Greece

photo_20150505071721-resized-1024New destination : Greece. Immediatly after the border, we found a place to camp. We set our tent in a field near a river, that allowed us to wash and try our water filter. Fortunately, because the day after we had to ride more than 30 km on a nice road to find a town. Among the few cars seen, numerous belonged to the police. This was premonitory of our tour in Greece.

photo_20150506073839-resized-1024We began our trip with a stop by a warmshower couple who has a bakery in Zitsa. This village is known for its sparkling wine and a citation of Lord Byron. In the bakery, we tasted some very good bread and a lot of good food. Fanchon discovered the work of baker. She had to wake up early but it was not a problem because she could nap in the afternoon like everybody here. We showed our French food by cooking an onion soup and crêpes.

photo_20150508145338-resized-1024On the road again, we aimed at Meteora. In order to avoid to climb a pass at 1700 m, we decided to take the highway. This seems crazy but we did that in Albania where we had no choice and in big cities. On the emergency way we felt uncomfortable, especially in numerous tunnels. We noted that the left way became closed when we arrived. Indeed, a police car with a taxi came to us. We had to pay 35€ for the taxi, we received an admonition from the policeman but we won a day. We take the opportunity to visit Meteors before the rain. The different monasteries are hung in an amazing and wonderful landscape.

photo_20150512174042-resized-1024During our crossing in the country, we saw a big fall of Fanchon but without problems, we changed a brake cable, we visited the archeological site of Delphes and passed 2000 km. We celebrated our performance in a cafe of a little village. Our bill was paid by our neighbor. The purchase of a new cable allowed to meet Marthe and Giovanni. This greek-italian couple welcomed us generously with food and drink when we were waiting for the opening of the bike store after the siesta, at 6 pm.

These nice meetings were unfortunately too rare. We didn’t know where are Greek people, streets seemed empty. We bought our food in numerous LIDL. The dogs were not more than in previous countries but noisier and more aggressive. They were not wild but kept assiduously farms and herds. One night, their barking prevented us from sleeping. Another night, a strong wind woke up us. The day after, it was so strong that it was difficult to go down to the valley.

photo_20150515164421-resized-1024In Athens, everything is crowded. There are lot of cars, people and tourists near the Acropolis. Roads are narrow and often one-way. It’s hard to not lose. We lose! This day, everything was difficult. We decided to take a ferry the same evening. We slept very well on the deck thanks to our camping gear.

Just before the sunrise, we arrived on Chios island. Here among the fields of citrus tree, we could find beautiful houses. The day after, we took another boat to join Turkey. We left Greece on May 15th.

Greece is for us a very nice country with beautiful landscape and remains. However, we found that the atmosphere was a bit “tardy”. This didn’t help to meet and exchange with the population.

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