COMPANY
And riding some fantastic roads
11th May - 16th May | 2023
The next day it was time to catch up on my loose ends, so it is called "office day" plus chilling and looking into the Athens offers for my bike. I didn't get too much done as I got hit by a migraine due to the bad weather hanging in the air. Also, Thorsten and I wanted to meet for dinner in Kalamata, and as I wanted to visit the "Orthodox Monastery of Saints Konstantinos & Eleni" we met there. What a tranquil place, and in the weaving room are still all the old machines and equipment possible to visit! Wow, that was awesome!
When we left, I got a message from Luiza Gujol (IG: luizagojol) that she will make it finally to the hotel tonight. So I send her the location and told her that they have to give her the key, however, I haven't arranged the room for a 2nd person to stay. But how great is that! I finally meet another Overlander girl. We follow each other for a while, but obviously not long enough as it turned out later when we were chatting.
Thorsten and I went to a restaurant close by, but unfortunately, the food was not really enjoyable, or not what we expected as a not-really typical Greek restaurant. But we had a really nice conversation about motorbiking and life in general. And then it was time to say goodbye :-(
Back at the hotel was already Luiza and we chatted til about 2am in the morning; unfortunately, my migraine got really bad! We figured out that she lived during Corona in Vilamoura, which is not far away from my home. What a pity I didn't know about her by then otherwise we could have already met by then ... Small world!!
The next morning she prepared for us a lovely healthy breakfast on our terrace and by lunchtime, unfortunately, our ways separated again as she is heading via TET back to Romania. Have a safe ride and hopefully, we will meet again on your way!
I went via a lovely twisty mountain road to Sparti, well actually to the archaeological site of Mystras, which was amazing! I would say, if you are ever in Greece, you should visit this place! But you have to be fit as it is a lot up and down over old cobble-stoned tracks. Here you could really imagine how the people lived back in the day!! As I liked so much the place I texted Thorsten that he has to visit it tomorrow. He replied that he would be in soon in Sparti and was also as hungry as I, so it will be an early dinner or late lunch in Sparti. This time we found a Greek restaurant and we had a very simple but delicious dinner. We had this twisty and winding mountain road back to our hotels for digestion.
As he is heading towards Athens, we decided to ride tomorrow together again. I got a very good recommendation for a hotel in Kyparissi, and we decided to head there along the coast and mountains the next day. So the next morning I picked him up at his hotel at about 10am and we drove along the coast to Aeropolis, where we had a Coke at the market square. I, again, got that headache, which was now a bit annoying! From there it was a lovely mountain road to Gytheio to the close by shipwreck. That was pretty cool for pictures.
We then followed the coast for a while and then over the mountains to Monemvasia, where we had a lovely and freshly homemade lunch. With a full belly, we carried on along the coast. That road to Kyparissi was the cherry on the cake for the day! What a stunning panoramic mountain road, mainly along the coast. We drove through some very old villages, with very narrow roads. Kyparissi was a lovely tiny village, some years ago only reachable by water. The hotel was really nice with a garage to park the bikes.
As I booked the Hotel Paliako so late last night, I didn't pay any attention anymore to the dates. At lunch, I realised that they cancelled my booking as a no-show! What!! But they refunded me my money, even though I think it was not refundable by the cancellation. I immediately send them a message explaining the situation and asking for a room with breakfast for this night. Shortly after I got the confirmation and all was fine.
Arriving at the hotel I once again apologised for the confusion and then the owner explained that they thought I meant another place with nearly the same name. That was really generous of them!
The next morning we took it easy. Also was it our finally last day riding together; I really got used to riding with Thorsten as he has a very nice rhythm and we never got short in themes to talk about! I had the possibility to stay at an apartment of a Greek rider in Kiveri and Thorsten will carry on a wee bit towards Athens. We followed again the coast as much as possible. Once, enjoying the view over the ocean, I could spot a turtle swimming in the sea, actually two. It was a so-called Caretta turtle - wow, they must be pretty big if you can spot them from about 60m high! That was so fascinating that we were there for probably half an hour watching the turtle swimming against the current.
In Kiveri we had together a late lunch and then it was time to say finally goodbye :-( . Hab noch eine tolle Zeit hier in Griechenland und hoffentlich schaffst Du es noch ein wenig nach Albanien rein! Weiterhin gute Fahrt Thorsten.
I met then the son of the owner of the apartment, as he had, unfortunately, an accident with his motorbike this morning! Luckily no fractures and only cosmetic damage to the bike - but I felt so sorry for him!!! I hope he will recover soon!!
The next 2 days I took it easy and slept a lot. The afternoons were mainly for catching up on some stuff on social media I couldn't catch up on recently. So I hope you enjoyed the time on the Peleponnes as much as I did and check out the next blog about how adventurous it got to get into Athens. Enjoy some lovely Greek food in the meantime with a nice glass of wine!
Places | Cities:
Messini, Mystras, Sparti, Aeropolis, Monemvasia, Kyparissi, Kiveri.
Driven km | Trip:
Total | Steffi: 5265 km
Information Border Crossings (in May 2023):
./.
Maintenance | Breakdown:
./.
Health issues:
Migraine headache
Special thanks to:
Thorsten for his fantastic company during some days.
Luiza (IG: Luizagojol) for driving the extra kilometre to finally meet.
Peleponnes to be so beautiful, so versatile with their landscape and being full of history.