IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME
May 17, 2025
Today we are headed off and our friends are all going back to Athens. We are riding north and then west to end up in Kastoria Western Macedonia in 277 km with a ride time of 4.5 hours. The route was 3/4 secondary roads with a 65 km highway section about 150 km from Kastoria.
You head north and up and over several passes and then end up riding along the Haliacmon river. Then it’s time for our first stop for a small side detour is to Vergina, which is the site of ancient Aigai the first capital of Macedonia. In 336 BCE king Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great was assassinated here. There is a “new” museum of Aigai out on the main road before you get to the village. There are some restored ruins and lots of items found in the nearby archeological sites.
Just 1 km father down the road you enter the village and follow the signs to the parking area. There are a number of things to visit here in this open air archeological site and they are free to visit. We just went to the Palace of Aigai, which is the largest structure, but is a 15 minute walk uphill in the heat.
The most impressive site here is the underground excavation of the tomb of Philip II. There are the 2 excavated tombs you can view and a massive number of artifacts found in these unlooted graves. There is some thought that the female body found in the antechamber of the kings grave was his wife Cleopatra.
We finally set out from here at 330 with 150km to go. There are also a few black rain clouds in the area, but we managed to avoid getting wet. We crossed the river and rode south again on secondary almost deserted roads. When we hit the freeway we made up a lot of time. The views here are agricultural mixed with nuclear energy plants. You leave the highway very near the Macedonian Denar ( the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) border and continue west. We had another 17 km detour up the ladder of switchbacks to the traditional Greek village of Nymfaio.
Now it’s just 50 km to go, but there are a lot more black clouds. The road is wide sweeping curves up and over the mountain and luckily we again dodged the rain. The town of Kastoria is on a small peninsula into lake Orestiada. It’s very picturesque if a bit touristy. We did have a very brief downpour just as we arrived to the city Center, but we pulled up under a tree to wait it out for ten minutes.
WATCH VIDEO HERE
https://youtu.be/lF8wLKA2cWE?si=J6xfc2MXu_H4tzrb
Today we are riding on some very twisty roads south and west to Papigo in the Vikos Gorge region. It’s only 208 km, but the ride time is 4 1/2 hours. We were on the highway for 18 km and then onto the secondary roads. They kept getting narrower and windier. The road when we got to one tiny village was more a track and then it was gravel for just 5 km. We rode thru many small villages clinging to the mountainsides. We stopped in tiny Mesolouri for a very expensive coffee, but it was the only cafe we saw up till now.
On the way to Distrato for lunch the road was initially up to a ski resort on the first peak and then passes thru the village itself after the next. There are numerous switchbacks and tight curves. Except on the highway I think we saw a dozen cars all day. I’d bet at one point we didn’t see another vehicle for almost an hour. Some of the road before lunch was obviously unmaintained in summer are there was a lot of rockfall. There is a nice lunch spot in Distrato with a super friendly owner great food and a view down the valley and of the ladder of switchbacks you drive to leave town.
The curves get more sweeping as you get closer to Konitsa and then there is a 15 km section of the main road to the turn off for the mountain villages. The road is very windy and narrow and because the first village Aristi is a very touristy town with rafting there was a lot of traffic, but luckily not afterwards. We were then in for another ladder of switchbacks to Papigo . We arrived to this traditional Greek village and rode up the steep stone road to our guesthouse. We have an amazing view of the village and the mountain peaks.
WATCH VIDEO HERE PART ONE
https://youtu.be/8MFrGuwta9s?si=ed5ttpO3Y3T7eU4R
WATCH VIDEO HERE PART TWO
https://youtu.be/aZGae6LH7hc?si=DDLD-fAE0gGEYrlB
We woke to a sunny day, but it is supposed to rain by 4 so we have changed our route to skip a side loop road thru the Tzoumerka region and end up farther north in the city of Ioannina. This is so we can get there before the rain and there since it’s a big place there will be a laundry mat. Yeah riding jeans in the washer and dryer! The route is 137 km and the ride time is 3 hours.
We back tracked down the ladder of switchbacks to the village of Aristi. The route from here was a combination of all kinds of road surfaces some of which had road markings and some not. The 137 km should take about 3 hours riding time, but we plan quite a few scenic stops. All the roads were curvy, but much more sedate than yesterday. There were also a few other vehicles to be seen since there are quite a number of old stone bridges and a lot of hiking trails you can access.
We detoured to the mountain village of Tsepelovo for a coffee stop before continuing south and east. We set a way point to Dolliani to get of the more main route and didn’t see another vehicle for almost 50 km. 
We backtracked the last 25 km on our previous route on our first day in Greece to end up in Ioannina. We did get here before the pouring rain, thunder, and lightning started. Luckily for us it’s supposed to end before midnight. We managed a bit of a walk in the old walled city once the rain let up a bit.
WATCH VIDEO HERE PART ONE
https://youtu.be/KcxausCkX9g?si=zlQ6bjDAiEwDlK8s
WATCH VIDEO HERE PART TWO