There is a severe weather warning today, but the worst is supposed to be at 2 am tomorrow morning. We just have a quick 40 min ride up to the port at Brindisi. Like everwhere here the signage is extremely good and so the Grimaldi dock was easy to find. There is even a guy directing you to the check in building, so you don’t head to the port and have to turn around. You go to check in with the print out of your e ticket and they had you a roll of stickers for the ferry including the bike , you , your seats, and meal vouchers. This time of year there is very little non-commercial traffic. There were 6 walk on passengers that get shuttled in a van onto the boat, our bike, 25 cars and a dozen motorhomes.
WATCH VIDEO HERE
https://youtu.be/uHN0CDVz2cs?si=udtQz2wNJvHUlcpw
The boat was filled with transport trucks and about 10 car carriers with old vehicles headed to Greece. We arrived at 11 and the trucks started boarding about 1130. This continued for at least an hour before the rest of us boarded. About half of the trucks had to back onto the ferry. We were parked just inside the rear door of the ship and yeah will be first off. The crew strap the bike down and so we just took what we would need for the next 9 hours. There is absolutely no signage on the lower vehicle deck number 2 , but at least we knew the passenger decks were at the opposite end of the ship so we headed that way. The ship is jammed with trucks so basically the only walkway is on the outer edge of them and finally at the bow we found a narrow metal staircase labeled reception. One level up the stairway widened on deck 3 and you keep going up to the first passenger deck on 7. At least there is an elevator here to
This is no luxury cruise for sure, but I’m glad I paid the extra 12 E for the 2 Pullman seats. These were in a separate quiet room on deck 12 with windows and a washroom. It was a bit rough for the first 4 hours until we made it closer to the Albanian coast, but it was pretty calm after we were in the shadow of Corfu. Good thing as we could enjoy our dinner with a view from the dinning room in the bow. Dinner done it’s now 8 pm and we have 2 hours to go. They don’t give you much warning just a vehicle drivers go to the vehicle deck now! Everyone jumps up and races down the stairs to deck 7 and then funnels into the narrow stairs down to 3. We just had time to unstrap the bike and the ships deck was lowering. Our hotel is literally a 2 minute drive from the boat ramp. It’s an hour later here so we were tucked into bed asap.
We woke to a sunny but chilly morning and headed east. Our first stop is the village of Metsova to meet our Greek friend Petros. He will start from our destination today in Larissa and meet us half way. We decided on the highway to make time and the tolls here are pretty cheap for bikes. The 145 km takes about 2 hours. In this village you feel like you might be in Austria and we even ran into a BMW club from France with 21 bikes. From here we continued 154 km onto Larissa with a quick photo op in Meteora.
We drove into to the city Center and you have to drive in the pedestrian zone for several blocks to access one of the few hotels here. We had to pull over and take a detour on our way as Petros spotted his family out walking. We did not tell his parents we were coming and don’t want to ruin the big surprise we have planned at a taverna this evening. It was too funny to see there faces when we walked into the restaurant. We had a great time eating real Greek food and drinking traditional tsioupouro.
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE
https://youtu.be/l30pW2oRy8o?si=RWAjDdtrM_Y7AX0k
We spent the day in the city and hanging out with the family. Everyone is gathering this week for the Easter celebrations which culminate with the lamb on a spit on Sunday.
We didn’t manage to leave town until 1830. We had a 70 km ride from Larissa to Litochoro at the base of Mt Olympus. This will be our home for the next 4 days.
WATCH VIDEO HERE
https://youtu.be/pEqwdZnogkw?si=445sghSLab4z5g_q
Today we will do a tour circumnavigating Mount Olympus and I think counter clockwise is best for the views and timing the stops. Most of the day we were on secondary and tertiary roads. We did a side trip up the hill to the village of livadi.
Then we rode up to the pretty village of Kokkinopilos to meet with Kostas who is a friend of Petros. He invited us for coffee on the patio in the square and then we rode up to the house to meet all the Tsanakas family. We were showered with food and gifts. Cans of Fanta, a bag of cookies , Turkish delight, dyed Easter eggs from the two grandmas.
We had some fun with the drone, but maybe we should have let Costa the fighter pilot fly the drone! We continued to the village viewpoint about 300 m past the paved road. The next part of the day was very curvy and on narrow virtually unused roads.
Not a drone pilot!
https://youtu.be/7-RchIjp3UI?si=NFfmOb90_i6wS-Eu
We met up with Fotini and Marina in the village of Palaios Panteleimonas, which is a traditional if touristic spot. But where else can you have amazing real Greek food with a view of Mt. Olympus.
It’s just a 25 min ride back to the apartments and Marina wanted to ride back with Daniel and so I went in the car with Fotini.
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE
https://youtu.be/5MbbIYNn530?si=Kpm3htiNgZyebABi
Today’s ride is a circuit of Mount Osso. We took the toll road back south 35 km and started a counter clockwise route.
The road rises up in switchbacks to the village of Spilia where we stopped for a break and a coffee with a view of the valley.
From here you can take a side trip 14 km almost to the top of the mountain with a 360 degree view including mount Olympus and the Aegean Sea.
On the descent most of the ride is on a very curvy and very little used forrest road. Once we made it back to the coast we made a small detour to the village of Rapsani., which is famous for its wineries. We stopped for some lunch at a taverna and picked up some wine and tsipouro as gifts for our hosts Nikos and Helena for the Easter barbecue.
On the way back to town we stopped at Petros’s parents “field” where they have a holiday trailer for summer and weekends. The small out building includes a full bathroom with running water. We are here to help prepare the just slaughtered lamb for tomorrow. This is a pretty complex process actually and requires quite a bit of specialized equipment for attaching the lamb to the spit. We also set up the 2 rotisserie platforms and set up the wood, starter, and charcoal for tomorrow’s fires.
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE
https://youtu.be/1iak-yaEJ7s?si=ir41dBTHvBOvreWb
The tradition for the Greek Orthodox Church is to go to the village church at about 2345 and everyone lights a taper candle just before midnight and then at 12 you say “He has risen” and most people go home to break their fast. Since we had souvlaki for dinner… we all just went to bed.
The boys were up early getting the fires started and the different meats on the automated rotisserie systems. The lamb finally was cooking by 1030. The day for us all was keeping an eye on all that was cooking and relaxing in the sun. What a meal we won’t have to eat for days!
