| In May 2005 we set off to Greece overland. From
Calais we drove to Rothenburg in
Germany, then south over the Austrian Alps to Slovenia and Croatia. We spent a
couple of days on the Croatian island of Krk,
which we last visited in 1969. From Krk we drove the length of Italy to
Brindisi, where we boarded the ferry for Greece. We stayed a day or two on the
island of Lefkas, then headed south
for the Peloponnese. We stopped to visit the Crusader castle of Khlemoutsi,
then moved on to Pylos in the southwest
of the Peloponnese. We stayed for several days in Pylos and Messini. We
the spent a week or so getting lost on the backroads of inland Peloponnese. Strange
churches seem to be a local speciality: one with 17
oak trees growing out of the roof, one which had been hollowed out of the
inside of a huge (living) plane tree.
We hiked up the upper valley of the
River Styx below Mount Helmos, and down the Vouraikos
Gorge. We headed to the Pindos mountains in the north of Greece, and
revisited the spectacular Vikos Gorge,
which we hiked many years ago. From the Pindos we crossed into Albania,
with some trepidation. Foreign tourists are rare in Albania - we only saw two
other foreign cars the whole time we were there. But we need not have worried.
Everyone was friendly, the young were keen to try out their English and interpret
for the older generation who spoke only Albanian and Chinese. Infrastructure was
a bit lacking, but there were spectacular sights and scenery. Next up was
Montenegro, squeezed between Albania
and Croatia. This country was a real surprise. Most of the country's coast is
taken up by an amazing fjord - scenery that we must return to. Then we returned
to touristed territory - Dubrovnik
in Croatia, then back through Slovenia,
Austria, Germany and France. |