June 2018 Distance: 4700km Vehicle: VW Caddy
Not owning a two-wheeled vehicle as of the end of 2017 left us with just one option for the summer of 2018: to drive there with the only vehicle we owned. Not owning a bike was not an excuse not to implement the usual trip down south. This time we had much more space to our disposal so we didn't have to keep our personal belongings down to the space of 1 pair of underpants. Whis time we had a whole bus at our disposal that had enough space to accommodate a large urangutan's family in it. Another reason was that I was slowly getting fed up of weather changes that reminded the mood-swings a woman gets on her menopause (blaming the hormones, not the woman herself). Driving this stretch of tarmac, which seems pretty small if you look at a world atlas, one would be in awe in how many surprises the weather can hit you with, when exposed to the elements. Driving in a car would mean flip-flops and shorts while driving and temperature controlled by the push of a button. We truly hope that this would not act as a deterrent from future trips on two wheels, which always sound more adventurous.
We set off in the last week of May and planned to travel for 3 weeks. The yellow-submarine was packed with matresses, sleeping bags, climbing gear and kite gear. The trip started by leaving work on a Friday and driving straight down South to Lugano.
We set off in the last week of May and planned to travel for 3 weeks. The yellow-submarine was packed with matresses, sleeping bags, climbing gear and kite gear. The trip started by leaving work on a Friday and driving straight down South to Lugano.
Free camping in Lugano
After leaving work on a Friday we headed straight south to Lugano. This is where we spent the night. A captures this great pictrue the morning after.
Lugano free camping, coordinates: 45.9595, 8.8796
The next day (Saturday) we drove to Ancona and cought the ferry at 18:00 direction Patras. Arriving at Patras the next day (Sunday) at 14:00 we were hit by the blazing sun in this corner of southern Europe. The sun was blinding after surviving the harsh Zurich winter. Greece greeted us with blue skies which lasted untill the end of the trip, except for a minor drizzle which was necessary for removing dead mosquitos from the windscreen. After a two hour drive out of Patras we were in Mycenae, a place which my last visit occured 26 prior to this one: At that time I was unwillingly forced at gun point by my parents as no kid wasnts to see a boring pile of dusty old stones (seriously, why do parents do this?!). This time I visited Mycenae with much more interest and understanding that it was not just a pile of dusty old stones stones. Timing was perfect as the place closes at 20:00 and we arrived at 19:00.
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After that we drove to Nafplio, the first capital of modern Greece. 5km to the South is Karathona beach which is where we spent the night under the stars, making it the first night in our hippy-bus on this adventure.
Monday greeted us with the sound of buzzing cicadas, a great way to start the day. We headed South straight to Leonidio.
Monday greeted us with the sound of buzzing cicadas, a great way to start the day. We headed South straight to Leonidio.
Leonidio, after Kalymnos island, is the new Mecca for climbing in Greece. For keen climbers this is definitely a place to visit. We climbed for the next 3 days untill our fingers bled. Although not the best time to visit this place, as its biggest wall faced south i.e. towards the sun, it was still a mesmerising place not to be missed. For keen climbers most crags lie in the sun, meaning the best time to climb here is from October to April. Being there in the end of May restriced us to the areas lying in the shade. There were still more than enough routes to climb during our short stay. If you do visit Leonidio definietly get your hands on the guide book and enjoy amazing climbing routes, where access to the routes and grades are explained in great detail. We managed to climb in the following sectors:
Day 1: Crag Theos. Route 7a Ace of Spades
Day 2: Crag Hada. Route 7a Sokolatina?
Day 3: Crag Mars. Route 7a Yoko M-ono
For the summer months the following crags lie in the shade, in Leonidio (list-numbers same as guide book):
Day 1: Crag Theos. Route 7a Ace of Spades
Day 2: Crag Hada. Route 7a Sokolatina?
Day 3: Crag Mars. Route 7a Yoko M-ono
For the summer months the following crags lie in the shade, in Leonidio (list-numbers same as guide book):
Crag Name |
Shade after |
Routes |
Parking gps |
Approach |
Stars |
1.Nifada |
all day |
6a to 8a |
37.1401N 22.7485E |
19km from Leonidio / walk 20mins |
3* |
5.Skiadaniko |
after 14:00 from route > Nr. 26 |
5b to 7b |
37.1493N 22.7683E |
walk 30 mins |
2* |
8.Hada |
after 12:00 |
6a to 8b |
37.1645N 22.81E |
walk 30 mins |
3* |
9.Saint Nicholas Sintza |
before 15:00 on left valley after 15:00 on right valley |
6a to 8a |
37.1475N 22.8192E |
walk 10 mins |
2* |
10.Aresos |
after 13:00 |
5b to 6b |
37.1732N 22.8458E |
walk > 30 mins |
1* |
11.Twin Caves |
after 14:00 from route > Nr. 11 |
5c to 8b |
37.1748N 22.8409E |
10 mins |
2* |
13.Kokkinovrahos Megakannte |
after 15-16:00 |
6c to 8b |
37.1547N 22.8549E |
10min + abseil! |
0* |
14.Mars |
after 12:30 |
6b to 8a |
37.1694N 22.87E |
30 mins |
5* |
16.Theos Pilar |
after 13:00 |
5c to 7a |
37.1685N 22.8867E |
walk 30 mins |
2* |
17.Sabaton |
after 10:00 |
5c to 7b |
37.1703N 22.898E |
walk 15 mins |
4* |
Entrance to Leonidio crag: Mars The Red Rock
After three days in Leonidio climbing was not over. It was now time to visit the next famous crag, Kyparisi.
Crag: Kyparisi
Kyparisi
At Kyparisi crag we noted a route for next time:
nane: 7a Born to lose
we noted another route called "Alex's route" which we noted, whispered to ourselves "see you next year" and headed south.
we hope to be here some day and clime some nice routes
At Kyparisi crag we noted a route for next time:
nane: 7a Born to lose
we noted another route called "Alex's route" which we noted, whispered to ourselves "see you next year" and headed south.
we hope to be here some day and clime some nice routes
Here are the crags near Kyparissi:
Crag Name |
Shade |
Routes |
Parking gps |
Approach |
Stars |
1.Kapsala |
after 11:00 |
6a to 7b |
37.0365N 22.992E? |
15km N from Kyparissi / walk 20mins |
2* |
2.Kastraki |
untill 13:30 |
- |
36.97N 22.991E |
- |
- |
3.Watermill |
after 12:00 |
6a to 7b |
36.9574N 22.986E |
walk 5 mins |
- |
4.Playground |
after 13:30 |
5b to 6b |
36.9542N 22.991E |
walk 5 mins |
0* |
5.Babala |
after 13:00 |
6b to 9a |
37.1732N 22.8458E |
walk 45 mins |
- |
6.Psilovrachos |
after 14:30 |
6c to 8a |
36.9217N 23.008E |
5 mins |
- |
7.Jerome's House |
after 12:00 |
5c to 7b |
36.9174N 23.0033E |
5mins |
- |
8.Stavros |
after 14:30 |
6b to 7a |
36.9156N 23.0034E |
5 mins |
- |
9.Vlychada |
until 13:00 |
3b to 7a |
36.8593N 23.0382E |
1min |
- |
We didn't have time to climb any routes in Kiparissi, as the sun was setting. We therefore drove south to Fokiano, a very picteresue beach, and taverna, and the perfect place to get a night's rest. Ca. 10km South of Fokiano there is a crag called Kapsala, which lies in the shade after 11:00. This meant that we could dip in the sea in the morning and enjoy a lazy breakfast before heading to the rocks.
Fokiano beach
After a day's worth of climbing in Kapsala we headed for the village of Kiparisi. Being quite dead from climbing every day we only wanted to look at the crag and its routes. We noted a project for next year called "Alex's route", see you in 2019, we whispered to ourselves, and set off to Monemvasia.
After a day's worth of climbing in Kapsala we headed for the village of Kiparisi. Being quite dead from climbing every day we only wanted to look at the crag and its routes. We noted a project for next year called "Alex's route", see you in 2019, we whispered to ourselves, and set off to Monemvasia.
crag: Kapsala
We tried a route called ? 7a
After a day's worth of climbing in Kapsala we headed for magical Monemvasia.
After a day's worth of climbing in Kapsala we headed for magical Monemvasia.
Monemvasia Castle & Rock
We had planned to take the ferry from Neapoli, 40km South of Monemvasia, and head to Crete via the islands of Kythira and Antikythira. At 12:30 the ferry left Neapoli and reached Kythira at 14:00. We now had 7 hours to kill before the next ferry to Kissamos, Crete. We spent the time in Agia Pelagia and time just flew. That's when the adventure started: the 21:00 o'clock the ferry arrived a bit late and we were told that one of two engines was out of order. Having only one engine meant that it could not steer properly so it did three unsuccessful attemts to dock, only managing to dock on the fourth attempt. This meant that the schedule would be cancelled. Crete was just 80km away but there were no ferries crossing for at least 4 days. After docking, all the passengers disembarqued, and the ferry left straight to Piraeus for repairs. We have always had bad luck when it came to ferries, that beeing usually the odd strike, but this was on a different level. There was no other way but to take a ferry back to mainland, drive back North, head to Piraeus, and take a ferry from there to Crete. That would have meant hours of driving and arriving in Crete 2 days late for a 3 day stay. This was not the plan. A very heated argument broke between the captain and the passengers who remined all of us that a greek tragedy was indeed originally from Greece. The captain, an obnoxioius obese monstrocity, his belt wrapped around his waist and I could swear that if you removed it, it up it would stretch at least 2 metres in lenght, was trying to explain the situation. I swear he was the human depiction of Wimpy from Popeye! Captain vs. passengers put on their war masks and prepared for a never-ending heated verbal battle. The most involved were 5 fellow passengers who were on their way back to Crete from a motorbike trip, and one couple on a moped. They were all trying to dock in Crete the next day so they could show up at work. This was not happening for now. All trying to find a solution by shouting at each other at the same time looked that this verbal war was going nowhere. The options they suggested were endless: take a cargo ferry that is used for carrying petrol and sail back to Neapoli, but the captain insisted that no passengers were allowed on that ferry by law. Put the motorbikes on the cargo ferry and take another small boat across to the Peloponese for the passengers. Not possible because the government needs to stamp and approve any trip taken on a private ferry. All could embarque the petrol-cargo ferry and go across at "our own risk" said one guy only to be laughed at that this was not possible. The 5 bikes were willing to be dropped off at Neapoli and drive the 320km to Athens to just about make it to the ferry from Athens to Crete the next day. The captain was asked "how long does the trip take from Neapoli to Athens" to which he confidently answered "I have done it in 2 hours!" ok you must be having a lough. To that time one of the bikers said "you expect the couple on the moped to drive 320km in 2 hours!" and another heated argument broke out. Numerous other options were laid on the table and all of them had a small complication with the law or logistics/physics/nature. A passenger mentioned again the option of calling for a new schedule to which the captain agaid said that every schedule needed government approval, and proceeded in calling the ministry of transport on speaker mode on his phone to prove to everyone that he was right. More heated arguments broke out. It was now approaching 01:30 in the moring. We decided to ditch the whole scene and retrieved into our cosy hippy bus. We would sort out everything the next morning. It was clear that we were not going anywhere tonight. We went to bed and let the whole situation to rest. The next day we were told that the bikers had left on a very early fishing boat and that their bikes were transferred at 3 in the morning on the cargo ferry. They had a very late ordeal which thankfully we did not have to go through. Thank God the dust from yesterday's war had settled.
Murphy's law had stiken again, but that did not kill our spirits. We decided to avoid visiting Crete since we were running out of days after this verbal war, and continue climbing on the nearest crag in the Peloponnese. Visiting Crete was striked off the list and "discover new crags" wes added. The next ferry off Kithera island was at 14:00 the day after the ordeal, which would take us back the way we came from, to Neapoli. This delay gave us the opportunity, while waiting for the ferry, to visit one more beach in Kithira which turned out to be the most mesmerising of them all, called Avlemonas.
We had planned to take the ferry from Neapoli, 40km South of Monemvasia, and head to Crete via the islands of Kythira and Antikythira. At 12:30 the ferry left Neapoli and reached Kythira at 14:00. We now had 7 hours to kill before the next ferry to Kissamos, Crete. We spent the time in Agia Pelagia and time just flew. That's when the adventure started: the 21:00 o'clock the ferry arrived a bit late and we were told that one of two engines was out of order. Having only one engine meant that it could not steer properly so it did three unsuccessful attemts to dock, only managing to dock on the fourth attempt. This meant that the schedule would be cancelled. Crete was just 80km away but there were no ferries crossing for at least 4 days. After docking, all the passengers disembarqued, and the ferry left straight to Piraeus for repairs. We have always had bad luck when it came to ferries, that beeing usually the odd strike, but this was on a different level. There was no other way but to take a ferry back to mainland, drive back North, head to Piraeus, and take a ferry from there to Crete. That would have meant hours of driving and arriving in Crete 2 days late for a 3 day stay. This was not the plan. A very heated argument broke between the captain and the passengers who remined all of us that a greek tragedy was indeed originally from Greece. The captain, an obnoxioius obese monstrocity, his belt wrapped around his waist and I could swear that if you removed it, it up it would stretch at least 2 metres in lenght, was trying to explain the situation. I swear he was the human depiction of Wimpy from Popeye! Captain vs. passengers put on their war masks and prepared for a never-ending heated verbal battle. The most involved were 5 fellow passengers who were on their way back to Crete from a motorbike trip, and one couple on a moped. They were all trying to dock in Crete the next day so they could show up at work. This was not happening for now. All trying to find a solution by shouting at each other at the same time looked that this verbal war was going nowhere. The options they suggested were endless: take a cargo ferry that is used for carrying petrol and sail back to Neapoli, but the captain insisted that no passengers were allowed on that ferry by law. Put the motorbikes on the cargo ferry and take another small boat across to the Peloponese for the passengers. Not possible because the government needs to stamp and approve any trip taken on a private ferry. All could embarque the petrol-cargo ferry and go across at "our own risk" said one guy only to be laughed at that this was not possible. The 5 bikes were willing to be dropped off at Neapoli and drive the 320km to Athens to just about make it to the ferry from Athens to Crete the next day. The captain was asked "how long does the trip take from Neapoli to Athens" to which he confidently answered "I have done it in 2 hours!" ok you must be having a lough. To that time one of the bikers said "you expect the couple on the moped to drive 320km in 2 hours!" and another heated argument broke out. Numerous other options were laid on the table and all of them had a small complication with the law or logistics/physics/nature. A passenger mentioned again the option of calling for a new schedule to which the captain agaid said that every schedule needed government approval, and proceeded in calling the ministry of transport on speaker mode on his phone to prove to everyone that he was right. More heated arguments broke out. It was now approaching 01:30 in the moring. We decided to ditch the whole scene and retrieved into our cosy hippy bus. We would sort out everything the next morning. It was clear that we were not going anywhere tonight. We went to bed and let the whole situation to rest. The next day we were told that the bikers had left on a very early fishing boat and that their bikes were transferred at 3 in the morning on the cargo ferry. They had a very late ordeal which thankfully we did not have to go through. Thank God the dust from yesterday's war had settled.
Murphy's law had stiken again, but that did not kill our spirits. We decided to avoid visiting Crete since we were running out of days after this verbal war, and continue climbing on the nearest crag in the Peloponnese. Visiting Crete was striked off the list and "discover new crags" wes added. The next ferry off Kithera island was at 14:00 the day after the ordeal, which would take us back the way we came from, to Neapoli. This delay gave us the opportunity, while waiting for the ferry, to visit one more beach in Kithira which turned out to be the most mesmerising of them all, called Avlemonas.
Avlemonas beach on Kythera insland
The ferry from Kythera to Crete broke down, so we had no option but to wait a few hours for a ferry to take us back to the Peloponnese. This gave us an opportunity to discover some more things about the island, as we headed to a village called Avlemonas. We were suddenly very happy to have missed the ferry and discovered this beutiful corner on the island of Kythera.
As they say, every cloud has a silver lining.
As they say, every cloud has a silver lining.
To our good luck we had bought the climbers guide book for all Mainland Greece so we could change our plans in the last minute. The next two days we climbed in Sparta during the day and visited Gytheio and Kalamata in the evenings in order to spend the night by the beach. There is a very hard route in Sparta called "this is Sparta" which is on our to-do list as of now. Gytheio is a town not to be missed. On calm days the water in the marina mirrors the buildings along the promenade.
on the way to Sparta we saw an abandoned VW hippy-bus. As you can see at it's time of glory it was probably yellow, just like my yellow-submarine.
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left: Dimitri's shipwreck coordinates 36.7890, 22.5858 right: Gythio town |
After climbing for two days in Sparta and visiting Gytheio & Kalamata (yes, that's where the olives come from) it was time to say hi to my brother in Athens. He had just become a dad so we were going to see a new family member just a few months old.
We welcomed the new family member (right).
Is this how you hold a baby, frankly I don't know...
Climbing days were over, we packed our ropes away for the rest of the trip, but extreme sports were far from over. It was time to blow the dust off our kites which had been sitting in the car since the beginning of the trip. We arrived in Athens at the beginning of June, said hi to brother, his wife and newlyborn, and headed to Chalkis to surf the waves, taking advantage of thermal winds that blow in the summer. Kiting for the 2018 season was officially inaugurated in Chalkis.
Kite-surfing in Chalkis
After Chalkis we set off for Patras and then for the nearby port-town called Kyllini. There one can enjoy fresh fish at very reasonable prices at one of the many tavernas that line the promenade (location here). There we encountered the most peculiar person I have ever seen roaming the streets of Greece. This person seemed sane, his speech was not slured, his thought seemed coherent, but his behaviour was totally irascible. He kept walking up and down in a staggering manner looking meticulously towards the ground staring through gutters on the ground, behind bushes, under garbage bins, under parked cars etc. shouting "where is it, I have searched everywhere!". He then stumbled across me and said "have you seen it?" only to turn around and continue with his intensive search disappering into the limelight. After finishing our meal we parked in a quiet corner and prepared the mattress in our hippy bus to have a good night's rest. The interesting person showed up out of nowhere, his presence seeming ubiquitous in every moment, and mumbled "I lost my credit card man, have you seen it?", no, said I. "It's not a credit, it's a debit card, with all my savings, I have looked everywhere, I asked my mother, I asked the hotel manager, I even asked Spyros and no one has seen it!", opening his arms and looking into the sky in disbelief every time he said this. OK this guy was truly crazy. I was then told by the waiter of the taverna that this guy, despite his comprehensive speech, is both drunk and the village idiot. I had no idea that one fellow human could be striken by both these curses. That made everything clear, I said, as I wooshed him away while he was looking under our car for his debit card, reassuring him that his card was not there because I had alread checked.
From Kyllini we took the ferry to (spoiler alert) Cephalonia! the next morning. Alexa, still thinking that we were heading to Ancona, was in for a pleasant surprise. She never wondered why the ferry we boarded was not as big as the one we came on (from Ancona to Patras) and why there were no cabbins. When we reached the other side it was finally time to reveal to her that we were in fact on the island of Cephalonia. She was totally oblivious to the trip I had planed ahead. Arriving at the port of Poros we drove West towards Argostoli, the capital city.
From Kyllini we took the ferry to (spoiler alert) Cephalonia! the next morning. Alexa, still thinking that we were heading to Ancona, was in for a pleasant surprise. She never wondered why the ferry we boarded was not as big as the one we came on (from Ancona to Patras) and why there were no cabbins. When we reached the other side it was finally time to reveal to her that we were in fact on the island of Cephalonia. She was totally oblivious to the trip I had planed ahead. Arriving at the port of Poros we drove West towards Argostoli, the capital city.
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After Argostoli we headed to a smal town called Sami. The highlight of this town is the caves of Malissani.
left: Sami right: Melissani Cave, a must see on the island. |
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We then went to the most famous beach, called Myrtos, enjoyed a dip in the cool sea, and slept on the beach despite the "no camping" signs placed in visible locations. In order to live like a gypsy one must act like a gypsy.
Of course there were signs everywhere stating "camping not allowed" so we decided to do exactly the opposite. right: Myrtos beach |
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After Myrtos we headed to Assos, my favourite beach on the island. From there one can walk to Assos Castle which we did in the monging hours to avoid the heat. We then cooled off in the crystal waters of the natural harbour that lay below.
left: Assos peninsula right: assos from the castle |
Assos peninsula with the yellow submarine.
There we sat in one of the tavernas to do what we do best: devour greek food to explosion. In this taverna the owner approached me and made casual conversation about where I live, how come Switzerland, how is it? Why do I drive a yellow car? etc. He then told me that sadly many Greeks leave in search of a better life abroad and that when we go abroad we Greeks take all the good jobs. Everyone, EVERYONE, becomes a scientist. I said that I have heard all that before and that it's a slightly exagurating statement to say that all greeks become scientists, especially when I live abroad and I am sadly not a scientist. He then proceeded into convincing me that this was true and "trust me I know" and "trust me my frrrrrrrrieeeeend" and "trumst me it's in our DNA!" etc... ok ok I've heared that all before mate, I know, we are the cleverest nation in the world, by far... yes, we allknow that. If you think about it, that's exactly how Kim Jong-un sounds when you ask him about North Korea. Furhtermore, IQ, hard work and cleverness have absolutely nothing to do with someone's DNA, it's all a myth. Anyway, the taverna owner wouldn't give up so I just let it be by reassurigly nodding to this crazy, but ofter heard, theory. A few years later someone told me a very good argument to answer to people who believe such things, just ask "tell me one" and then watch who has egg on their face.
After Assos we drove north to the village of Fiskardo. From there one can take a ferry onto the next island, Lefkas.
left: Fiskardo port
left: Fiskardo port
This was another surprise on Alexa's visit to Greece and one more island off the bucket list. There one can visit the waterfalls of Nydri, a site which was extensively excavated by Wilhelm Dorpfeld who spend the last years of his life there and who's tomb also lays in Nydri. From there we continued North and stopped at the famous Agios Nikolaos kiting spot, where we once again blew the dust off our kites and spent the next two days kite surfing. We only surfed for two days, yet the amount of sand that was lying in the car seemed more than the sand in the Sahara. We also learned from our mistakes, as we had left the car-windows open by just 1cm to keep the car cool. 1cm is enough for tonnes of sand to blow in from the wind.
Picture: Sunset on Agios Nicolas beach, after a tough kiting session
Picture: Sunset on Agios Nicolas beach, after a tough kiting session
After half of the Sahara's sand settled into the yellow-submarine, we had to go to the nearest petrol station and spend a good hour hoovering away. Sand goes everywhere. Moral of the story: don't leave your windows open on a windy day.
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Unfortunatley all good things come to an end. We had to wave Lefkas goodbye, crossed the bridge onto mainland and drove north towards Igoumenitsa. We visited the picteresque villages of Parga, Perdika and Bella Vraka beach on the way. Right: Parga village |
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In Igoumenitsa we knew that our holidays were finally coming to a sad end. We embarked the ferry from Superfast Lines with a very heavy heart, which reached Ancona ca. 20 hours later. Of course these were the longsest 20 hours of my life, being stuck on a ferry with not much to do is not my favourite activity. We were back on pizza-land Italy. Zurich lay 700km north, which was the last stretch of the trip before coming home. The day you get back and you know that the next day you have to go to work, and you know that your holidays of the year are over, speaking on behalf of everyone who has a full-time job, is called depression... :-(
...till next year old friends...
Left: taking a nap on the Igoumenitsa to Ancona ferry. What I learnt: don't wear shorts, the air-con is on maximum and it's freezing cold, even for me.
...till next year old friends...
Left: taking a nap on the Igoumenitsa to Ancona ferry. What I learnt: don't wear shorts, the air-con is on maximum and it's freezing cold, even for me.
