Fraser mentioned that we might hire a car for a couple of days, which we did. It was a nice little Toyota Yaris with air conditioning, which we appreciated as the temperatures here are in the 30s every day now and rising. On day one, we travelled south, across the bridge over the Levkas Canal that usually gives us so much entertainment when we’re on the boat, and all around the island of Levkas. First stop was the Faneromeni Monastery, which has a maritime museum in its basement and a small zoo in the shady woodland alongside its beautiful buildings.
Usually for monastery visits, bare legs are not allowed and there are long skirts provided for women to wear, so we came prepared and I struggled into a long skirt in the car before going inside while Fraser donned long trousers over his shorts (making him look as if he was wearing a nappy!). As it turned out, no one else seemed to bother and we sweated alone while others wandered serenely around in skimpy shorts and bikini tops! The views were incredible from the monastery grounds.
After that, we headed south along the beautiful west coast of the island. A couple of years ago, we sailed up this coastline when the bridge was closed for maintenance, so it was great to see the cliffs from a different angle. We kept stopping at viewpoints, and for coffees (usually accompanied by snacks — goodbye diet!) until we reached the town of Vassiliki on the south coast. We spent some time there investigating its potential as a place to bring Barberry, and trying to remember the last time we’d sailed there (early 1990s).
Since our day, a beautiful marina has been built in the bay, with water and electric points on the pontoons. However, in typical Greek fashion, it remains unused and fenced off from the surrounding harbour. I’m not entirely sure why this happens so much here, but it might be to do with Greek bureaucracy (e.g. no one has signed off on the paperwork yet), or maybe they’re waiting for a contractor to step up to run it. What a waste. Still, plenty of boats still come here and tie up to the harbour wall, which is what we’ll do with Barberry if we visit there.
Next up was Sivota, a place that seems only to exist for boats. The thriller I’m currently writing kicks off in this town, so I used our visit to do some research, reminding myself of the layout and photographing boats so I have a good mental image. Spoiler alert: a boat like the one pictured is stolen by two of my characters when they’re on the run, wanted for murder! We ate yet more food in Sivota, and caught up with a couple of friends who were moored there before heading back north again in time for showers and dinner. The next day we planned to head north to visit the Acheron Springs and some more coastal villages.
We arrived early, just after 09:00, as advised, to beat the expected coach loads of tourists, but we had the place entirely to ourselves. There is a short hike along the edge of the river before you have to start wading, and along the way we saw some beautiful wildlife.
The water was cold, not unexpected, and very fast flowing. I had some ghosts to lay, since a few years ago I was caught up in a flash flood in a similar gorge in Turkey and ended up injuring my neck. This was not quite as fast-flowing as there hadn’t been much rain recently, but it was hard enough to make headway against the current.
We finally reached a section that was too deep to wade, but we’d come prepared, thanks to Google reviews, and were wearing swim stuff beneath our clothes. We’d also brought a dry bag for our phones and the car keys, so we stripped off, bagged everything up, and struck out into the icy current. My only regret is that we didn’t have a waterproof camera with us, because Fraser’s panicky face as he tried to swim doggie paddle while keeping the dry bag held up in the air (we didn’t quite trust it) was hilarious. It took a while to get through the deep sections, as these always came at the narrowest points with the strongest flow, but with a combination of scrambling through rapids and swimming, we went quite a long way before deciding to turn back. Downstream was a lot easier!
Our next stop was Parga, a place that isn’t so easy to visit by boat as it’s busy and frantic with pedaloes and other watersport activities, but the village is absolutely beautiful and a popular holiday destination.
We parked up on the main road and walked down into the town, where we had some homemade ice cream and a cold drink. On the way back to the car, we met a train on the road!
Since we’d come so far north, we decided to visit the village of Sivota which we’d never quite managed to stop at with the boat, and then we went for a nosy at Plataria, which we have visited a few times. Both places have been taken over by a giant Italian ferry company, Grimaldi, and have been well spruced up with lovely facilities and full time mariners to help boats berth. Of course, all this comes at a price, and these lovely little villages, which were once free to visiting boats, are now really expensive. I guess it’s progress.
In Sivota, we saw several sea urchins floating around. I guess they were a casualty of fishing nets. We finally headed back to the boat for a delicious meal in the local restaurant, Celeste, and then made plans for our final day with the hire car. We’d left one of the best til last: the ancient ruins of Kassope.
The site of Kassope shows evidence of settlement since paleolithic times, but the city itself was founded in the mid-4th Century BC and there’s plenty still to see here. We arrived after driving up a mountain through woodland with views across the Ambracian Gulf, then parked up and walked between trees to the ticket office. A friendly young woman took our €5 each (cash only) and warned us that there are snakes in the site, so be careful if we leave the paths. We were probably still within her sight when we branched off into the undergrowth for the first time!
We did see a snake, briefly, but having hiked the North Yorkshire Moors in my youth, I knew to stomp around heavily and stay clear of piles of brush that might hide a sleepy serpent. The Greek venomous snakes in this region are all vipers, not unlike the adders we get in Yorkshire, and they usually only bite if startled. The key is not to stand on one.
A little later, we found a tomb, which Fraser was brave enough to approach only to find the gate locked.
I didn’t fancy the steep steps down, which turned out to be a good call, because right above his head was a network of thick webs:
We saw more lizards and two wild tortoises as well as a possible deer sighting. At first, Fraser thought he’d seen a kangaroo, and unfortunately for him voiced the thought aloud, which is most unlike him. On consideration, he decided it must have been a deer…
The highlight of this site was the theatre. Unusually for these parts, not much reconstruction work has taken place in Kassope, only a retaining wall behind the theatre to protect it from rock falls and floods.
When we finally left Kassiope, the plan had been to walk up to the Dance of Zalongo, a monument to a very sad event, the mass suicide of women and children during the Greek War of Independence. It’s a climb of 410 steps that begins next to the Holy Monastery of Agios Dimitrios. When we parked the car and looked up, we saw that the steps were steep and with no shade available. This was the hottest part of the day, with the car telling us the outside temperature was 40 degrees even up the mountain, also my knees were beginning to complain loudly after hours of scrambling around Kassope, so we decided the monument could wait for another day. It did look impressive though, even from down below, and we should definitively try to visit it in the future if we can.
With time to spare, we consulted the great god, Google, and decided to drive to see the castle at Arta, which turned out to be quite far away and not very impressive, but on the way home we stopped to look at a very pretty bridge.
We were a little sorry to be handing back the car, but it was time for us to start cycling again so Fraser could build up his triathlon training! The next day, we went off in search of cycle lanes a friend had told us about that began at the centre of Preveza and led out to the coast. After some false starts and a short detour to the Saturday Fruit and Veg Market in the town, we finally found the track and followed it out to the beach of Monolithi, the longest beach in the area. We discovered some lovely, shady, freshly built tarmac cycle paths, but in typical Greek fashion these were used as overflow parking once we neared the beach! On the way home, we stopped and bought fresh fruit from a roadside shop and munched on delicious plums instead of lunch (Fraser is not a fan of skipping meals entirely!).
That will do from me. Next week Fraser can tell you about our last few days here in Greece and how we prep the boat to be left until the autumn, when we hope to return again.