Awesome riding in Peloponnese

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OK – all you bikers out there who are following our travels, and think a trip through Europe like this is a really great idea that you must also try before you get too much older …. here's a route to put on your itinerary for Greece that is not to be missed !

In the south of the Peloponnese from Skala to Kosmas, and on to Leonidio and Nafplio. This is one of the best rides we have had. We started out travelling up through the mountains and they were fantastic - sheer cliff faces and steep gorges. Great sweeping curves for the bike to enjoy. We stopped at the little village of Kosmas at the top and met a bunch of riders from the US on an escorted tour (Eidelweis or something). They all had hired BMWs and had the back up van in close pursuit. Yeah – better doing it on your own! We had some yummy juicy peaches - they are delicious here. Not like the ones we get in NZ! Then we rode down the other side, spotted another monastery perched high up in the cliffs, ( couldn't even see any access way to it) and ended up following the coast road nearly all the way to Nafplio. Beautiful coast! Lots of gorgeous little coves with white sandy beaches and stunning blue water. We thought the coast down the western side a couple of days ago would be like this and we were a little disappointed. But this coastline was amazing.

In one of the little towns as we drove through the main street and all the shops and markets - fresh fish was displayed out in the street in stainless steel trays - not much ice to keep it chilled. But the funny thing was the shop owner standing nearby with a red fly swat whacking all the flies that kept landing on the fish!

On into Nafplio which is a lovely little fishing town – the usual castle on the hill, fishing boats in the port, cafes all along the waterfront, lots of tourist shops. Very pretty. We didn't stay long as we wanted to get to Corinth, almost to Athens. Today we came into Athens early to try and arrange a service for the bike while we are out on the islands for the next few days. But most of the places were all closed. On Sat and on Sun! So we ended up hot and bothered and heading for the hotel we had booked in Pireaus - and found a Honda dealer about 500m down the road! The service centre was closed, but the showroom was open, and they said the service centre will be open when we get back and they can service the bike in a couple of hours and we dont need to book in advance. Yay!.

We previously commented on the amount of rubbish in Albania, and unfortunately there are large amounts of rubbish piled up near the outskirts of towns and scattered along the roadside throughout Greece as well. Certainly not on the same scale as Albania, but enough to make it an eyesore. A real shame in such a beautiful country. We have also been surprised at the graffiti – particularly on roadsisgns. As you drive along there are very few roadsigns (whether speed signs, warnings or direction signs) that do not either have stickers pasted over them or graffiti sprayed over them.

So we are off to Santorini for a few days - beach, tan and nothing else! And then when we get back it will be onto the ferry and bound for Italy! and to meet up with our daughter Rachel and Felix.