Day 47
Due to the madness I had to pre book my accommodation in Greece and pass the details to the Greek government before entry, therefore once I entered Greece I had to get from the border crossing to the port of Igoumenitsa on the West of Greece to cross over to the island of Corfu and because I was travelling a large distance to catch a ferry, a full day on the Greek motorways and an early start was required. It was still dark when I loaded up the bike and set off for the border.
On arriving at the Bulgarian and Greek border crossing at 0630 in the morning I was cold. I had only ridden about 20 miles or so to the border but at that time in the morning it was around 5 degrees Celsius, cold for the time of year. When I arrived at the Greek side of border crossing I made two mistakes, the first was that I never took the opportunity to fill up my fuel tank before crossing in to Greece and the second was that I paid over one hundred Euros for a useless PCR test.
Time for another rant!
When I produced my passport to the Greek border Guard he just did the usual stuff with the computer and then another guy in civilian clothing who was standing behind him asked for my PCR test results. This young guy was about mid 20’s and he was wearing reading glasses. I was sitting astride the bike, under the lights of the border station, about 6 feet from where this guy was in the office. I pulled my PCR document out of my tank bag and offered it up to him but he told me just to hold it up and show it to him so I obliged. Then my passport was handed back to me and I was told that I was free to enter Greece. There is no way that the guy in the glasses would have been able to read what was printed in size 11 font on the document, I could have shown him my hotel bill and he would have been none the wiser.
So, pissed off and cold I rode on for a further 50 miles until I realised that I needed to stop for fuel. However, since leaving the border I had not passed any service stations on the motorway, so I kept riding for a further 50 miles but still no motorway services. Eventually before running out of petrol I had to leave the motorway and find a petrol station in a nearby town. Once refuelled I headed South for Thessaloniki and then West in the direction of Ionnina. Ridding on the motorway is not my idea of fun but as I had to cover a lot of miles and then catch a ferry to Corfu I had no other option. It did not really heat up until near Ionnina where I eventually found some services on the motorway. I then refuelled but for some strange reason, there was no ATM anywhere in the service area and not having had a chance prior to this to get some Euros I had to use my bank card for fuel and coffee. Once I left these services it began to warm up and by the time I was approaching the port of Igoumenitsa I was actually enjoying the ride. I then bought a ferry ticket and patiently waited on the ferry to take me to Corfu.
Once on the island I quickly found my accommodation for the next week and settled in.
Day 48
Now I should mention at this point that I had previously visited Greece, in 1985, when I was younger and on a package holiday flying in to Athens and then hopping around a few of the smaller islands. Therefore I was looking forward to seeing how my new experiences would compare with my memories of the country. The island of Corfu is very touristy and perhaps I should have been lees optimistic but I had hoped that some part of the island might have escaped the tourist treatment but I was wrong. I was very disappointed as the old Greece that I remembered, the friendly people, the cosy tavernas serving local food, was long gone and every town a village that I passed through was selling the usual inflatable shit and nothing but tourist tat. There were some very scenic views from the smaller roads in the central mountains, especially to the Albanian coast side of the island but other than that it was nothing to write home (or here) about.
So having ridden around the whole island, for the next 6 days I sat and twiddled my thumbs, bored to tears waiting for the 7 days to end so that I could move on. When my time to leave the island came it was a relief.
Day 49
I boarded the ferry to the mainland and headed to Corinth where I was to stay for the next 7 nights. This time I took the ferry from Lefkimmi on the South of the island back to Igoumenitsa, it was about an hour shorter and about 10 Euros cheaper than the ferry journey on the way to the island.
Leaving Igoumenitsa and heading down the road hugging the Western coast I headed for Corinth and the journey there took me along some very twisty roads and through some very spectacular scenery.
By mid afternoon some thunderstorms had bubbled up and I sought refuge in petrol stations to avoid getting completely drenched and I waited until they passed before continuing on. Eventually in the late afternoon I arrived in Corinth where i would spend the next week and settled in to my hotel.
Day 50
The next 5 days I spent running around the Corinth area and exploring by bike the Western part of Greece. I walked around Corinth and then went to see the famous Corinth canal and the submersible bridge at the Western entrance.
Out riding the bike I also ventured in to the mountains of the Peleponnese peninsula found lots of great places to visit and great roads to ride on.
I also managed a trip to Athens, a city I had not been in since 1984.
Day 51
Eventually I was able to leave Corinth so I then headed up in to the hills for a place that had been on my “places to visit” list for a while, the pass of Thermopylae where the Spartans held off the Persian army for three days before being betrayed and overpowered. I followed the coastal road North from Corinth and his was a good choice of route as the roads were empty, twisty and had great views along them.
Visiting the monument to King Leonidas at the pass of Thermopylae was one of the highlights of my time in Greece.
From there I made my way to the city of Thessaloniki where I found a hotel in the city centre for under 20 Euros. Thessalonika was dirty and full of unsavoury characters so I returned to my hotel before it got dark and settled down for the night.
Day 52
The next morning I was up and away early towards the Turkish border and taking the coastal road I stayed off the motorways where I could. The road was nothing special and it became a little overcast as the day wore on, dulling my enjoyment of the journey. At one point the road passed through a small coastal town and i needed a break from riding so I stopped and took a couple of photos.
At the end of the day I found a almost deserted roadside hotel on the far side of Alexandroupoli where I got a really nice room for under 25 Euros for the night and as it was only about 10 miles from the border with Turkey I was well placed for an easy crossing the next day. I sat on my patio with my usual coffee and cigars wondering what that Turkey would be like to travel in as I had never been there before and then I thought about the last 2 weeks that I had spent travelling in Greece.
I was very disappointed with my time in Greece, the whole country is very expensive to travel in and everywhere is strewn with litter. Even up in the mountains, plastic water and soft drink bottles fill the edges of the roads. Daily I saw vehicle occupants launch all sorts of litter from the windows of their vehicles as they drove along the road. The infrastructure in the country is obviously devoid of funding whist almost every house looks well appointed and there are only a few old cars to be seen which suggests to me that paying any form of tax is not a popular pastime with the Greeks. The country is a mess and no-one seems to give a damn about it, and I won’t be going back nor would I recommend it to anyone as a biking destination.