, which made it a prime candidate for a bit of trespassing. It looked abandoned alright, doors were bolted shut, every surface had a graffiti, in the stadium were soda machines displaying advertisements from the mid 2000’s and a group of homeless had set up camp in the stadium’s bar, which looked like it had been the scene of a recent terror attack.

I tried every spectator entrance but no luck, they were all padlocked from the inside. After a while, I had given up and started my walk to the metro station when I noticed an inordinate amount of cars were parked in front of a service entrance and people were going in an out. Maybe they were just providing minimal staffing to the facility before it finally gets demolished? The entrance was guarded by a couple of dudes to which I had originally planned to politely ask if I could see the inside but the quick glance they gave me was enough to convince me that they did not give a gyros about my presence.

Awesome. I walked around until I found the staircase to the stadium itself and spent a good amount of time just walking in this very large enclosed space. It’s a weird feeling to be alone in a place that is normally crowded with other humans. Sounds like the wind, the birds knocking on the windows, the structure creaking, all echoing in this massive room for only my ears to ear. On the way out, a man gave me a suspicious look but on noting that I was heading for the exit, he did not bother to question me. The men at the entrance were still busy watching YouTube. Upon taking not the of ads promoting the team’s Facebook fan page, I rightly came to the conclusion that in spite of looking like it was bound to imminent demolition, the stadium was very much in operation, just under staffed and under maintained.

That night, nothing was going on at the hostel’s bar so I picked up my book, went to Syntagma square (where the protests usually happen) and read about astronomy (black holes) for a while, with a sense of having had a fulfilling time in this city. Athens was sort of how I expected it to be. Very much a European capital but with a more chaotic and messy touch. The price of everything I had to purchase (especially food) made me wonder how the Greeks could actually afford to live in their own capital but satisfied with my time there, I was nonetheless eager to leave it for something different. Next destination: Thessaloniki, where I will start my Greek adventure on two motorized wheels.