Instead of arriving at 7am, we got to Venice (or rather the ferry port south of it) at 10am. Disembarkation happened at 10.30am. From here, we drove home. Lunch happened in Brescia and was amazing. Switzerland drove Flo nuts, especially the two hour trafic jam before the Gotthard tunnel. However, he wanted to get home and just kept driving. We were home at 2am.
Our campground was so close to the ferry port, we only had to get up at 4am to make it into the queue at 4.30am. Flo got coffee and some snacks at this ungodly hour (I guess a port never sleeps?) and then we waited. And waited. And waited some more until our ferry arrived. Boarding was surprisingly quick and we were happy to have our own cabin. Venice, see you tomorrow.
To take the stress out of this day, we had opted to camp quite close to Igoumenitsa already. So we had time to waste. First, we hang around Sofas beach camping until 1pm. Then, we had a really late and long lunch. Afterwards, we checked in at the port in Igoumenitsa which didn’t take long at all. What now? Shopping, cleaning the car and some ice cream later, we decided to stay on a campground for half a night and get up at 4am istead of hanging around the port parking lot trying to get some sleep in the car.
Our felt last day was used for Vikos Gorge in an area called Zagori. It’s a mountainous area full of tiny villages and a big canyon. The best place to see the gorge is from Beloi viewpoint which you can only reach after a short hike.
Afterwards we drove to a lovely cafe in Kapesovo.
On the way back, we stopped at Kokkorou, an old stone bridge to take more photos.
Tomorrow is our last day in Greece and we won’t even get a full night’s sleep as we will have to queue for the ferry at 4am. To make it easier on us, we opted for a campground close to Igoumenitsa and returned to our first Greek campground, Sofas beach, for our last night.
As a last hurray for Meteora, we headed to the Monastery of St. Barbara of Roussanou. At least one of the monasteries deserved to be visited. For this one, housing nuns, I was required to wear a skirt. They were handed out at the entrance.
Afterwards, we drove all the way to Ioannina for lunch. Unfortunately, it was about 2pm when we finally arrived at the taverna and everybody was really hungry. Luckily, the buffet style place had something on offer for everyone.
Afterwards, we explored Ioannina, the Municipal Ethnographic Museum and took a boat ride to Ioannina Island in the middle of the lake as a surprise for the kids.
We camped right in town so we could have an early start into the mountains of Zagori tomorrow.
After breakfast, we only hopped to Volos, the bigger town on the peninsula to charge the car to maximum. A fast charger gives you just enough time for a coffee which is exactly what we did. Afterwards, it was a long drive from the Pelion Peninsula to Meteora. Number 3 felt pretty sick again.
Meteora is just stunning. We were super lucky with the weather but all we did today was take the scenic route and enough the viewing “rocks” to look around.
With a stop at a supermarket, we were on the campground just in time for some home-cooked pasta. Greek food is delicious but we really craved something different for one evening.
About an hour’s drive north of Delphi lay our next destnation: Iti National Park. I’d read up on it, opted for a hike to a waterfall and felt generally prepared. Flo did a quick stop at the bakery to buy pastries for lunch and we were all set to start.
And then the hike turned out to be much more involved than I had wanted. The kids and Flo loved it, while I fought vertigo and anxiety seeing my kids move over streams and tree trunks, up steep inclines and hanging from ropes.
In the end, the waterfall was absolutely stunning. It wasn’t the one I had chosen but it was beautiful and we had made it. Plus, when I finally made it there, we met about three classes of Greek pupils aged about 12 years old who did this hike as a field trip.
Driving to Sirka on the Pelion Peninsular afterwards meant another late arrival. But we did the best and opted for dinner in the taverna which was lovely.
Despite arriving super late last night, we had managed to get a super nice campground. Flo made his round this morning, talking to other campers. Our neighbours helped us out with the hole in our tent (happened yesterday while putting up the tent in the dark) and then Flo came across Rick and Sylvie from https://www.instagram.com/seitert2sydney/
We talked and they knew people we know so…it was a very pleasant conversation. 🙂 Good luck on your travels!
Afterwards, we drove the 15km back to the cute town of Arahova which we’d passed last night. Had great lunch with local home-made pasta, a first since we’ve arrived in Greece.
Checked out the archaelogical site in Delphi where the oracle could be consulted. Back early to the same pretty campground to enjoy the view, the pool and some baklava.
April 12th to April 15th
Everything seemed to happen right up until our departure. There was no time to plan (apart from the ferry passage), work was crazy, the kids’ Easter camp was happening, and about a thousand other things. In the end, I packed most of our things alone with Flo using his 10min breaks to carry them downstairs and store them in the car. He worked till 3.20pm which was exactly the time we had to leave to pick up the kids from Easter camp. Which means, we were in time and ready to go…it was just waaaaaay more stress than I had hoped for.
We picked up the kids who’ve had a blast and even managed to talk us into having ice cream with two other kids who’d also attended Easter camp. Afterwards…off we went. South, mostly south for a long while. Flo wanted to see if we managed to cover a lot of mileage that we needed to go while driving at night. Last years holiday and especially the traffic jams right before the Alps made us dread going into the same direction again. Thus, night-time driving might solve this problem for us. After a classic on-the-road burger dinner, the kids even brushed their teeth before we said “good night”. It went okay.
Flo drove till nearly 1 o’clock in the morning when we stopped just south of the Gotthardt tunnel for some sleep in the car. It was a rather uncomfortable night, especially the kids started to complain after a bit of sleep in their seats. Anyhow, we got though it and everybody slept at least a bit. At 5.45am, four little zombies entered the rest stop for coffee and breakfast before heading off bright (*cough*) and early through Switzerland and into Italy.
It was a long day on the road. The ferry would leave tomorrow from Ancona which was still quite a bit further south. But now we were in Italy and the holiday feeling was starting to set in. For a good charge and an even better lunch we stopped in Reggio Emilia. As soon as we walked around, we realized we’d already been in town two years ago on our trip through Northern Italy. Anyhow, lunch was great! Starters of ham, asparagus and eggs, and fried pecorino with honey were followed by good pasta…at which time none of us could eat anymore. Such good food was also a good way of getting over our fright this morning. We hadn’t entered Italy for long when another car cut us off. While nothing grave happened, it threw up stones from the dirty embankment. One of them hit our windscreen and left a little ditch.
After lunch, we tried to get as close to the ferry as we could so that, no matter what life decided to throw at us, we would make it to the ferry. So we ended the day in Riccione, shortly after we passed Rimini.
It was late. We’d been driving for a loooong while, and now the footwell on the passenger’s side, my side, was soaking wet. *sigh* Instead of a quiet evening, Flo started his repair-works, while the kids and I went to the beach for a brief stint. Flo joined us shortly to get his head off things. During dinner, I even managed to ask the right person the right question so with help by a fellow traveller and his compressor, Flo cleared out the blockage in the air conditioning drain hose, the conjestion of which turned out to be the reason for all condensate to have been dumped into the interior instead.
Tomorrow, all we had to do was catch a ferry at 4pm.
This gave us a lot of time for the last 100km of distance to cover. Looking at a map, Flo and I decided to turn back a little and give the city state of San Marino a visit. We got to see the three towers on the cliffside and headed into a great little ice cream place for some pre-lunch ice cream.
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