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Greece 2015 (#2)

Part 2: April 30th – May 3rd

By Watracz Is Traveling

Day 5: Metsovo, Perivoli, Samarina, Konitsa

April 30th, 2015

View day 5 route on Google Maps

As the day breaks, I ride to watch the sunrise over the Meteora. It’s warm and the sky is nearly cloudless. A Korean tourists stands next to me at the viewpoint; he took a cab from the town below for the same reasons I got here. I learn that it’s one of the final stops of his two-week trip, and that he’s going home soon. He shows me the photos he’s made so far. They’re great; I especially like the ones he took on Zakynthos, and I can’t wait until I get to the sea.

My camera starts acting up in the middle of the photo shoot. The lens keeps freezing up, and the display shows some weird error code. I spend a while taking off the lens and putting it back on, cleaning the connectors, resetting the settings, but nothing helps. Only when I take the battery out and replace it several times, everything goes back to normal. Luckily, I don’t miss out on the whole sunrise. I just hope I won’t have similar adventures for the rest of the journey.

Pindus National Park

I eat my breakfast back at the camp site and head out just after eight. Going west, I reach the highway leading through the mountains. There are a few tunnels on the road; the longest is almost 3.5 kilometers long. I exit the highway towards the town of Metsovo and arrive at the Pindus National Park (Greek: Ethnikós Drymós Píndou). There is a picturesque road around Lake Techniti Limni Aoou, and I plan to go all the way around it.

I don’t see too many tourists on the way, maybe a few cars every hour. Dark clouds are gathering over the nearby mountains. I’m just hoping it won’t rain!

Some time around noon I stop by a gazebo with a view of the lake and take a break for second breakfast and some chocolate cookies.

Later, my sat nav gets confused and I leave the main road into a forest road, then run out of asphalt. For the next dozen or so kilometers I’m riding on mud, and it also starts to rain. My bike almost falls over on a couple occasions, because my tires aren’t really suited for mud. And I haven’t seen a soul in a long time, to boot.

Suddenly, as I pass one of the forest turns, I see two bears standing in the middle of the road and looking my way. My heart beats faster. I stop the bike, turn off the lights and prepare myself for a quick retreat. For a long while we’re standing there, not moving, opposite each other. I guess they’re not going to attack, so I begin pulling out my camera to take a photo. When I look away, they run off into the woods and disappear behind the trees.

Not far from the town of Flampourari I notice an old, rusted car abandoned by the side of the road. It’s not the first monument of this kind that I see on Greek side roads. I think the locals don’t have a tradition of scrapping their old cars.

The mountain road is really poor. It’s full of potholes, cracked asphalt, branches and stones obstructing it. It’s obvious it’s not a popular destination. The barriers, fence, and shed by the side of the road are completely destroyed. The winter must have been tough here.

Perivoli

I reach the town of Perivoli. A herd of cows crosses the road, so I wait until I can ride among them. Unfortunately, the herd also includes a bull who seems to really like my red bike. It stands in the middle of the road, not very eager to get off it. It keeps looking at me and waggles its tail suspiciously. When I get closer, it starts pawing the ground with its hind leg, looking like it’s about to charge. I hit the gas and quickly ride beside it. The bull turns around and runs after me for a moment, but soon gives up. That was seriously dangerous!

A while later I stop at a clearing, in the shade of a huge tree. It starts to rain, and a rainbow is visible on the horizon. I haven’t seen a gas station for several dozen kilometers, and my tank is getting close to empty. I stop by a store that’s still open, and ask the owner about the closest station which is supposedly about 40 kilometers further. Let’s hope so.

Samarina

As I near the town of Samarina, there is snow on the side of the road, and dark clouds are coming. I’ll probably get caught in more rain on the way, but I’m trying not to jinx it. Next, I ride on a stony and potholed road by the town of Fourka, along the Vjosa river.

Konitsa

Around 20 I reach Konitsa, completely exhausted. I don’t feel like looking for a camp site, so I park on the side of the road and pitch my tent behind a small hill, in a hidden clearing. You can see a panorama of the valley from here, and the pretty sunset is a nice bonus.

Day 6: Vikos Gorge, Monodendri, Kipi, Metsovo, Ioannina

May 1st, 2015

View day 6 route on Google Maps

The bike and the tent are covered in dew, and there’s dense fog over the valley stretching below. It’s good that I didn’t ride any further yesterday, or I would have missed this view. I fill up in Konitsa and set off towards Vikos Gorge, 25 kilometers to the south.

Vikos Gorge

I’m getting on some pretty sharp hairpins. The gorge is more than 20 kilometers long, and is 500 meters deep at its deepest! Very difficult to capture it in a single frame. On your way up you can stop in several spots, and there are benches on the side of the road. I pass by many cars, cyclists, and buses that need two takes to go through the tight turns.

Mikro Papigko

I stop in the town of Mikro Papigko. The small town square has trees surrounded with small stone walls. It’s a good base for hikes to the gorge.

On my way back I stop again to take some more photos. I put the camera on a tripod and tie it to a tree so that the wind doesn’t blow it off the rocks.

Monodedri

The town of Monodendri seems to have nothing interesting to offer apart from its typical stone houses located on the slope one above the other. The streets are empty, the tourists are elsewhere, and the window blinds are shut.

Kokkori Bridge

I get to Kokkori Bridge. The old, arched structure was made in 1750.

Lake Techniti Limni Aoou

I’m almost done with the loop around the national park. I head back through the forest towards Lake Techniti Limni Aoou.

This time I ride around the north side of the lake. The view is amazing and I could stay here for at least a few days.

I reach a spot where a stream cuts through the road. The water flows fast and the concrete bed is probably very slippery. I haven’t taken my bike through streams yet, so I’m a little concerned I can fall over. I ramp my speed up to 50 km/h and go through the water, with huge splatters of water on both sides of the bike. I make it through. It felt great, so I turn back to do it again.

You can probably fish in the lake. I pass by a few cars parked on the side of the road and far off, I can see people with fishing rods standing by the shore.

A few kilometers on, there’s another stream going across the road. I ride through this one several times, too. Clearly, I’m enjoying riding through water way too much.

It’s around 6 pm when I reach Metsovo and look for a camp site nearby. Ioannina, right by the lake, looks like an interesting place. Camping by the water, after two days of riding through the mountains, sounds very promising. I set my sat nav and take the highway south-west.

Ioannina

Ioannina is a large, touristy city and you can feel it even on the outskirts. Lots of traffic, shopping malls, tourists in convertibles, young people on bikes, and a lot of buses. The camping is situated in a perfect spot, close to the city center and the main streets. I register at the reception desk, pay up, put up my tent by the water, shower, plug my phone to the lighter socket for the night, and fall asleep, totally pooped.

Day 7: Klisoura, Ioannina

May 2nd, 2015

View day 7 route on Google Maps

The bike won’t start in the morning. I guess it’s because of the phone I left plugged in overnight. Luckily, I have a charger, and there are electrical sockets by the tent. When the battery’s full, the bike starts on the first try. I’m approached by another camper who asks me if everything’s all right. We talk for a bit, and then I head further south, towards the town of Ambrakia.

Sadly, my luck doesn’t last. 40 kilometers later the bike’s engine stops right before a turn. I quickly squeeze the clutch, trying to roll as far as I can. I stop by the road and push the bike to the other side, to a restaurant’s parking lot. Looks like it’s not the battery after all. My money’s on the voltage regulator or the alternator. I do have a spare regulator with me, so I’m hoping that’s the culprit.

I unscrew the fairings, take out my voltmeter and call my mechanic in Poland. We check all the wires, and it turns out one of the phases on the alternator is burned out. I switch out the regulator with the spare, maybe it’ll help. I take out the battery and plug it into a socket in the restaurant, thinking on my next steps. I guess all I can do is go back to Ioannina and look for a mechanic who can help me fix this, since I can’t continue my journey like this.

As I enter the city, I look around for garages. It’s a Saturday, and it’s a long Labor Day weekend, too. I manage to find a car mechanic, next door to a car painter who also owns a motorbike, a beautiful, white Suzuki 1300 Hayabusa. We’re looking for an alternator on some Greek eBay, but there are no parts like that. The car painter gets me in touch with a mechanic who’s garage should be open on Monday morning, and he ensures he that guy will fix my bike for sure.

I go on, and stop by a Lidl to do some shopping. I chat up the owner of an Aprilia scooter about a garage that might be open today, but the man doesn’t know English, so I don’t learn anything.

I ride all around the city, and finally come across a motorbike salon selling KTMs and Aprilias — naturally, it’s closed already. As I go back to the camp site, I notice the Moto Labridis motorcycle garage, still open, with a dozen bikes parked in front. Great! I stop right there, talk to the owner, and we agree that I’m going to drop off the bike on Monday morning for an express repair. The camp site is barely 500 meters from the garage, so I’ll be able to just walk back.

Back at the camp site I meet two motorbike groups. We hit it off quickly, and the larger group invites me for a barbecue and beer. We meet at the camp’s gazebo, and talk into the night about our various motorbiking adventures. When we run out of the first round, we go shopping and buy out almost all the beer in the closest store, so we have enough brew for everyone. After a week of eating nothing but sausages, cookies, and sandwiches, the barbecued meat is heavenly. I tell the group about my alternator troubles, and in return I hear about how they came here from Germany, and an almost-new BMW broke down three times on the way, and they had to call a tow truck each time. Compared to that, my 15-year-old Aprilia isn’t bad, it seems.

Once we run out of beer, one of the guests pulls out something like moonshine… A little after midnight we’re all well lit, and go to bed. My head’s going to kill me in the morning.

Day 8: Amfithea, Ligkiades, Dodoni, Ioannina

May 3rd, 2015

View day 8 route on Google Maps

Rays of sunshine wake me around 11. My head’s still buzzing, and my throat’s parched. I leave the tent to get some fresh air and grab my breakfast. The rest of the group is also slowly coming to, packing up their tents, and getting ready to go. I charge my battery and in the afternoon I head out to sightsee.

The other side of the lake is where two mountain-side towns are located: Amfithea and Ligkiades. I pass them by and reach the end of the road, barred by a gate with a fence all the way around.

On my way down, I stop several times to take photos. You can see the entire lake, the city on the opposite shore, and the mountains around it.

I pass a cluster of antennas and transmitters. I guess it’s a radio station; it looks deserted. There’s no one around but me and a shepherd looking after some sheep.

In the middle of the lake sits and island and the town of Nisos Ioanninon. I ride down in neutral, to spare the battery as much as possible.

In the morning I heard from my camp site friends that the ancient ruins of Dodona are located nearby and definitely worth visiting. It was the seat of the second most important, and the oldest, Greek oracle and a temple of Zeus. I set up my sat nav and head to the ruins.

On the highway my bike begins to sputter and I need to pull over on the side of the road. I check my voltage, and it’s pretty low in the battery. I can’t see a place where I could charge it up anywhere near, and the highway is fenced off by barriers. Just great, I’m stuck. I let the battery rest a while, and eventually I manage to start up the bike and get to Dodona. Phew.

Dodona

There’s a restaurant right next to the ruins. I take out my rectifier, the battery, and use the kitchen socket to charge it up. Time to go sightseeing.

Only two people are visiting the ruins apart from me. It doesn’t seem to be much of an attraction for tourists. And on top of that, there are repairs going on, and a huge yellow crane is standing by the structures. The guide points out we shouldn’t leave the marked paths, because they have a snake problem here.

You’re not allowed to set up a tripod when visiting the ruins, and the guide won’t take a photo of me. We’re the last group and I suppose he’s tired after a whole day of work. When I come back to the restaurant, the sun is already setting beneath the horizon. I put in the battery that was charging for maybe half an hour, hoping it will hold all the way. I need to ride fast, because I can’t use my headlights, in case I drain the battery, so riding after dark is not an option.