19th June 2012 to 23rd June 2012


Tuesday morning, 19th, we left Bulgaria with a heavy heart as we had enjoyed both the country and its people - so much more different than I had imagined the place to be - if you get the chance go, I am sure that you will be as surprised as I was. We made our way to the border south avoiding the Shipka pass and using little forest back roads until we hit the big town of Stara Zagora. The main road took us back into the mountains and back down to the flats for our entry to Greece at Ormeni. A quick passport check by a Bulgarian policeman on the way out and  the same again into Greece by what was probably the most grumpy Greek that we met in all of the country - so much for welcome to Greece please spend your euros with us....


As we pulled into the town of Orestiada looking for our hotel we were accosted by Stefanos on his BMW 1200 Adventure who stopped us and then led us directly to the hotel door. We agreed to meet up with him and his friend, Chris, later in the evening for a beer. 

Stefanos

A good shower and cool down with the air conditioning saw us ready to take on the night. We met Stefanos at the appointed hour and had a couple of drinks and swapped stories of past and upcoming adventures. Stefanos is off on 23rd on a two week trip to Poland and back so he will have to cover 4500kms in 12 days.


We said our goodbyes and fell into bed ready for another day of riding.


Wednesday 20th was another hot day but luckily we managed to pack the bikes in the shade. We had made plans today to follow a small mountain road from Metaxades south to Alexandroupoli and then head north-west (again on back roads) to the hotel Dimokristos in the centre of Komotini. Our hotel overlooked a small park and we sat on our shaded balcony drinking beer bought cheaply at the local supermarket and eating bread and cheese with salami - tasted really good.  We have been averaging around 40 euros a night bed and breakfast with air-con and free wi-fi (that's just a little over £32 per night for the two of us) and all the hotels so far have been good value for money and a hundred times better than rough camping.. A great day's ride in the mountains and we were looking forward to more of the same tomorrow.

Typical Greek rosd

~Thursday 21st we packed in the heat of the morning sun this time only too glad to start cooling down as we left Komotini. The first part of our journey eastwards was fairly mundabe until we hit bthe city of Xanthi where we took the road (eventually after half hour riding around in the midday heat) out and up into the cooler air of the mountains. We stopped for fuel near Panesti and got invited to sit with the locals eating cherries and apricots which we did in the shade of an old bar umbrella. We shook hands and said our farewells and set off back down the mountain to the city of Drama then onto boring two lane highways towards Thessaloniki before finishing the day at the Hotel Gala around 25 kms from Thessaloniki in a quiet part of the world. 


We had arrived hot. Mark asked a question, I answered sarcastically then suddenly we were not on speaking terms and Mark junped on his bike and took off. Shit ! I thought. We don't normally have arguments and this wasn't really an argument but the end result was similar - we had gone our separate ways. I took the room and had a shower and sent Mark a text along the lines of "What was that all about". To his credit Mark did return to discuss what had happened but there wasn't much to talk about really - just a hot headed reaction from each of us. We agreed to carry on - man hug, man hug - and all was right with the world. 

The hotel did not serve food so we went into the local town, found a bar and asked for two beers and something to eat, We got two beers and a small bowl of cherries and peach slices - not quite the meal we wanted so we asked for the whereabouts of the nearest mini market and we were directed to a small backstreet of the village where. indeed, there was a mini market. We spent 17 euros on beers, cigarettes and lots of food before taking it back to the hotel and scoffing the lot !


Friday 22nd - Despite not serving an evening meal a breakfast was prepared especially for us so we felt obliged to eat it. We had booked a hotel in Meteora and hit hit the road taking the main route (but not motorway) to Veria where we picked up twisty mountain roads to Kozani where we took a detour across Lake Aliakmona and then onto the small country roads to the town of Kalambaka which sits under the shade of the hilltop monasteries of Meteora.

View down to Lake Aliakmona

The Dutch receptionist at the Hotel Kosta Famissi was so very pleasant and the rooms good that we asked for a two night stay. We got some beers and wine from a local store and had a lazy afternoon before stepping out in the hot evening to have a traditional Greek meal at a nearby restaurant. 

View from our hotel balcony

Later in the evening I sent a text to John & Brigit at Wildcat Adventure tours to say bthat I notice from their website that we must have just missed them in Meteora. Not so came the reply - they were coming through this way tomorrow at midday - how much of a co-incidence is that. We swapped texts and agreed to meet for lunch !

We watched Germany beat Greece 4-2 in the Euro footie and thanked our lucky stars that we were not German.


Saturday 23rd - another bright, sunny hot day. We had breakfast and went for an early morning ride around Meteora before the coach parties arrived. It was nice to ride in the cooler air withouth all the motorcycle gear but the 10km ride only took an hour or so and we parked up outside the hotel and waited for John and his tour group to arrive.

Meteora

The guys arrived hot and sticky from their ride from Kastoria so we all had a cold drink from our hotel bar before heading into the town for a sandwich ( we avoided food at this stage as we would eat later). We then went with the group up to Meteora and then back down to Kalambaka where we said our goodbyes to the guys who were off to Igoumenitsa to catch the overnight ferry to Italy and home.

John's tour group - Turkey 2012

We popped into Lidl for more beers and some bread and cheese and here I am typing up my blog which I have missed for the last few days !!!  


Tomorrow we head for the mountains again to spend our last day in Greece in the small town of Monodendri before crossing into Albania on Monday morning.