Tuesday 6th & Wednesday 7th April.
Zacharo to Galova (Hotel Zoe)
We had a bit of a dull day which since we aren’t feeling great isn’t such a bad thing. The car Theo had fixed for us will not be ready until 5pm so there was a bit of hanging around. The reason for this we discovered later was that a cruise ship had arrived and the little hire company was being run ragged by trippers wanting cars to drive up to visit Olympia. Anyway we caught the 3pm bus to Pyrgos which arrived and left at 2.30 (very lucky we were there) as we had a rendezvous outside the bus station with a Fiat Panda. Come the appointed time no sign of a Panda but at 10 past five, one arrived the other side of the road and up a bit. After a few minutes I strolled over to see if it was anything to do with us and was met with a hail of vindictive Greek basically saying she’d been there since 5 and why had we made her wait. Ah well, you can’t please everyone. This was the daughter - the son, father and receptionist were charming!
We headed off south and at about 7pm turned into the little village of Gialova where we found the Hotel Zoe which looked across the bay of Navarino and felt like a place we would definitely be comfortable.
View from Hotel Zoe
Pylos from the harbour
I tried to take a photo of Pylos Castle and found myself sharing the same patch of sunlight as this chap - at least 3 foot long!!
The fortress at Methoni covers at least 200 acres, Churches, mosques, baths; it was all here depending on who was in charge at the time. If interested there is a link to our Picasa web album below this entry which shows lots more photographs.
From there we moved on east across the hills which run north- south like a spine on the fingers of the Peloponnese. After a while we came to Finikounda and the camp site which had been recommended to us by Barry and Margret. It was strange to meet up with people and to see a place about which we had been told, on a rainy day back in Pozzallo. We stopped in the town square in Koroni for a Greek salad and then drove on to Kalamata. The town lies on an enormous plain with yet more oranges and olive groves. We spent a while here as we had to find the station to see if we can get the bikes back from here to Patras. Sadly we are feeling rather robbed as everyone said we would not be able to cycle the coastal route from Zacharo to Kalamata but having done it by car we now feel that we could, however the next stage is a different matter altogether.
We are now in the area known as Messinia, it is beautiful with rolling hills, pretty bays, olive groves, Cypress trees and enchanting villages. It is a good day to be in a car because there is a cold north wind which makes bird watching on the side of the roads quite unpleasant. Eventually we dropped back onto the coast and went in search of some lodgings. We found a hotel which was playing host to the Greek cycling club which we were excited about as surely one of them would speak English and give us some tips as to where to go. Unfortunately there wasn’t one of them over 25, and as we know to an under 25 anyone over 50 is invisible.
As the cyclist’s supper consisted of muscle building carbohydrates and that seemed to be all that was on offer we went next door to the local fish restaurant. Summoned forward to choose our fish from the icy drawer we selected a goldfish and a Black Bream which I could have caught in Poole Harbour. They were tossed onto the scales, weighed in at 0.7 of a kilo (which we thought didn’t sound like a lot once the heads were removed) and we were wacked 50euros for the privilege - ouff – but they were cooked jolly well and we only ate fish out of a sense of duty because we’ve had so much meat recently!!
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Zacharo to Galova (Hotel Zoe)
We had a bit of a dull day which since we aren’t feeling great isn’t such a bad thing. The car Theo had fixed for us will not be ready until 5pm so there was a bit of hanging around. The reason for this we discovered later was that a cruise ship had arrived and the little hire company was being run ragged by trippers wanting cars to drive up to visit Olympia. Anyway we caught the 3pm bus to Pyrgos which arrived and left at 2.30 (very lucky we were there) as we had a rendezvous outside the bus station with a Fiat Panda. Come the appointed time no sign of a Panda but at 10 past five, one arrived the other side of the road and up a bit. After a few minutes I strolled over to see if it was anything to do with us and was met with a hail of vindictive Greek basically saying she’d been there since 5 and why had we made her wait. Ah well, you can’t please everyone. This was the daughter - the son, father and receptionist were charming!
We headed off south and at about 7pm turned into the little village of Gialova where we found the Hotel Zoe which looked across the bay of Navarino and felt like a place we would definitely be comfortable.
View from Hotel Zoe
Pylos from the harbour
I tried to take a photo of Pylos Castle and found myself sharing the same patch of sunlight as this chap - at least 3 foot long!!
From there we headed on south to Methoni which gets its name from the Iliad because apparently the donkeys carrying the grapes to the presses used to get drunk (methoun) on the vapours. The castle here is a ruin but is quite spectacular and at this time of the year the public are allowed to wander at will. It is a real hotchpotch of development having been started in 1300BC and subsequently redeveloped and strengthened by the Venetians, Romans, Turks, Franks, Crusaders and the Venetians again. It was gloriously unspoilt and almost deserted except for a few tourists and a local family gathering Horta. This is served in all the restaurants at this time of year and basically means greens so can be anything from wild asparagus to dandelion leaves. So we are getting our daily ration of iron!
The fortress at Methoni covers at least 200 acres, Churches, mosques, baths; it was all here depending on who was in charge at the time. If interested there is a link to our Picasa web album below this entry which shows lots more photographs.
From there we moved on east across the hills which run north- south like a spine on the fingers of the Peloponnese. After a while we came to Finikounda and the camp site which had been recommended to us by Barry and Margret. It was strange to meet up with people and to see a place about which we had been told, on a rainy day back in Pozzallo. We stopped in the town square in Koroni for a Greek salad and then drove on to Kalamata. The town lies on an enormous plain with yet more oranges and olive groves. We spent a while here as we had to find the station to see if we can get the bikes back from here to Patras. Sadly we are feeling rather robbed as everyone said we would not be able to cycle the coastal route from Zacharo to Kalamata but having done it by car we now feel that we could, however the next stage is a different matter altogether.
We are now in the area known as Messinia, it is beautiful with rolling hills, pretty bays, olive groves, Cypress trees and enchanting villages. It is a good day to be in a car because there is a cold north wind which makes bird watching on the side of the roads quite unpleasant. Eventually we dropped back onto the coast and went in search of some lodgings. We found a hotel which was playing host to the Greek cycling club which we were excited about as surely one of them would speak English and give us some tips as to where to go. Unfortunately there wasn’t one of them over 25, and as we know to an under 25 anyone over 50 is invisible.
As the cyclist’s supper consisted of muscle building carbohydrates and that seemed to be all that was on offer we went next door to the local fish restaurant. Summoned forward to choose our fish from the icy drawer we selected a goldfish and a Black Bream which I could have caught in Poole Harbour. They were tossed onto the scales, weighed in at 0.7 of a kilo (which we thought didn’t sound like a lot once the heads were removed) and we were wacked 50euros for the privilege - ouff – but they were cooked jolly well and we only ate fish out of a sense of duty because we’ve had so much meat recently!!
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