For future holiday plans I highly recommend the north and west of Greece. With gratitude to Nikodimos for his advice, I went to the Vikos Gorge, Ioannina and cycled down the west coast of Greece to Kalamata via mostly empty coastal roads, family campsites and quiet idyllic beaches. I fell into a rythym of cycling, swimming, stretching on beaches, camping, swimming and cycling again. A few weeks of rhythm and calm to differ from my rather unpredictable and culturally jam-packed cycling schedule.
Vikos Gorge from the Oxia viewpoint. A glorious cycle up to 1200m of elevation. (Was cycling up that hill glorious at the time? Best not to think too hard about it.)The “stone forest” on the way up to Oxia viewpointNot a bad way to wake up. Opening the tent to mist over lake Ioannina. Although surprising for me to be up early enough to see any kind of morning mist… !The French-Italian couple in my campsite who are heading overland to China so that their Panda (featured) can meet a real panda bear. I support any excuse to get travelling!View across to Mitikas townI think this is some kind of clay sedimentary rock formation, but I would like to hear from a geologist to be certain. In any case, the formation is very aesthetically pleasing.The Rio-Antirrio bridge over to the Peloponnese peninsularFamily campsite located on an almost empty sandy beach in west GreeceOlympia, home of many Greek temples and the site of the Olympics during the Classical periodPractising a race start on the 200m running track in OlympiaOne of the best finds when looking for a wild camping spot. A sheltered table to make dinner on which later became my bed. No mounting the tent for me that night!Michael, my Warm Showers host and bike mechanic extraordinaire (Basement Bikes, Kalamata). I stayed with Michael before catching the ferry from his hometown Kalamata to Crete.
