ALL ROADS LEAD TO ATHINA

Today’s ride is 133 km and 3 hours. We are first backtracking about 16 km to “one of the nicest beaches in Greece” called Voidokilia. It’s north of the Bay of Pilos and west of the Gialova lagoons. It is shaped like the Greek Omega or like a horseshoe. One you leave the main road you travel on paved tracks thru the olive groves. The last 500 m is gravel and you have to walk into the beach area. From the apex of the bay you can see the old castle and the Cave of Nestor. There  are apparently over 250 bird species seen in the lagoon reserve.

We had set the “Tread” to adventure 4 , which got us back back roads thru farms, olive groves, and tiny villages. We hit the main road just after Zizanio and stopped for an excellent iced cappuccino in Charokopio and then a cliffside lunch in Peroulia. The place was busy on a Thursday we found out as its labor day here in Greece. We continued along the coast and then up and around the city to arrive. Kalamata is all but shut down for the holidays and the streets are deserted.  I’d describe Kalamata as worn down and it has this Soviet feel about it. The defunct main train station has a dozen old trains parked and covered in graffiti. The area around it has been turned into a sort of green space. The old town area of the city is a bit nicer with more shops and restaurants, but only slightly. They have great olives though!

WATCH VIDEO HERE 

https://youtu.be/DiJpDsXjYc4?si=jfXSVMm9kHZ9537v

Today’s route is mostly south with a loop at the bottom of the peninsula to circle back to Areopoli. Our last host described the road to Areopoli and not straight and difficult…perfect.  It’s 81 km to Areopoli and the whole route is 157 km and should take 3 hours of riding. After an hour or so we stopped in Thalames for a drink and a very good spanakopita. There are some stunning views of the coast of the Mediterranean both going south and north. We stopped in the port of Kotronas with about 20 km to go and had lunch with a view of the sea.

Areopoli is a very cute tourist town with beautiful stone buildings. One of the main reasons to visit here is the caves of Diros. We rode over at 345 to check about going this afternoon but the boats tickets are sold out today. WATCH VIDEO HERE

https://youtu.be/_Skbk7W4L8I?si=tt_QNEC3GGFC2BGd

We got up early and rode the 11 km back to the caves of Diros. We arrived at 845 and they open at 9 and there were already 15 people in line. They confirmed they were running the long circuit tours today after checking the water level in the caves. You tour by boat and some of the passages are very low. Today we still had to duck down several times. We are so glad we came early because when we left the cave at 1030 it was a mad house at the ticket area. There were 4-5 bus loads of tourists besides all the cars and campers and motohomes.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

https://youtu.be/ZAYSx9OTs1U?si=ai96rrtN6BCgj3yn

It’s another stellar day and 23 degrees. We are headed down and around the next peninsula to Monemvasia. The total route with detours and loops is 192 km and the ride time is 4 hours. We set off again from Areopoli at 11. The route is on the secondary roads with stunning views of the Mediterranean coastline. We stopped in the harbour in Elia after an hour for a Freddo cappuccino.

We continued to follow the coast south to Neapoli and saw lots of bikes all day. Arriving on the seaside there was a constant stream of bikes passing thru. We stoped for some lunch and relaxed by the shore.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

https://youtu.be/DxYH3zVwcBM?si=R6GZAdl7BBmvx2IX

We planned a side detour on the loop thru the mountains east of here and as again saw a ton of bikes going both ways. We decided on counter clockwise as that seems what most of the Greek bikes were doing. You head up up up on the switchback and then over huge sweeping turns up top. We did a side trip over another pass to descend to the beach at Varko. It’s insane this road is paved to a few houses at the bottom. We headed back up and continued on the circuit. This a beautiful smooth road but to nowhere really. The best is the ladder of switchbacks below Faraklo.  Now we are headed north on the other side of the peninsula. We arrived to Monemvasia and there is a stream of Saturday bikers here too.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

https://youtu.be/Edty4wqjp4I?si=Iq3riLU1IuIM8frx

We opted to walk the 1.5 km across the causeway and up to the gates of the lower town of the castle. This is the fully restored part with all the shops and restaurants. From here you can walk up the stairs the 500 m to the upper town which is partially restored with a few accommodation and habitations, but a lot of ruins. We continued up another  600 m  on the stairs thru the gate of the ruins and up the path to the site of the Acropolis of Monemvasia. There are ruins of the fortifications and a restored church. We made it all the way to the top of the rock for a 360 degree view. The total trip door to door was 6 km.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

https://youtu.be/9-pRlD7KPPU?si=MNMtgUvUaTBZHWPr

Last night we realized we left one AirPod in Areopoli! Luckily they found it and it is actually only 91 km away if you go directly. Our plan was to leave early which is nice as we saw the sunrise over the castle in Monemvasia. It was also a brisk 14 degrees. We rode north and west to near Skala where we started the back track part of the route today. In total  it’s 294 km with a ride time of 5 hours 40 min. We made the trek back in an hour and 20 min to arrive at 9 and pick up the pod. Since we have been here before we know where the best coffee and bakery is located. Now we backtracked again the third time on the road to Skala. We then headed north and east towards Leonidio where there is a very popular motorcycle route that runs 35 km along the Mediterranean coast.

There was probably 40 bikes parked in Leonidio and dozens coming and going on the road from here. Even better however is the incredible 65 km ride thru the canyon between Skala and Leonidio. We veered off the route to the seaside town of Tyros for lunch literally on the seaside.

From here is 60 km to Nafplion where we had originally thought to stop but felt it was too touristy and booked in the small beach town of Tolo just 13 km farther. We are so glad we did since when we arrived in Nafplion it was completely mobbed with tourists. The Mediterranean Yacht show is here, it’s a Sunday, and there is a massive cruise ship too. We did a loop thru the craziness and then up to see the view from the Palamidi fortress.

It is just 13 km farther to the beach town of Tolo. It’s still touristy but at a much smaller scale. There are day cruises here to some of the neighbouring islands and people come from Athens come here to holiday. There are lots of hotels and restaurants and we ate a one recommended by our hotel. For our last night on the road we splurged with a whole red snapper!
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

https://youtu.be/HF4QrqAM1xg?si=LlpEeasy1NFNZ2To

Well today is the last day on this leg of the ride. We are headed to Athens to Petros and Fotini’s for a few days. We will have some downtime and be able to get the bike sorted. We will have the oil changed, detailed and put away for storage. Our route today is 224 km and 4 hours, but we left the hotel at 930 and arrived at Petros’s at 515. The last 25 km took over an hour with an accident with 4 lanes at a standstill 4 km from our exit just outside of Athens and then several other delays with construction. We woke up to clouds and some rain in the distance. The weather was moving in the direction we were headed so we readjusted our route to stay farther south for longer. We backtracked from Tolo to the main road and headed east towards Lygourio. Here we turned right and south toward better looking sky and found some nice back roads and up over the mountains thru farms and small villages.

We ended up doing a big loop that brought us to the switchback down from Driopi to the main road by the sea. Then we headed north along the Mediterranean to the site of the ancient city of Epidauros, which is now the sea side town of Archaia Epidauros. We stopped for lunch here and it did finally rain, but an hour later it was all blue skys.

 The road north from here has lots of signs warning about the dangerous curves, but it’s just a normal road. With 50 km to go we took the old Athens road long the shore instead of the toll road. It was only 30 degrees briefly when we were in the industrial area of the port, but luckily when we were stuck in traffic it was just 24. Dan did some great riding to work our way thru the worst of it with minimal lane splitting and sidewalk riding. The first 3 km of grid lock was caused by a multi vehicle accident including motorcycles. We finally got a break in the last 10 km to the Llioupoli suburb with significantly less traffic.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

https://youtu.be/dQqxgO_9sCU?si=0ufhv2cbadotWkcF

We have a few days here  to relax and hangout with our friends. Dan has been out riding in the city to and from the moto wash and oil change  and says that driving in Athens is one of the most death defying things he has ever done and he has done a lot of crazy things. The bike is all tucked away and the gear stored. See you next time for Türkiye 2.0.