When plans go south, literally. But since everybody who knows the blog a little bit, or me as a person it should not come as a surprise to you that things will not work out as planned. Well, that’s one of the main reasons I plan as little as I can, which also leads to disasters from time to time. But within my infinite amount of wisdom, I figured not planning and getting a mess as a result is still better than planning with the same effect. I am a smartass here, I am entirely aware but what happened gives me credit for my opinion. At least a few days for the article. Deal with it.
Posidi to Metamorfosi
We drove around the area of Posidi and the peninsula for a while and had our fair share out of it. The further plan was to go to the second peninsula. So far so good. Since we liked a hot shower at the time, well speaking even before we reached Posidi, where the camping sites had already closed the season. So we found a campsite near Metamorfosi which was still open and ready to take on guests. Little did we know on which gem we stumbled at the moment we decided to drive up to the place.
The road to Metamorfosi was rather uneventful and also this village was slowly shutting down due to the tourist season closing. Along the coastal way to the west of the Village, there is a campsite called Sunny Bay. When we arrived, there were just a few guests, so it was quiet. Not too quiet as other places I visited up to that point, but just lovely and right to get the stuff sorted and so we decided to stay for a day.
Literally across the street was the sandy beach which opened up a whole lot of breathing space. Another place to enjoy the moment, drowning in thoughts, bath in the sun or whatever floats your boat.
We checked out the small town, bought some local products to eat as well as snorkeling gear which we tried out at the first opportunity. I have to add that we found out later that the shop, which is on the Sunny Bay campsite had all of the things as well. So we got our equipment completed, and with the right sizes we went off to the ocean.
My sister and Tom gave it a shot with their surfboards since the wind was relatively high and blew from the Sea towards the coast. Directly translated this means you cannot drift away from the land towards the open ocean. This might be a consideration worth thinking of, when you’re trying to surf in waters you don’t know, and no jet ski driver is around to pick you up when lost. Well thought the two of them got to the campsite, grabbed the Van with the equipment and drove it down to the beach where they prepared their material. This took quite some time I can tell you for a fact, and until they were ready, there was a slight change of circumstances. The waves got bigger. Both are reasonable good surfers and do teach this sport in the summer, but you cannot compare an Austrian lake between some mountains with the big lake, called Mediterranian Sea. So they gave it a shot until they run out of stamina. I for my part went from reading to watching them falling off their boards with screams of excitement.
We decided on short notice to stay a little longer due to the location, the staff and the general friendliness of the place.
There were countless cats around the campsite and three dogs, who strolled around the entrance area. Normally, the owner told us, they are not free to roam the site but in off season it is OK for them. You cannot imagine the amount of cuddling going on there as we sat in the middle of the road stroking the dogs and later at our vans when the cats came around to get their fair share.
I can just highly recommend the place, If you are a cool Fonzie, and I know you are, since you’re reading my article, check the place out, even for just an evening. The owner and his daughter are super friendly and we had some nice conversations. Great pace, thumbs up.
The last breaths of the given plan
Yes, this is the part some of you were waiting for. Now let’s get to it. The plan, in general, was to drive to Thessaloniki, to catch my best friend from the airport and visit another friend and his family in Greece. He is currently working in Ireland, Cork city (the southern side of the island you fools.) Uh, and those of you who keep up with media will probably know where this story is heading. Exactly. F***ing hurricane Ophelia, messing with my plan. So all the ones who are telling me “This is a matter of attitude, you need to be more positive” go and stick your opinion at a place, were the sun don’t shine. Hurricanes, my attitude, MY A*S!!!
Hmm, I might have gotten a little bit carried away whilst writing. Back to normal. The day Didi’s flight went off in Dublin, a hurricane struck the south of the country. He checked the website, the plane was still scheduled so he went to the bus station where he discovered the bus to Dublin has been canceled. On the way back to his apartment he nearly got struck by a flagpole, coming off a roof so he had his share of luck this day. Later, the flight got canceled as well and he rebooked another flight, to Athens.
The trip to Athens
So sticking around Thessaloniki was not going to do the trick and I had to get moving since it is about 600 km on the highway, which I’d like to avoid. My sister and her friend could also not join us, since adding another 1200km just to spend half a day with an old friend are, to keep it simple, plain stupid. There will be opportunities in the future to do that.
So I headed off to Athens avoiding most of the greek highways as best as I could. I’d like to add that they are brutally expensive and I would compare this more to robbery than tolls. I took the highway around Thessaloniki, to leave out the city and went straight off to normal roads afterward. I didn’t make as much progress as I wished that day and still had to do a little bit of work on the van. So I went onto the highway to Larissa, where I visited a local hardware store for tools I needed to change my oil and the filter.
The guy who helped me out in the shop told me I could use the parking opportunities in front of the shop for this. So I took my time, let the motor cool off a little bit and went straight to work. After I had finished the Store was closed, the parking space empty so I shut everything down and slept right there on the spot.
The next day I woke pretty early and went straight down to Athens. Well, not exactly since I tried the local roads, basically entering into Google maps – no tolls. Which leads me directly into dead-end roads and fuel stations that looked like something from STALKER, Fallout or which apocalyptic end-of-time-scenario you prefer.
Running short on time I took the highway to ensure being on time. It cost a fortune. Seriously, the money I spend on the tolls so far would be enough to drive on Austria’s highways for a whole year. Not kidding, just facts. At most of the stations, I had to pay double the price just because my van is above 2,20 meters in height. Well, it is what it is, but I can proudly say I made it on time and arrived 5 minutes before the plane was scheduled at the airport. Well, the plane was late though.
Something about the Blog
I will continue with Athens in the next article, don’t worry but fitting it in this one would either mean cutting everything down or writing a book. My Blog, my rules, Athens: next time.
Another thing I’d like to mention is the fact, that I cut my pictures down to about 25% of their original size to improve the site’s performance. I hope you guys like it and would appreciate some honest opinions on this.
Have a wonderful day and visit some spots in Athens with me the next time.
EU - Adventure 