# On way to Greece



## PAT4NEIL

Hello all

Just on the way to Venice to Catch ferry to Greece.



Very hot in Italy, last couple of days at 35C and very humid.


Will post again when in Greece.


Regards Pat and Neil


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## Grizzly

Buon viaggio ( I think...you know what I mean!) Hope all goes well.

It's raining here ...

G


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## JacSprat

Have a great time! I'll be interested to hear what it's like in a proper season rather than January (when I went). 
Good luck adjusting to the road anarchy - cool heads prevail.
Jacquie


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## PAT4NEIL

*In Greece*

Hello just arrived in Greece.

Interesting ferry trip took a while to get on Ferry, because someone drove of the top deck onto the ramp and wrote their car off, they were still in the car as it landed. Fuel everywhere, very hot 38C waiting in the queue.

Met a lovely dutch couple who we wild camped at Plataira with. Today we have driven to Meteora to see the monastries tomorrow.

We are staying at Camping Vrachos in Kastraki Kalabaka, big site with different size plots. Swimming pool and free Wifi.

Having a great time.

On the way up we stayed at the kayserberg french aire 80 plots as it was full.

Regards Pat and Neil


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## peejay

Sounds like you're having a great time, sometimes you can go right off people :lol:

We stayed at Vrachos back in 2002, do you still get a 'free' gift when you sign in at reception? :roll: 
I don't think you will be dissapointed with the monasteries, a truly staggering spectacle and i'm not exagerating.
If you get the time, please do a quick review of the site, it would be much appreciated, i've even supplied the link to make it easier for you :wink: .....

>Camping Vrachos<

Where are you off to next?

Pete


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## PAT4NEIL

*more from Greece*

Hello all

We had a fantastic day at Meteroa around the monastries.

And a fantastic storm in the evening

We have now moved on 235 kilometres to Delphi, and are staying at Delphi camping which has really great views of the corinth Gulf Bay. We are catching a little tourist train tomorrow from the site to Delphi to see the ampithetre and museum. The site is good, restaurant only mediocre, but the views make up for it.

Looks like we are in for another thunderstorm tonight, bit clammy and dark.

Wifi here a bit patchy.
. Pat and Neil

Yes Peejay you do still get free gift from Vrachos and I have left a review of site.


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## peejay

Thanks for that, keep us up to date when you can  

Pete


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## PAT4NEIL

*visiting Delphi*

Visited Delphi today, nice when its finished.

Seriously though, we got there before the hordes of tourists on coaches, and the place was quite magical, beautiful setting and well worth a visit.

Camping Delphi is wonderful, the owners and staff are very friendly and we highly recommend it as a base for Delphi.

The Dutch camping club arrived here in force today, so some of the tranquillity has gone, however still great.

Going either to Athens or Korinth Canal tomorrow, may leave Athens as its quite hot.

Regards

Pat and Neil

Peejay I have sent a review of camping Delphi, first time I have set one up can you check it is okay. We Also have Sat Nav co ordinates for it but have not put them in, so maybe later we can.

Pat


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## peejay

Hi Pat, no problems at all with the site entry, it sounds lovely.

If those aren't the correct co-ords you've already entered then just pm them to me and i'll edit the entry.

Efharisto  

Pete


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## PAT4NEIL

Hello from a very hot Greece.

We stayed at a place just outside Nafplio at Karathona Beach wild camp, large area covered with some trees, the sea was great here and we got to use our Kayak everyday.

On the 3rd night there was a rave going on at one of the bars as the beach and there was a lot of coming and going. A group of youngsters decided to light a fire and have a bit of a party behind our motorhome, we had to move down the road a bit for piece of mind.

We are now at Plata Beach just south of Leonidido staying in a designated private car park for motorhomes. Staying here for 3 nights. All though behind a bar area it is pretty quiet after 7pm, and the sea is right next to us. We also have all facilities apart from the fact its a cold shower, which is okay after being in the sea.

35C today, we are based by the beach and keep going in for refreshing dips to cool down.

Rode up into the mountains yesterday to a lovely village, the roads were very winding but we couldnt stay for something to eat as the Greeks eat late and it would have meant riding back down the winding roads without any barriers in the dark, not my idea of fun.

Moving to Monemvasia tomorrow.

Regards Pat and Neil


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## peejay

Thanks for the update,



> 35C today, we are based by the beach and keep going in for refreshing dips to cool down.


Its raining here in Lincolnshire 

Looking forward to your update on Monemvasia, always wanted to visit but never had enough time.

Pete


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## Lesleykh

Hi,
We were round that way last October and had a fantastic time. We loved the port of Gythio. Very vibrant, lovely seafood (lots of cruise tourists). 

We went round the Mani, which was beautiful, and we plan to go back 
there when we have our motorhome. We were touring in a car and were so jealous of the people doing it in motorhomes. That's what set us off wanting an adventure, which has got as far as applying for redundancy now.

On the route from Leonidi to Cosmas is the monastery at Moni Elenis. It's up in the mountains, but the whole route looked fine for a decent van. Cosmas was a very pretty village with a lively square, high up in the mountains - would be very refreshing after the summer heat.

Then there is Mystras, which was built almost as a sister city to Monemvasia, and is worth a look is you are near Sparta (which was also pleasant in an understated way).

Have fun. I'm staring out at the heavy rain over Leicester at the moment and feeling very jealous!

Lesley


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## PAT4NEIL

Lesleykh said:


> Hi,
> .
> On the route from Leonidi to Cosmas is the monastery at Moni Elenis. It's up in the mountains, but the whole route looked fine for a decent van. Cosmas was a very pretty village with a lively square, high up in the mountains - would be very refreshing after the summer heat.
> 
> Lesley


Yes that where we motorbike too yesterday.

Sorry its raining in England

I have just added some pictures via our website www.greece.neilandpat.co.uk


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## Don_Madge

Hi Pat,

A small favour please while you are in the area.  

Could you check to see if there's a car ferry running from Gytheio to Crete. There was one running a few years ago but like all Greek ferries it is a bit hit and miss.

Many thanks

Don


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## Lesleykh

Hi,
Just dragged the husband up to look at your photos - very impressed.

Still very jealous. Where are you planning to go next and how long are you travelling for?

Lesley


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## RedSonja

Loved the pictures Pat and Neil. Look forward to some more. I will be expecting a history lesson as well when we next meet up. We thought that we could maybe do deal again.

Sonja


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## PAT4NEIL

Sorry not been able to get internet for a while.


We stayed at Monemvasia beach although no camping signs we stayed 2 nights with 3 other campers, we saw some motorhomes parked in monemvasia both sides.

From there we then went to a lovely little private cove just 2km outside Plytra on the opposite coast to Monemvasia.

We had 3 glorious nights here and the last night we were joined by some german kayaking naturists. I also used my kayak here but didnt follow suit.

We are now in the Mani which is really great because its so different from the rest of Greece. We managed to find a free camper stop just outside Itilio. Today we have riden our motorbike all round the Mani area, had lunch at Porto Kagio at a Taverne where you can also park, will post further details later. had a dip in the lovely sea there, now we are heading back via Areopoli and found an internet cafe. 

Dont know where we are heading next.

The temperature is still in its 30C but there seems to be more of a breeze on the west coast.

Kind regards Pat and Neil


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## PAT4NEIL

Don
Sorry past Gythio, we saw ferry signs saying to Crete, we also met someone who said that they had travelled to Crete via we think Gythio. But not certain.

Pat


Sonja
Will catch up with you soon
Love Neil and Pat


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## PAT4NEIL

We had a great time exploring the Mani in two days, probably not enough to do it justice.

Now In Kardamyli on way to Koroni today.


37C here we wild camped next to the village football pitch.\

Don we have been into the ferry agent here, to ask about ferries, we ended up speaking to the bigger agent they said the ferries are a very hit and miss affair the next on was 21st June at 12.45 arrive 7am. That was from Gythio to Crete.

However, the do run from Athens 3 times every day.

Hope that helps

Kind regards Pat and Neil


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## Don_Madge

PATSY4 said:


> Don
> Sorry past Gythio, we saw ferry signs saying to Crete, we also met someone who said that they had travelled to Crete via we think Gythio. But not certain.
> 
> Pat
> 
> Sonja
> Will catch up with you soon
> Love Neil and Pat


Hi Pat,

Thanks for the info.

The smaller Greek ferry services sometimes stop running for no apparent reason half way through the season. 

We plan to spend three winter months in Turkey and then take the ferry from Marmaris (Turkey) to Rhodes and then on to Crete. 

When on Crete we will check the ferries that run to the Peloponnese.

Safe travelling.

Don


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## PAT4NEIL

Hi all

We went to Koroni and was going to stay on the port area, however it was very smelly with waste in the water. 

So we decided to go off and explore some of the pathways looking for somewhere to camp for the night. We found a lovely little cove, and decided to set up camp there. It was fairly tight and the access wasnt for all. A man called Christos came down to visit us on his farm trike and give us a big jar of his olives. Our greek not being that good he ended up with a glass of chilled water. He told us that there had been terrible wind there last year and part of the beach disappeared.
we had a a very quiet night there and was disturbed by a man trying to get their boat in the water at about 3am, I think they could have been local fishermen, they were whispering and very thoughtful.

Next morning we end up moving on pretty fast has two austrian motorhomers turned up and wanted our space, we were moving on anyway.

We moved on just down the road to Methoni a beautiful place with a lovely castle and walls. We were going to stay at the port found ourselves a nice plot.

We bumped into another english couple who we have crossed paths with a couple of times. On chatting to them we decided to get our kayak out and had a few hours of fun with it. They were staying at the local municipal Methoni campsite and talked us into staying there. It was a bit of a dump really, probably the worse facilites we have stayed on, but it was right on the beach. We had another refreshing dip in the sea and Neil and Derek kayaked to the castle/fortress walls of Methoni. 

We then all went out for dinner in Methoni at a lovely restarant on the beach and under the lights of the castle. It was very magical, unfortunately we misplaced our camera that day and it wasnt found till the next day, so we have no great pictures.

We are now at Gailova, we drove past Pylos the views were spectacular. There was no where to wild camp although it was made for it. There is a great Lagoon down the road that we are going to explore tomorrow. It looks really interesting and its great for birdwatching in the winter when all the birds migrate here.

We motorcycled to Pylos, but most of it was closed for lunch. We will pop back tomorrow.

The site we are at is called Erodios which his excellent, toilet facilities, laundry, food prep area all pristine. There also is beach access and they have sunloungers and parasols there and a roped of safe swimming area.
23 euros per night our dearest site, 10% discount for 3 nights or more. Great for families too. Wifi is 5 euros per 24 hours, or 2 euros for 1 hour.

Well dinner is ready must go.

Regards Pat and Neil


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## PAT4NEIL

*Back from Greece*

We are now back from Greece, and guess what its hot here, must be following us around.

We had such a great time in Greece, it is really made for touring with the motorhome and wild camping.

We really enjoyed our stay at Gialova, it would be a good destination to stay a week or two, but we were running out of time.

We had to do Olympia and decided to stay at a campsite there called Alphios the owner was a real character, at first I thought a little mad, but we had the opportunity to get to know each other and yes, she was definately mad! (but a great mad). Olympia was very interesting and well worth a visit. We did a musuem before lunch, then booked into the above site and a snooze for a hour or so, then went back and did the main site at 6pm-8pm when it was a little cooler and not so busy.

We were only going to stay one night as we wanted to go up to the mountain villages on the motorcycle and had highlighted a great 200km route to do.

But that wasnt to be as Neil decided he needed to see a doctor, so our mad site owner sorted that out for us and we went to the local clinic by taxi. It was a sit and wait job, but only took 20min, however Neil needed Antibiotics and to see a doctor at Hospital.

So we decided to check out of the site and go to Prygos Hospital with the motorhome etc, we ended parking on a bit of waste ground outside the hospital, not parked very well. Anyhow in the hospital it was total disorganisation and busy, no one seemed to want to acknowledge us, and after about 20 min of waiting we had to be a bit more ascertative. We managed to find a nurse who found us a doctor who could speak english and from there he looked after us. We saw a couple of doctors who thought the best course of action was intravenous antibiotics followed by an hospital stay and maybe in a few days a minor operation,

Well I was panicking at this point thinking were would I go with the motorhome with the bike on the trailer on the back, facing the wrong was on a very busy road. Neil kept saying he wasnt that bad and didnt need to stay in hospital. We another consultant came down, let just say we call him Mr Butcher with a knife, decided to have a quick look at Neil and with no preparation at all promptly did the proceedure on neil, no local anesithetic either.

Well I heard Neil scream a few times I can tell you, when I went back around the curtain there was blood and iodine splattered everywhere up the walls on the floors etc.

They then wanted an x ray of his chest, which was nothing to do with why we were there, so we went round to xray department with drip, and blood all over Neils top and trousers. Not very hygenic to say the least. When we returned to department 1 hours later the bed where Neil had been seen to was still messy and another person in it.

We asked why he had to have an xray and was it okay, and the doctor just said because he wanted one.  Apparently everyone has a chest xray, even the girl after us who had a sprained ankle.

Well they still try to hospitalise Neil, even though the main consultant said we could go and come back tomorrow. So after a little heavy discussion and the junior doctor throwing a wobbly we left.

We decided to go back to Olympia as the site was nice and shady and the owner had been helpful, just in case we had to go back in the night. Went back the next day and neils infection was on the mend. They wanted us to come back again for the next couple of days. 
But we were on a deadline to meet some Dutch friends at Killini, so I ended up nursing Neils wound. We could have stayed for a few more weeks as Neils was not really up to doing the long drive home.

At Killini we stayed at the beach, the sea was lovely and the wind was up so there were some great waves to swim through. Our Dutch friends cooked us a three course meal and we had a very pleasureable few days with them. These are the Dutch people we me on the way out and had spent the first night with in Greece 5 weeks ago.

Our new sat nav died and we had to leave to Patras for the ferry home, and Ronald decided that he would lead the way and take us to the ferry, even though he was not going that way. I am sure we could have managed but he was insistent.

It never ceases to amaze us both, on meeting really great people on our travels.

Well sorry that its folks, our website is up to date. www.greece.neilandpat.co.uk

Regards Neil and Pat


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## peejay

Hi, 

Glad you are back safe and sound and survived your encounters with the Greek health system, hope its not always like that. 8O 

You don't mention what satnav you had, if it was a tomtom, how did you get on with the Greece maps?

Some great photo's on your website.  

Efharisto!

Pete


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## PAT4NEIL

peejay said:


> Hi,
> 
> Glad you are back safe and sound and survived your encounters with the Greek health system, hope its not always like that. 8O
> 
> You don't mention what satnav you had, if it was a tomtom, how did you get on with the Greece maps?
> 
> Some great photo's on your website.
> 
> Efharisto!
> 
> Pete


Hi Pete

The Hospital wasnt too bad, its just the communication wasnt there, and some of they hygeine wasnt as good as it could be. The hospital was fairly new though. They had a lot of staff there but not that organised.

Our sat nav was Garmin, and the Greek maps to street level which was better than we expected.

Garmin are replacing the unit.

We really loved Greece and would be back there tomorrow if we could.

Regards Pat


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## PAT4NEIL

Hi all

I thought I would just revisit the thread.

Just been top and tailing all my paperwork and stuff. I thought I would share some of my costings with you.

We spent £1900
the ferry cost £562 for Greece
the tunnel was free via Eurotunnel Tesco deal would have been £300
extra top up holiday insurance £35


So in all we spend £2500 or thereabout including fuel, tolls, and sites, and all food, entry costs etc..

we had 38 nights away and spent
26 nights free or minimal cost camping
12 nights on sites
total spend for sites came to 235 euros

we used about 32 litres of gas

our mileage was exactly 3,000 miles door to door and using the motorhome in Greece.

Motorbiking about 400 miles.

The only working out I havent got is the amount of money the fuel cost or the MPG, as didnt keep accurate enough records. Also paying cash for fuel you dont always keep a receipt, although I do keep written records, I was a bit slap dash towards the end. (could do better)

Hope that helps.
Kind regards Pat


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