Free Parking in the Peloponnese

Day 149-160

With a lot of relaxation on the west coast of Greece, we needed a dose of ancient Greek civilisation and  where better to get that than the home of the Olympic Games.

The following photos are a glimpse of our travels from one amphitheatre in Olympia to another in Epidaurus on the Peloponnese.

This is the ancient theatre of Olympia. Why are we wild camped at the top of it? Why not?

Some of the local fruits at the ancient theatre of Olympia. Actually, these little guys are scattered everywhere throughout Greece. Don't think you can just pick them off the tree and sample a Mediterranean delight though. They taste like shit raw!

Ancient Olympia. This little stone was a column erected to single out cheats - naming and shaming each athlete that went against the ancient rules of competition. Scroll down low enough and you'll find a Polish sprinter found guilty of some rather ambiguous genitalia.

The Temple of Hera - according to Wikipedia, this is where the Olympic flame is lit. Wrong.

That's the Temple of Hera in the background and this tiny little roped off part is where the flame is lit. Bit of a let down really, having such a magnificent temple where you could potentially light the flame, only to have it done outside in the smokers lounge.

The Olympic Stadium - all 212.54 metres of it. The 212.54 metre world champion doesn't really have the same ring to it as 100 metres does it?

The arched tunnel leading into the stadium. 

Some of the ancient Olympia ruins.

From Olympia we made our way towards Pilos, first stopping at this interesting little beach in Limni Divariou. This shot is taken from the ruins of the old Navarino Castle.

Inside the Navarino Castle. After climbing up to the fort from the north side (the back door) in thongs we later found out that the castle was actually closed due to it being 'dangerous'. Phffff.

Claire doing her bit, by holding up the old and 'dangerous' castle.

We originally planned to stay at the beautiful bay a couple of photos above, however, there was a large number of 'No Camping' signs and several that explained their was a fine of $146.73 Euros if caught. Not having the exact change we decided to camp at the Pilos Marina just up the road and were treated to this wonderful sunset.

Waking up on the Pilos marina, we were greeted with this very regal ship. Our awe of the mighty ship was soon lost as a bunch of fat tattooed Brits disembarked to get pissed in the local bars.

Methoni Castle in the town of Methoni funnily enough.

There's a fair bit of this stuff making its way around Greece. 

Claire taking a little nap from her very stressful life.

A friendly Greek man (and there seem to be a few when Claire is about) by the name of Dimitri that we met at one of our wild camp spots near Methoni. Dimitri was a local olive farmer and also had a couple of apartments that he rents out in the area. He took us up to his olive farm and showed us his apartment. The next day he gave us 12 litres of the finest olive oil. Fair compensation for the amount of  unrequited touching that was going on between him and my wife. 

Our friend Dimitri, kindly allowing us to fill up with water at his Summer Retreat.

Moving off from the coast we went inland to a town called Mystra - just outside of SPARTA!

Like olive's, these little beasts are a common site throughout Greece. Since the time of reading Billy Goats Gruff, I haven't been a huge fan of these guys.

Having said that, we've now had some fairly close encounters with goats and have come to find them quite intelligent, hardy, easy going and can climb and eat just about anything. If re-incarnation exists, we think coming back as a goat wouldn't be so bad.

The Mystras Palace and the valley of Sparta.

A Mystras Monastery. Try saying that three times quickly. Okay it's not that hard.

Another example of supreme Greek civil engineering or a great love for the environment?

One day I'll get one of these that works.

Parking your car near the coast for extensive periods of time causes some serious rust issues.

The new 2012 model Greek horse float. 

Another little gem of a cove we found south of Kalamitsi. We weren't sure whether it was a private beach as there were gates at the front, but drove in nonetheless and asked a Greek man working on the Kantina whether we could stay the day. He said "Until 3pm." We said "Okay."

As we had to leave our little secluded cove at 3pm, we decided to go for a leisurely walk up a nearby gorge. Despite the Greeks putting up a map at the start of the so called trail marking out it's destination, it turned out to be a little trickier than first thought and we turned back after 25 minutes in fear of getting a limb stuck between boulders and having to saw it off with a pocket knife. 

Panoramic view over the town of Karavostasi.

The first free wild camping site we came across in 5 weeks in Greece. Normally all public parking areas are littered with 'No Camping' signs and threats of $146.73 Euro fines, which we choose to ignore and have a very restless sleep. We slept easy that night.

A small holiday villa (the tower was 4 stories) in Karavostasi.

Making our way by boat through Diros Caves. Click here (Boat ride through Diros Caves) for a clearer idea of what it was like.

5 weeks in Greece had made Claire quite wise. She called this 'Ancient Fortified Town' 20 miles off in the distance and well before we got there. This is not just a holiday - this is educational.

Making our way out to the most southerly point of mainland Greece.

We still haven't figured out what these plants are. Miniature palm tree or dry old thistle?

Greece does have some amazing flora for this time of year and on this occasion Luke took a photo of a flower. Ohhh.....

We spotted this tower on our drive along the coast earlier and decided to take a closer look. It soon became a bit of a slog through the gnarly prickles and plethora of flies that decided to follow us. Considering the amount of animal faeces we passed, I am still at a loss as to why flies still want to land on us?

The old tower was worth the walk up.

Porto Kagio - our wild camp for the night. The town was so small it didn't have a main road and you drove down the beach to get to the taverns and accommodation. To stay the night in the car park, we had to purchase something at the owners tavern and decided on a couple of beers and a coffee. The owner also treat us to some free Greek pastries.

After the first beer we kind of lost count of how much money we had, but it turned out we had exactly $11.50 in poo change - coincidently the same amount as the bill. Greeks aren't too fond of poo change so they settled for the $10 Euro note. Score!

Boat docked in Port Kagio.

Dimitrios Shipwreck just off the coast of Gythio. Allegedly it was used for the smuggling of cigarettes, got caught by the port authorities and tied up in Gythio only to be released (as in untied from the dock with no one in it) when no owner came for it and ended up 2 miles down the road at this beach. Ahhh.....Greekiland.

This is what the sea will do to your ship after 30 years of sitting dormant on a beach. I've seen some ladies that look a little like this down at St Kilda Beach.

Locals making use of the shipwreck.

Dimitrios Shipwreck.

A little bit excited about getting to Monemvasia. They say it's like St Michaels Mount, but I think it's a bit more like Ayres Rock with shops and on water and not in the middle of a desert. 

Where they retired 'War Horse' to. Little bit hard to run now isn't it buddy.

Making our way through the lower town of Monemvasia.

Looking over the amazing lower town of Monemvasia.

Looking back towards the mainland.

All this shot needed more was a couple of ice cold beers.

The mini Hagia Sophia at the top of Monemvasia.

After wandering through the tiny backstreets of Monemvasia, we agreed that it was probably the best town we had visited in Greece so far.

Despite tourist brochures leading you to believe that all buildings, churches etc are blue and white in Greece - this was the first we came across. This one was in the town of Paralia.

The sea was angry today.

Claire making her thoughts known on 'No Camping' in Greece.

Inside the Theatre of Epidaurus. It is claimed that the acoustics are so good that one can hear a match struck on stage from the back row. On this occasion Luke could only muster up a small passing of wind, but it was heard nonetheless. Amazing!

The difference between the Roman and Greek Theatres you ask? Greek Theatres always had a view of the nearby landscape, while Roman theatres did not. I told you this trip was educational.