Pilgrimage from Apollonia to Loannis 13/08/05

Another amazing walk around the lake this morning. The smell of spring is everywhere, combined with the view of the lake and the wild flowers it is a treat for the senses.

As we are, once again, searching for our morning breakfast we spot a few old guys lounging around in front of a cluster shops across the road. One of them must sell coffee…

But they don’t, it’s all just tourist crap. The good news is though, next to the stalls selling tourist crap is an amazing little church. Very cute from the outside and extremely beautiful inside! We spend a few minutes getting photos and video footage as other tourists/possible locals do their hale Mary’s (or whatever the equivalent Orthodox thing is) and bowing out the door.

Finding breakfast shortly afterwards it’s then straight to the coast. As we turn east the smell of the sea greets us and we notice a definite change in the scenery. The trees become larger and greener and the foliage is much thicker. There is no way we will be going cross-country through these hills.

One thing that has surprised me in this part of Greece is the amount of snakes. Every day we see at least 3 or 4 snakes over a meter long! It’s pretty cool as they are all really scared of us and slither away at high speeds as soon as we get close. But it still keeps it interesting when we are looking for campsites in the dark ;)

Now, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that my preferred way of travel is by foot, but it isn’t…it’s to drive :) So you can imagine my excitement when out of the blue a go-kart track appears! Five minutes later Sabine and I are zipping around in circles at high speeds. It’s great!!! So good that I have to have another go.

The problem with adrenaline is that after it wears off, so does your energy :( The walk has suddenly become a lot harder. But we plod on till Asprovalta, hoping to find an internet café. It looks like we are in luck but as I go to enter I realize it’s locked! All the computers are still running so I ask the shop across the road when they open…

Shrugs with a big smile “When he feels like it”

Yep, definitely in a Mediterranean country ;)

And that was about right…it seems like I wasn’t the only one waiting for the guy because as we sat there out the front, having a picnic on his doorstep, the locals started coming and pulling on his door too. Funnily enough they all looked disgusted as well as they walked away disappointed :)

Finally he opens and we all rush in to get our internet fix. As we go to leave I notice it’s dark outside…we have been here 2½ hours! Still wanting to get our 30kms done today we knuckle down and get into it. We have 8kms to go…

An hour and a half later we stumble upon this great little beach bar still waiting to be opened for the summer and decide to call it a night. It’s great, we don’t even need to put up our tents…