On The Road

I let the Zumo pick a secondary road through the mountains north of Igoumentisa. It was a fantastic ride. No cars on the road, just the odd cow, sheep, or dog. When I passed through a small village with a couple of restaurants I decided to stop for a late lunch. My question for a menu was answered with a grand tour of the kitchen. It then turned out that Mama spoke German and all was well after a nice meal and a Cafe Frappe.

Just at the start of the road I saw a guy on a smallish, probably 125cc bike with a ton of luggage and a small puppy peeking over the handlebar. This guy was obviously on a longer trip and I would have loved to talk to him. We exchanged greetings but unfortunately he didn’t stop. In fact, he looked pretty miserable. I would soon find out why. As I headed up the pass I soon find myself in thick fog. There was plenty of snow at side of the road too and the temps were way down. Time to crank up the heated grips again.

I rolled into Kastraki at the foot of the Meteora monastaries just before sunset. After setting up my tent and taking off the luggage I went for a great sunset ride around the monastaries.

No cars on the road, just cows

Nice curvy road

Lake near Ioannina

At the begınnıng of the Katara pass road

At the beginning of the road heading up to the Katara pass.

Katara Pass. Pretty nasty but I made it through

The little church on the side of the road was a great spot for a break

I have been fascinated by the Meteora monasteries since I saw them as a child in the 1970s, much under appreciated, cinematic masterpiece “Jupiter’s Thigh”. One of the main characters is hauled up to one of the monasteries in a basket. The place just looked very interesting to me as a kid. When I found out that Meteora is near my route I had to visit.

All of the monasteries are now linked by roads and can be accessed via steps that have been added in the last century. So, it is just a matter of finding a parking spot between the coaches hauling in the geriatric crowd and climbing up the stairs. Some of the monasteries are really small and some of them are quite big. The main point of interest is usually the basilica with ancient frescoes depicting martyrs being killed in all kinds of gory ways in great detail.

During the day I met a Swiss guy on a KTM Adventure 950. We had a quick chat and he told me that he got soaked the day before and he needed to dry out his stuff. How lucky was I to stay dry! I had a great time exploring the area.

Looking toward Kastraki

Meteora monastaries

My Ten posing in front of one of the monastaries

Modern day cargo delivery

Basilica inside a monastery

Frescoes adorn the walls inside the basilica

Very spooky

I’m glad I don’t have kitchen duty here

Beautiful spot along a dirt road

At the end of a dirt road, after getting past some aggressive sheep dogs, I found yet another monastery

Today I had to cover quite a few kilometers. I left Kastraki in sunny weather, heading in a northeasterly direction towards the Turkish boarder. I took advantage of some sections of the newly built “Olympic” highway, which didn’t get done until after the Olympics and some sections are still under constructions. The highway is so new that they didn’t even have time to finish the toll system. I drove through a brand new toll plaza near a heavily tunneled section that will sure cost serious Euros in the future. Only once, near Thessaloniki did I have to pay the outrageous amount of one Euro. At some point dark clouds moved in and it looked like a serious downpour was about to happen. I got off the highway asap and took an extended lunch break/nap in a simple taverna in a small village near a lake. After I got back on the road I did get a few drops but my clothes were dried out by the time I reached Alexandroupoli just before the Turkish boarder. They also forgot to build any gas station on the highway and one has to get off to get gas. The gas stations can be pretty far off the highway and the exits are pretty far apart or still under construction. That seems to be a very strange system.

Little gorge along the way

Many of these shrines are along the roads

I waited out a thunderstorm

Greek Rittersport imitation. “Quadratisch, praktisch, gut” is catching on in the rest of the world.

The sun is shining again

The Communists still seem to go strong in Greece, calling everyone to the mayday parade.

Quaint little fishing town along the way