After the stormy night, we woke up and as all our worst fears of getting stuck prooved to be understandable and straightforward imagination. Nothing more, nothing less. So, what do do with a beautiful day, after a stormy night? Well, we’ve heard about a waterfall, with crystal clear water, although almost dried up due to nearly a year without rain. So we figured it would not be dry today. Yes, I know – we are geniuses, so we started the day with the drive to the Kalamaris Waterfalls.
Kalamaris waterfalls
The road to the waterfalls proved to be a little bit of a challenge for my three-ton stealth camper van. Careful driving and a cool head brought us there despite the muddy street we found before us. To get you into the right mindset I’ll have to add that there was no rain in Greece for a year so the ground just couldn’t handle the amounts of water.
The way to the Waterfalls was about a 10 to 15-minute hike through the forest. Top tip here: Bring shoes fit for that task. Especially in our case, the ground was still slippery and definitely nothing for flip-flops or something like it.
Getting closer to the waterfalls the noise got louder and louder. The damp air beneath the trees and bushwork unfolded jungle-like scenery before us. It felt quite adventurous to walk five minutes from the olive plantation were we parked and felt like we entered another continent.
With the first glimpse of the river beneath the waterfall, we realized how much water was coming down this day, and it was anything but transparent. To get closer to the waterfall we had to cross the river which seemed a little bit tricky if you take into consideration that we had our two puppies with us. So both of them had to be carried over certain spots which seemed a challenge to us and too tricky for them.
Only the tops of larger stones and a piece of jammed in tree trunk above the waterline, everything with a wet surface and most of it wobbly in some direction, I was pretty glad to get to the other side with dry shoes. More critical with a dry Filie, who was both terrified and excited as I carried her across.
As the four of us reached the waterfall, everybody got silent and got lost in the moment. Except for the dogs, they didn’t give a flying f**k about all of this and started to play with one another. With Tom watching over the dogs, the girls enjoying the nature in silence… Yeah, right! Silence, literally next to a waterfall? Chris, are you out of your mind?
First of all: You ruined the moment. Second: You get the point with silence, no need to be a smartass here.
Anyways, I was taking what I hoped to be good pictures of the place since it was entirely something to see. I can’t recall how long we were there, but it was entirely some time until we decided to move on, stock up on our supplies and visit the Mushroom Beach.
The Mushroom beach – Voidokilia Beach
After some discussions, we decided not to camp next to the beach this time, but to spend a good chunk of the day in this idyllic location. As we arrived, we saw an almost empty beach with bright blue water and waves coming in at an entirely perfect half circle.
Already midst November, the temperatures did still allow us to get for a swim. At the first moment, it felt cold for the initial few seconds, but after the first minute, we were totally fine with it.
So we had a good part of playing around, snorkeling and enjoying the waves. The snorkeling turned out to be quite uneventful since the ground was mainly sand and not much else. The water itself and the visibility were remarkable. A few other people joined us too, as we found out later, they were from Austria as well.
These days you can spot the difference between foreigners and locals quite easy. The local greeks come to have a walk along the beach in their Jackets, and the tourists are the ones who go for a swim.
Another top-tip for van-nomads and campers as well as people who want to start the van-life in the future: Get yourself some biodegradable body wash, shampoo or soap. Being able to get into the water which was refreshing at the first moment but entirely comfortable when you’re in there for a few minutes and the luxury of having a wash is quite something.
After drying in the sun and a short walk we went back to the parking spot right next to, but not in sight of the beach, and had some lunch as we discussed the further options.
A small confession
What we settled for and were our journey lead us in the days to come, will be told another time. I want to tell you the exact timeline and locations we’ve visited, and I will continue to do so. I just have a little bit of a struggle to find the data from these days. I might have lost it or extracted it to another hard drive. I’ll promise that I’ll continue the reports and get everything in order again. It just might take some time. Yes, I know – sometimes I’m crap.
To get the point, why we named the beach “Mushroom Beach” check out the previous Article.
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