Mountains again!

Mountains

After being fairly certain that Jane had manoeuvred her way out of the Loutraki labyrinth of roads, highways and byways, and obviously succeeding where the two of us had failed – which leads me to believe unfortunately that it may have been my influence which caused the confusion on our previous ill-fated attempts to leave towns, John and I (down to two Js again) headed off back into the mountains of the Peloponnese.  My fears of going along those mountain roads again were at once alleviated when I realised that (1) I was not driving and (2) he is a far better and more experienced driver than me on those mountain roads.  And strangely enough even though he drove like a maniac at times (or should I say, like a Greek!), I had complete faith in his ability as a driver.

We had a lovely time – him being the pre-eminent tour guide (I have just found out), being proud of both his country and its history- we stopped to drink water from natural springs, coffee in town squares and eventually arrived at his mountain hideaway.  This was a part of Greece that I never knew existed – lush, green and inundated with fir trees, you would have thought that you had been transported to Switzerland or some other alpine area. 

By this time we had confirmation that Jane had reached her destination as she sms’d that she was having her last Greek coffee at the airport.  She has yet to tell me if there were any trials and tribulations attached to her journey.

In the afternoon, John took me on a further scenic drive around through the mountains, pointing out, amongst other things, the monastery where they first raised the flag of rebellion against the Turks, the place where Theodoros Kolokontronis, the ‘bandit’ leader of the Greek War of Independence (o geros tou moria), was born and various wonderful villages, the names of which escape me at the moment – I shall have to go back! J  One of which we stopped to have lunch and where he met some friends.  I was amazed at the architecture, it was so different to anywhere else that I had seen in Greece – thick stone walls with pointed wooden roofs – obviously catering for the very heavy snow falls that they have in the winter – another reason to go back, I want to see it all snow-covered!

However, there was one glaring heartbreaking anomaly amongst all this cool lush greenery – and that was the many bare scarred mountains denuded by the catastrophic fires this area endured a couple of years ago.  I remember reading about them and seeing them on television, but they never show the full extent and enormity of the fires.  And I have read recently that Greece has had 82% of its beautiful vegetation obliterated by fires in the last few years – most caused, as in Australia and other places, by human hand – either accidentally or on purpose.  You just can’t understand what drives people to do such things. 

That night it was actually cold enough to wear jackets and have blankets on beds, when the rest of Greece was sweltering.  The air is different up there too – you notice how fresh and free of pollution it is.  We ventured out in the evening back to the same village and had a couple of drinks and then returned to his hideaway.  The next morning after breakfast we headed off slowly slowly to Patras, where we eventually found (I am glad he was with me to find it) the badly sign-posted KTEL bus stop for Lefkada.

The amazing suspension bridge from Rion to Ante Rion (near to the KTEL bus stop).