Call Me Mr. Tibbs

Day 161- 170

From the theatre at ancient Epidauras, we made our way north towards the Corinth canal and finally departed the Peloponnese.

Over the course of the next 10 days we made our way towards the Island of Evia (avoiding Athens riots) and then over to the region of Pelion that had been recommended to us by our old 'head locking' Greek mate Kostas.

Our first glimpse of the Pelion region was at 8pm in the dark and on a busy Saturday night, which didn't give us a great impression of the area and we thought Kostas had sent us up the garden path. As the following photos would attest though, old Kostas came through with the goods.

The Corinth Canal - this photo was taken just across the road from a supermarket, with no safety barrier preventing a fall of around 20 metres. Wouldn't want to be stumbling around here in the dark.

The Island of Evia - we had lost all GPS receptions and maps so weren't too sure where we were exactly on the island, but this mountain pass we came across was quite spectacular.

Can you spot the red car?

Another deserted beach in Limnionas, Evia Island - just rewards for completing the above mountain pass.

After having the beach to ourselves for a couple of days, the local Greeks turned up on Saturday morning to enjoy the sun. Not many though.

Roasting spuds on the camp fire and Claire knocking over another Sudoko - Limnionas Beach.

Heading back up the mountain pass and getting stuck in some traffic. Goats and sheep seem to outnumber people 10 to 1 in this neck of the woods.

Feta - not just a tasty cheese, but also useful for holding up all manner of transport.

After shooting a couple of fish that day (and them somehow getting away), Luke decides to try his hand with the rod. Fish 1345 / Luke 0

Our wild camp in Affisos for the night. A seemingly quiet beach with a bunch of octopus lurking below, as we watched a Greek man in his budgie smugglers pull three out with his hands!

Still waiting for those bloody fish!

Affisos Beach Greece - not a bad way to finish the day.

Luke's first spear gunned Octopus - a 3kg whopper! The beast put up a fair fight, clinging to a rock and getting itself free as we tried to swim it in to the beach. It then released a huge amount of ink to try and get away, but we finally managed to pull it ashore.

Luckily a Greek man was passing by and quickly showed us how to kill it, plunging a knife between it's eyes and wiggling it about.

The Greek method of tenderising an octopus is to bash it against rocks a few hundred times then rub it against rocks to get the foam out of it, as Luke demonstrates in the following link - Tenderising Octopus

How did it taste? Amazing - three times over!

Potistika Beach - Pilion Region.

We had the beach mostly to ourselves, but also became friends with a local German man by the name of Dieter who invited us up to his lovely house for a beer, some walnuts and talked our ears off.

After 44 days of wild camping, we finally ran out of clean underwear and had a very flat leisure battery so checked into a campground.

Greece is littered with stray cats and we had shooed a fair few away, however, we had a soft spot for this guy and he kept us company for a couple of days.

He said his name was 'Mr Tibbs' and asked whether the cats of Australia had really made their choice? 

Our paid camping spot at Hellas Camping Pelion.

The ancient city of Delphi. Actually this is just the gymnasium area of Delphi, down the road from the main site. Again we arrived just before closing time (3pm), so weren't able to get in.

Once you've seen one ruin though, you've seen them all.

Nafpaktos Port area. After 42 days and covering 4000kms in Greece this was our last night in this wonderful country before taking a ferry to Italy.