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.
Ypati was suggested by the Lonely Planet as a good starting point for hikes
So we started a 2,4km round trip to a waterfall. That’s what I signed up for.
The first “sight” along the way was this wind hole which was actually pretty cool
Next to the signpost telleing us to go left to see the wind hole, we had lunch.
Now it’s starting to look like a hike in a national park
Both kids loved finding the way markers
Then, we came to this dry river bed which was to be crossed. It was the first time I went “hm….”
Looking out over the dried up river bed
Next up, we had to cross a small stream. Luckily, there were enough stepping stones
Why are there metal steps? Why is it so steep?
Both kids and Flo LOVED the track while it wasn’t what I had signed up for….like at all
And then, you had to cross a freaking tiny trunk holding on to a steel cable!
Number 3 did it nearly without help
Yeah….this was not the hike I expected. It had so many climbing parts
And then we were at the waterfall. The sun came through the opening and I stopped complaining. 😉
Waterfall-gazing kids
Family with waterfall
In the shade, with the water spray, the Agent was cold all of a sudden. Cuddling helped
And now….at least for the last part, we had to retrace the track. Up the metal handholds and ropes
And down the steeep parts
Now there was even a bridge over the stream on the way out
For a bit, this dog accompanied us on the hike. I didn’t find out if his owner was around or if he was just living here
Sundown at Camping Sirka on the Pelion peninsular. After the hike, we had to drive for quite a while again to get to the next campground
So we opted for a late dinner in the campground taverna, right at the sea. Fresh fish was on the menu, as well as baked cheese with veggies
After breakfast at our pretty empty camp ground, Flo decided to give blue George a wash. He was already worse for wear after three weeks on the road before the dirt road to our previous camp.
Leg parade
Freshly
washed, we took a gravel road to the local beach. 🙂 It was the one recommend
to us yesterday and it was totally our jam. Lovely beach with a river estuary
and now at low tide there were pools and rocks to explore. We spent a good hour
doing just that and Number 3 really digged the puddles of seawater. After
complaints about how hard it is to walk in deep sand, he was now of on his own,
splishing and splashing…getting a very wet and sandy bum. The whole scenery
reminded us of landscape photography calendars. So beautiful!
There were
just two types of people at the beach: Surfers and families with small kids.
And not many of each of them. It was overcast in the morning which made the
beach exploration more enjoyable. I didn’t melt into a puddle of sweat walking
through scorching sunshine for example.
Baby got a
new, dry outfit and a non-sandy diaper…and was asleep pretty much the second we
started the car. Completely knackered. Thus, we had a quiet drive to Odeceixe,
our next beach destination for today. We arrived in the small town of Odeceixe at
lunch time. So lunch seemed Odeceixe like a good idea before heading towards
another beach. I looked up some places here and found a no-nonsense grilled
meat and seafood place which seemed like just the place for Flo to have fresh
fish in Portugal.
The
restaurant turned out to be amazing. It had everything: fresh seafood, even a
vegetarian dish, a baby chair for Number 3, waiters and customers entertaining
the baby and last but not least delicious desserts. Lunch turned into a bit of
a feast there while we made our way through the pickled carrots starter, the curry
or grilled fish and the Alejento delight at the end. Number 3 tried everything
and for once actually ate a good amount.
On a high
note and in good spirits we went to Ocedeixe beach. It was definitely busier
than the first one we’ve seen today. Again, it was a river estuary with the river
coming in a wide bend, forming a big sandbank. Here, kids played in the fresh
water while on the other side, the Atlantic Ocean came in with great waves.
Flags were up, telling you it’s not fully safe to swim but putting your feet in
is okay.
We stayed a
bit shorter here as Number 3 was scared by the big waves coming in. The first
one nearly knocked him off his feet and everybody was a bit more cautious after
that. The wave was high enough to warrant another new outfit for the day. 😉
More hat games
For now, we
said goodbye to the coastline. Our next camp ground was inland again, halfway
to the next town we want to visit. Number 3 dutifully sleep again. Playing with
the waves and the walking on sand clearly tires a baby. We had picked another
Dutch run camp ground as our next night stop and took our time to get there.
Flo had called ahead so we had a spot and the roads inland were lovely. Rolling
hills with trees, all meadows full of flowers, stork nests everywhere. It
reminded us a lot of “Home to Home”, the first time we felt like we experienced
some of the country while driving through it. We even had enough time for a
quick coffee/ tea stop with the obligatory custard tart.
The camp ground Serro da Bica is another one of those great places to spend a night. As most days though, we were in a rush after arriving. The tent had to be set up, dinner needed to be prepared and then we had another round of laundry to do. Afterwards, there was some time to get a drink with the owners and other campers. This time, the conversation was entirely in German as most people staying here at the moment are Germans. A pleasant chance form being the odd one out.
