Safe Return Doubtful

I’ve just spent a couple of very pleasant days with my brother, Nick, and his partner, Lou. They were in their campervan, returning back to England from the Turkish coast, where they have a house and spend part of the year.

After some deliberation, I managed to find a suitable place. It’s not that hard at this time of year, but the third named storm of the week was going through on Tuesday, so I suspected we would need a cafe, and a taverna. The town of Glyki was ideal. It is situated on the Acheron river which has just come through the twenty kilometre Acheron gorge. There is also a cold springs on the river just a couple of kilometres out of town. The gorge may seem quite inaccessible on foot, especially at this time of year, but for two-thirds of the year visitors actually walk through it. There are a couple of gentle rafting operators also, and going by the amount of restaurants the place attracts a lot of visitors.

I had called into the only open restaurant the previous night, which was a good job, because he was closed usually on a Tuesday, but opened specially for us. The manager was incredibly proud of his town; many of the videos and promotional social media is done by him, it seems out of a genuine passion for the place, rather than directly to attract custom.

As Nick, Lou and I caught up, moved from cafe to restaurant, the rain kept falling in torrents, 20 millimetres over 15 hours, and the river level kept rising. Dangerously so. The rain stopped at about 7 pm, and about three hours after it the level peaked. The water had flooded some of the businesses on the riverfront, but not where we were, but it was very close.

Wednesday was a fine day, and after several leisurely coffees and walked around the town and up to get a view of the gorge, but were limited by the river still being so full, and the damage the rain had done to the paths with fallen trees and rockslides. The weather held strong and we were able to cook around the vans with the help of a fire when the temperature dropped.

Our social group was added to by three very friendly village dogs, who just, it seemed, wanted a bit of company and attention, and were more than happy to stay in the background. Another couple of vans turned up, but there is so much space that they were barely noticed. It’s a good stop-off the night before the Igoumenitsa ferry.

This morning we limited the coffee to just one and said our goodbyes. Nick and Lou will take the midnight ferry to Bari, and I was headed to the south, the Peloponnese.

It was four and half hours driving, on toll roads that were much more expensive than those I’ve got used in Greece so far, the few I have taken. It was five toll stops within 150 km, a total of 40 euros, and 22 to cross the Charilaos – Trikoupis Bridge. At 2380 metres long, the bridge is one of the world’s longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges. It was opened in 2004, the day before the Athens Olympics, with the torch-bearers the first to cross it. The ferries still cross regularly below, and for less than half the price, promoting the attraction of the best view of the bridge. I’ll be returning this way in a few weeks and try that option then.

I’m in the village of Vytina in Arcadia tonight, up at 1,036 metres. It’s at the foot of the Mainalo mountain range, which is the reason I’m here. More on that tomorrow. I’m planning to be In this area for a couple of weeks. Though quiet at the moment, it’s clearly much more touristy than the villages of the Pindos. The roads are maintained better and used to more traffic, and, the sort of traffic that brings spending. There must be ten restaurants / bars, and they are all open, though all empty, and decorated for Christmas, which is the first time I’ve seen this in Greece. It also has several shops selling local produce. They are hoping for plenty of weekend visitors from the cities within a couple of hour drive, Kalamata, Patras, Triploli.