We knew when entering Greece that our time here was going to be limited due to the Schengen rules. Our time spent in the Schengen zone from November to February was starting to expire, so we had gained a number of days back, but we knew that we needed to save as many days as possible for our journey back through the Schengen Zone and to the UK. This gave us a maximum of 15 days (allowing 75 for our return trip).
We very quickly realised that this was not going to be enough. One thing we hadn’t quite appreciated was how big Greece is to drive around. This meant that there was a lot of time spent on the road driving from place to place. This was a bit of a shock as we were so used to driving around the Balkan countries, which were much smaller and allowed for much shorter drives.
Lefkada
Our first stop in Greece was a lovely town called Lefkada. It’s situated on an Island off the west coast of Greece and connected to the mainland by a causeway. It is a lovely town for a wander round with a great pedestrian road filled with shops, bars, restaurants, and cafés. It was here that we had our first (of many!) delicious pork gyros and a chicken souvlaki. There is also lovely footbridge near the causeway entrance to the town.
We didn’t stay in Lefakada for too long, however it is somewhere we would love to go back to and spend a bit more time there. Our stop for the night was a wild camping spot just outside of Patras. We had hoped to park up at a truck stop in Patras and view the city, however, we decided that actually we were too tired, the truck stop didn’t look great, and we just wanted to find somewhere by the sea. The spot we found was in a small village called Gialos. There wasn’t much here apart from the beach with some showers, and a single restaurant.
Koroni
On our way to our next destination, we stopped at the Archaeological site of Olympus. This was the location of the first Olympic games and is still where the Olympic torch is lit before going on its journey to the host nation. The site was enormous and had a huge number of ruins, with some great information boards at each. The great thing about this site was that the boards were all strategically placed in shaded areas. Something we really appreciated given how hot it was walking around the site.
There is also a museum on the site which contains thousands of artefacts and full/part statues dug up during the archaeological digs at the site. This again was a very fascinating museum with a huge amount of detailed information about the location of the find, and its believed use/origin.
It was on the Olympus site, just before heading to the museum, that we both decided we were pretty hungry. We had seen a café on the way to the site, and so decided to stop here for a quick bite to eat. Charlie ordered two club sandwiches, with two frozen lemonades and a very small packet of nuts each. There were no prices on anything being ordered, and we quickly realised why when we were told the total bill was 42 EURO’s!!! This turned out to be one of the most expensive meals we have had in the 9 months travelling. One that certainly was not worth the extortionate cost we paid. A lesson learnt for sure.
Koroni itself is a beautiful little town on the southwest coast of the Peloponnese region of
Greece. We had chosen to go there because Roxy had read that there was a chance we might see some sea turtles. We made our way to a great campsite only 5 minutes’ walk from the town centre and spent our first afternoon making the most of the swimming pool on site. It turns out that the campsite was the base for volunteers helping the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece.
The town is lovely with a number of restaurants overlooking the harbour and crystal-clear sea. There is also a large castle at the southern end of the town. After a quick google we realised that we needed to head to the beach on the other side of the peninsula to see the turtles, and that they generally only come out between 11pm and 6am.
Having spent most of the next day by the pool again, we went for some food in the evening in Koroni, and then walked over to Zanga-Memi beach to hopefully catch a glimpse of a turtle. Unfortunately, although we were in the right place, we were not there at the right time. There were a number of protected nests on the beach, however most of the expected number of turtles that lay eggs on the beach, had already been. Nevertheless, we had a lovely walk along the 3km beach, eagerly checking the dates on the nests to see when the latest turtles had arrived on the beach. We missed them by only 2 days!!
Corinth
Corinth is famous not only for its ancient city but also for its canal. Corinth Canal is a manmade canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth, in the Ionian Sea, with the Saronic Gulf, in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland, arguably making the peninsula an island. Unfortunately, while we were there the canal was closed to boat traffic as some work was being done to strengthen the sides, however it is still amazing to see. Particularly from some of the off-road tracks that run right next to the top of the canal edge. At either end there are vehicle bridges that lower into the water when boats need to pass.
Our first night in Corinth was spent by a bridge to Kalamia beach, not far from the Corinth harbour. This was our first of many bad night’s sleep due to the heat. We have a fan in the roof of the van, and a couple of USB fans, however the van never got down below 30 degrees overnight, and even with the door open, we struggled to sleep comfortably. After only about 3 hours of broken sleep, we made our way into Corinth to explore the market and see some of the city sights. After a short wander, walked back through the market, towards the van, and realised we needed some ingredients for our lunch. We placed our single cucumber on the scale and the stall owner told us that we didn’t need to pay. We went to the next stall and placed our single onion on the scale, and we were waved on again! It turns out that if you only want single items, and you go shopping as the markets are packing up to leave, the vendors are more than happy for you to just take them for free. This is probably because they normally have customers buying bags full of vegetables, not single items!
With the weather getting ever hotter and having had a reasonably busy few days (at least for us), we decided to spend a day at the water park just outside Corinth. This was a great relief from the heat, and although the park itself was probably more for children, it was still fun going down the slides. One thing we did notice here is that some very rude songs (not the radio edits) were played at full volume by the DJ for all the children to enjoy!!
We left the water park in search of somewhere to sleep for the evening, with our only requirement being that it was in the shade! Thankfully, we found a spot at the end of the canal which was under some pine trees. When we arrived we had the pleasure of meeting Robin and Meike (@walter.on.tour), a German couple that have been also been travelling around Europe in their VW camper, and chatted to them for a while.
Athens
Our next stop in Greece was the capital, Athens. It was here that Charlie’s sister, Becky, joined for three nights. This meant that we were lucky enough to be able to stay in an AirBnB (with air conditioning!!!) for the three nights. Something we very much enjoyed after a lack of sleep over the previous few nights.
We collected Becky from the airport at midday, headed straight to the apartment to check in and then into Athens for a wander around some of the sights. After visiting the Temple of Olympian Zeus, we randomly bumped into Robin & Meike! We made plans to meet up with them for drinks later that evening and left in search of gyros – something Becky was particularly looking forward to.
This was a birthday gift given to Roxy by our friends from home, Laura and Tim (thanks guys!). The bus takes you around Athens briefly stopping at all of the big sights. This included, Syntagma Square, New Acropolis Museum, the Acropolis, Temple of Zeus, Parliament & National Gardens, Benaki Square, Panathenaic Stadium, Archaeological Museum, Benaki Museum, National Library, Omonia Square, Monastiraki Square and Karaiskaki Square. The great thing about the tour is that a) you don’t need to be walking around in the sweltering heat, and b) the bus has an automatic audio guide as you pass each sight, with lots of information on the history.
After a full loop on the bus, we headed to a place called Little Kook. This was an Alice in Wonderland themed café with themed drinks and cakes. Every inch of the café and street was completely covered in extravagant Alice themed decorations and was an amazing place to sit and soak up the atmosphere with a milkshake and HUGE slice of cake.
After the Alice themed experience, we stumbled across a place called the Hall of Horrors. Roxy had seen the sign on the bus trip and wanted to see what it was. It turned out to be a haunted house, set across three floors with very good animatronics, and lots of actors jumping out to scare us. We ended up being joined by another tourist who was travelling on her own. This made it an even more enjoyable experience as she was terrified by the whole thing. Not something we had planned to do, but it was great fun!
The second full day in Athens was spent seeing some of the sights that we had driven past on the bus tour the previous day. This included the Acropolis & Parthenon, the Roman Agora, Roman Forum, Hadrian’s Library, and the Ancient Agora. Although not actually an expensive ticket, at 30 EURO per person, both Becky and Roxy were not too keen on spending that to see the sights that, ultimately, can be seen from the outside. This is except for the Ancient Agora that is a huge site in the city centre. If you did want to see all the sights, then the ticket is actually quite good value as the Acropolis & Parthenon is 20 euros on its own.
In the afternoon we made the most of the hop-on, hop-off bus ticket, which lasted for 48 hours, and travelled along the beach tour route. This turned out to be a lot less interesting than the city centre tour as there was no audio guide, but it was a nice route to just look around. We got off the bus to find somewhere for lunch, this turned out to be a bad choice. At the place where we stopped, most of the beaches were high end private beaches with a minimum 100 euro fee to enter! We eventually found a great restaurant where we ate some of the best, and cheapest, gyros we had had to date.
In the evening we planned to meet up with Ele and Stan (@cap_inconnu), a French couple who we first met in Tirana, Albania. We had a brilliant evening drinking plenty of beer and Raki. Ele and Stan are Raki connoisseurs and taught us the proper way to enjoy it. We had only ever had it as a shot after a meal and had previously not liked to drink it. The five of us had a lovely Greek mezze dinner at a restaurant a short walk from Monastiraki square, before having a few more drinks. We said our goodbyes to Ele and Stan (and arranged to hopefully meet up later in the trip, possibly in Turkey), and headed back to the apartment for a good night’s sleep before Becky’s return to the UK.
Our last day was spent on one of the public beaches we had spotted on the bus tour, before we dropped Becky off at the airport. That evening we made our way out of Athens towards a wild camp spot on our route north. As it turned out, Ele and Stan had also had enough of Athens, and they also ended up camping at the same spot! The next day rather than rushing off, we had lunch with them and played Smite (they called it something else, but we have forgotten the French name). Roxy won both the individual game and the team game with Ele. Charlie is very much looking forward to meeting Ele and Stan again, so that we can play again, and he/Stan can try to win back some honour!
Delphi
Before heading to the ancient city of Delphi, we spent the evening at a wild camp spot in the car park of a church overlooking a beautiful town called Arachova. The views were stunning, and because we were so high up, it was actually quite cool. The next morning, we made our way to Delphi and this time it was Roxy’s turn to visit the site whilst Charlie stayed with the van, as parking was a little tricky. The site was situated on the side of a mountain and had a museum, amphitheatre, and an agora, amongst many other ruins. It was a hot day (as usual), so Roxy only spent about 45 minutes climbing up and down before needing to get back into the air-conditioned van.
We are sure there is more in Delphi to see and do but given the short amount of time we had in Greece, we had to move on.
Meteora
The Meteora is a rock formation in central Greece. It is home to the largest and most steeply built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos. There are a total of six monasteries built on top of naturally formed rock pillars. The campsite we stayed at in Meteora had a fantastic view of some of the landscape from the pool. When driving between the monasteries the next day, the landscape got better and better. It is hard to put into words how strange, but beautiful the landscape looked compared to the rest of Greece.
We drove between the six monasteries (there is parking at each one) and for only 3 euros per monastery you can walk around each site. The highlights were The Monastery of Great Meteoron, Agios Stefanos Monastery and The Monastery of Holy Trinity. If you only have time to visit one, we would definitely recommend the The Monastery of Great Meteoron.
After enjoying a nice lunch looking out over the valley with the views of the monasteries in the foreground, we made our way towards Mount Olympus.
Mount Olympus
The highest mountain in Greece, Mount Olympus is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia. In Greek mythology it is home to the Greek Gods. We later learned a lot more about Greek mythology from a free walking tour in Thessaloniki.
We arrived at the Prionia (a car park around 900m up Mount Olympus) and quickly realised how busy and uneven the car park was, so unfortunately not a good option for sleeping. The weather also started to take a turn, and for the first time in a while we had temperatures of less than 15 degrees Celsius and rain!! A short drive back down the mountain we found a car park outside the Old Holy Monastery of Saint Dionysios of Olympus, where we were able to park the van reasonably level. Here we met a lovely Greek couple who were on a weekend trip in their own converted van. We spent a great evening getting to know them and Vasillis (@vas_tompazis) told us all about their build, as well as some options for wild camping in Thessaloniki.
The next day the rain had cleared, and we made our way to a beautiful waterfall which was a short walk from the car park, and then to the Sacred Cave of Saint Dionysios of Olympus. The cave was unfortunately very busy with other tourists and so it was hard to really enjoy the area. After this we made our way to the Prionia car park and restaurant for a great mezze lunch, before climbing Mount Olympus. Roxy was not feeling up to the challenge as the temperature had once again increased, but Charlie decided to give it a go. It turns out that although the route is fairly easy, in terms of having an obvious path and manmade steps, it was very steep with lots of climbing almost immediately after leaving the restaurant.
With no phone signal in the area, and therefore no way of communicating with each other, we had agreed a time that Charlie would be back, and if he wasn’t, it was down to Roxy to call mountain rescue. After about an hour and half Charlie had climbed over 900m and was nearly at the first checkpoint. However, it was getting close to the agreed time of return, so he quickly made his way back down the mountain. As it turned out he rushed down the mountain too quickly and has had a dodgy knee ever since!!
Thessaloniki
Our final destination in Greece was the port city of Thessaloniki. We were particularly looking forward to being here as we had heard from a number of different van lifers that it was a great city to spend a few days in. It turned out that Thessaloniki was one of our favourite places in Greece. We stayed at a wild camping spot recommended by the Greek couple we met at Mount Olympus which was a short cycle ride into the city centre.
Thessaloniki has lots of great sights to see including the Rotunda, the White Tower, the newly built waterfront, Alexander the Great statue, plenty of museums, the Umbrellas of Zongolopoulos, and the Roman forum. It also has a plethora of restaurants and cafes to enjoy some authentic Greek cuisine.
We spent our only full day in the city exploring all the sights on our bikes before joining a free walking tour, guided by Giorges. This was a Greek mythology tour and was an excellent way to finally learn about the Greek gods and the stories behind the landscape of Greece. There were so many stories, and so many gods and goddesses that it is now quite hard to remember any of them. Although the one thing we did learn is that a lot of the stories involved family members murdering, sleeping with, bewitching, and lying to each other. At the start of the tour Giorges gave all of us Greek god/goddess names and he managed to then retell a story about each of us as the character. This was a great way to get us all involved in the stories, and it was very impressive that he managed to remember all of our “Greek” names throughout. We would highly recommend this tour, and had we had more time we would have joined one of the other two tours that Giroges runs.
Road to Turkey
As our time was limited in Greece we had to leave after Thessaloniki. This meant a very long drive from our wild camp spot to Troy in Turkey. A total journey of 516km. On the way we stopped at a free camper stop to empty the grey and black waste as well as have a cold shower before the long journey. It was also here that for the first time in a while we found a very good camper shop where we could stock up on the necessary toilet chemicals and special toilet paper.
We arrived at the Turkish border and joined the ever-increasing queue to leave Greece at around 4pm and eventually made our way into Turkey around 3.5 hours later. This was by far the slowest crossing to date. The 3.5 hour crossing included 1 hour in ‘no mans land’ where we had crossed the Greek border, but not yet been able to get through the Turkish border. It was quite a fun experience, however, watching the Greek/Turkish nationals get angry with vehicles trying to jump the queue by going down the hard shoulder!!
Final thoughts
Greece is a wonderful country and certainly somewhere we would like to come back to. If it was not for the Schengen visa rules, we would have stayed for longer. We are constantly seeing other travellers doing amazing things in Greece, and our list of places that we want to go is increasing all the time! Next time we will aim to spend at least a full month in Greece, and hopefully won’t have to drive around so quickly, missing all the places we would love to see.
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