Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Mount Olympus Wednesday 14th march
We packed up and headed out for Mount Olympus, the home of the gods of ancient Greece. We arrived much sooner than expected, the roads being more major than previously experienced. However, we had the same problem with locating an open campsite, we followed many signs for camping only to be disappointed to find they were closed. We happened upon one with its gates open and Jon jumped out, they were in fact closed but the owner kindly said we could stay as long as we understood the lack of facilities available. After biting his arm off we manoeuvred into the site and enjoyed the luxury of well and truly having the campsite to ourselves and as an added bonus there was even a play park for the boys!
We took a trip to Mount Olympus. We drove 15km up windy mountain roads, parked up and then proceeded to drag, quite literally, the kids up the mountain footpath. This footpath is hard going with many steep steps and rocky paths; we also had to traverse a few snow-covered paths they were slippery and great fun. Sometimes when you are embarking on an arduous journey with the children you forget to stop looking down and miss the world around you, the whole reason for causing your children so much misery in the first place. When we did remember to pause and look around we were rewarded with deep tree covered gorges below and, despite walking upwards for nigh on 2 ½ hours, ragged towering cliff tops above with the higher peaks covered in snow. The skies were blue, the air was fresh and for the whole 4 ½ hours we spent on the mountain we did not meet another living soul. It was great and the kids only really remembered to moan occasionally!
Meteora Friday 9th March
Fully expecting to be awake half the night, with fear of police, thieves or general trouble makers, we slept like babes and woke in time to see the sun rise up above the hills. We set off early for our trip to Meteora, in central Greece, home to some unique sandstone rock formations (sometimes referred to as suspended rocks) caused by a sea that used to cover these parts 30 million years ago. Looking at the map we estimated a 3 or 4 hours journey. I’m not sure what we were expecting of Greece but driving up and down mountains on windy roads, trailing behind Arctics whilst in the snowy peaks with signs of “beware Icy roads” was not it. The journey was nearer to 6 hours but passed quite quickly due to the beautiful scenery and the concentration required not to send the caravan tumbling down the exposed mountainside.
After our recent campsite experiences we were pleased to find the one we had chosen was indeed open. The campsite is based at the foot of these strange rocks and so we are afforded an up front and personal view of them.
We spent a couple of days meandering around these unique rocks and marvelled at the few homes built into the rock faces and the engineering that must have gone into building the numerous Monasteries on top of these rocks. We ventured into one and had we spoke Spanish one of the Monks would have given us a guided tour, never mind they brought us some Turkish delights and we had a look around. They still had the original winch and net that was used to winch people and supplies up and down the sheer rock face, the boys enjoyed imagining being pulled up in a net.
We spent a pleasant sunny day strolling around the local town of Kalambaka. A shopkeeper, alarmed at the fact that Cadan just had a long sleeved top on and no jumper, came out of her shop and started to pull down his rolled up sleeves and then to confirm our neglectful nature lifted his top and was astounded to find there was no vest. It didn’t help that the other two had jumpers on, but Cadan had insisted he wasn’t cold and didn’t want one. I tried to tell the jumper and coat clad shopkeeper that this weather was warm for us, but she continued to shake her head and point at Cadan. We made a hasty retreat.
Greece Thursday 8th March
That morning another Scops Owl woke us by tooting in the early hours; this did help us set about planning our trip. We had a quick investigation of ferry times and had another look at available campsites in the area of the ferry terminal, the latter was not looking hopeful. At the last minute we decided to try and catch the 11.30 sailing. With a quick scramble to get ready and a 2 hours drive we arrived at the ticket desk. With tickets in hand we were told not to waste time getting to the port as the ferry was nearly ready to leave, we arrived at the terminal where we had to get our tickets stamped and again told to hurry to the dockside whereupon we waited for ½ an hour as the lorries were all loaded on!
Once safely in the boat we were barely out the car before the ferry set sail. We spent the next 7 hours aboard a boat with many truckers and a small play area to entertain the boys. Once the mad rush was over we started to worry about the lack of known Greek, the lateness of the hour, the lack of tea possibilities and the big problem of open campsites. We stopped and asked directions in the port of Igoumenitsa a couple of times and after driving back and forth a few times through the town that seems to share the Italians love of double parking in narrow roads, we finally found the campsite, closed. By this time it was 10pm and we had had enough. Luckily the campsite was at the end of a narrow peninsula and had a little secluded wooded area where we could pull in and experience our first night of “wild camping”. We all had a scraped together snacky supper, Jon rigged up a security device on the door using bungee cords, there really is no end to his talent, and we all fell into our beds exhausted.
San Marco Wednesday 7th March
We decided it was time to head for Greece, to do this we needed to go back to mainland Italy and work our way to the heel. We spent a long gruelling day driving across the bottom of Italy, after having a bad night due to the fluty call of the Scops Owl. Finding campsites open in the south of Italy was proving a bit of a challenge, but phoning ahead we found one that was open, however, when we arrived they told us they were in actual fact closed! Luckily they knew of a campsite at San Marco that was open and was only 8km away. We followed the signs and turned off onto a dubious looking track, after following this track for about 3KM we were becoming nervous about the lack of any camping signs and the impossibility of turning our nearly 13meter long outfit around. We finally came across two big silver gates that were most definitely shut! With much trepidation we rang the button on the intercom and with relief heard a garbled reply and then the gates opened. We jumped back in the car and drove the caravan in before they could change their mind. We were the only ones staying in this fabulous little site and were afforded beautiful views across the surrounding countryside. Our only regret was that we couldn’t stay here any longer as we were just using it as a stop over.
Gole delle’alacantara
With Dizzy back in our possession we made our way to this unique Gorge. The Gorge and excellent rock formations were caused by lava flows many thousands of years previous. Eager to keep our boys walking legs in order we were disappointed that all the walking routes were closed. For a fee of €3 each we could descend the steps to the Gorge itself and then use the lift to come back up. It took a mere 10 minutes to go down and after we viewed the rock arrangements we spied a walkway at the top and decided to ascend the second set of steps rather then use the lift. At reaching the top we saw there were padlocked gates across the walkway. We also noticed the entrance to these set of steps was the “communale” entrance and therefore, free of charge, in the immortal words of Homer and my eldest son “Doh!”
Isola Bella
A secluded bay boasting a little island was the place for us to spend a sunny day by the sea. The boys were able to watch some small pink jellyfish and later watched fish eat them. The only slight downside was due to us needing shorts and sun cream, all of which was in the roof box of the car still at the garage.
Taormina
The square in Taormina overlooks a glorious bay and the sun was shining causing the sea to look like dancing jewels. The town was pretty and picturesque boasting a fabulous Greek theatre with far reaching views of Etna and the dramatic Sicilian coastline. We spent a couple of hours eating lunch and basking in the sun whilst admiring these fabulous views.
Mount Etna
Wednesday 28th February
The campsite we stayed in is pretty much at the base of Mount Etna and as we looked up at the snow topped Volcano we saw white smoke issuing from the top. We noticed that none of the locals were dashing around in an agitated way and trying to leave the island so decided it must be a normal occurrence.
We drove up the mountain in the afternoon. Surprisingly it is quite easy to get lost driving up there and we ended up on the east side of the mountain many hundred of feet away from the top.
The North side of the mountain is a ski resort and at this time of year is also at the bottom of the snow. There was a cable car and chair lifts but by the time we arrived they were no longer taking anyone up to the top. Therefore, again we were thwarted with getting any closer to the top.
We decided to give up and drive back to the caravan, this was easier said then done, Dizzy (the sat nav system – yes very sad we have given our car a name!) directed us down a road that rapidly narrowed and lost any semblance of a road very quickly. The road (I say laughingly) was little wider than the car, we had to fold in the door mirrors and the car was being scratched on each side by the vegetation. Turning around was impossible. We ploughed on thinking it may only be a short stretch because there is no way Dizzy would turn us off a major road onto a track, especially as we had selected “Major Roads” as a route preference. About 500m down the track there was a small drive way, so our options were to try and turn around or carry on for another km down a track that was becoming impossibly narrower. We opted to turn around and successfully negotiated our way back to a major road, although we still got lost several times trying to get off the damn mountain.
On the way down the mountain we stopped next to a lava field so the boys could have a romp and see what volcanic rocks look like. When we got out of the car we could smell burning, not the most reassuring smell when on an active volcano, but it was coming from the brakes, when we had tried to put the parking brake on it made a horrible grinding noise that just didn’t sound good. So the following day Jon phoned Land Rover Assist, we have had to use them twice on this trip and I have to say they have been excellent. They took all the details, contacted the nearest dealer (20 minutes away) and arranged for our car to be collected and for us to be taken to get a hire car, this was all organised within the hour and 2 hours later Jon was back with the hire car.
We have been blessed with fantastic weather, the sun has been hot and the skies have been clear and blue.
Palmi
Sunday 25th February
We drove for 6 hours to Palmi where we stayed in a small campsite with a fantastic view of the sea from our caravan. The following day we drove to Sicily.
Sicily
Monday 26th February
We drove through the pouring rain, sounds familiar, to the ferry port. A quick 30-minute voyage and we rolled off the ferry onto an island drenched with rain. Driving through Messina we quickly discovered; how to use the horn, that traffic lights are merely a suggestion and not a fact and that double parking even in narrow streets and across junctions is perfectly acceptable.
