I don’t think the Lonely Planet guide to Greece really does Igoumenista justice, as, whilst not the prettiest place nor particularly interesting, it was a nice introduction to Greece and we immediately felt a more chilled out vibe as we restocked on food, took out some Euros from the ATM and tracked down a bookshop to buy a Rama road atlas. We even joined the locals in a coffee and watched the morning “rush hour”. SPOT
We’d decided to head into the hills to Gliki to see if we could find any other overlanders as they are meant to congregate near the village, as recommended by Sam Watson from the RGS in his Greece article in the June LRO. However, it looks like everyone has disbanded for the season as upon arriving at the GPS coordinates all we found was an empty parking lot by the river. Still, it was a nice spot for lunch and a brew, and Anne has a quick snooze to make up for last night. SPOT
Parga was our stop for the night, a pretty village housed in a curved sandy bay, overlooked by a ruined Venetian castle. Apparently something of a holiday hotspot on this part of the coast, especially with Italian tourist during July and August, this time of year it’s nice and quiet. We’re finding being out of season is great for all things touristy, no annoying foreigners around! Our good deed for the day was rescuing a tortoise on the way to Parga who had wandered into the road. Anne was all for stuffing him into the Land Rover in order to take him back to the UK as company for their family tortoise, but as he’d be with us for quite a while (and I’m not sure he’d get into Australia) I persuaded her to leave him in the verge.
Since arriving in Greece the temperature has jumped 10 degrees and as the sun was out we both went for a swim in the clear aquamarine waters - now we’re on holiday.
My aunt has been coming to Greece for years and now we know why, as, whilst we have only been here less than a day, we’ve both fallen for the place. A meal out in Parga introduced us to Greek cuisine, and the restaurant owner helped us with our pronunciation (and gave us free Ouzo).
At the campsite were Paul and Steve, on a month’s motorbike tour of Europe (on a BMW GS1150 and a GS1200 in case you are interested). They had some good stories to tell, both of their current tour (Albania was a “highlight”), and of a previous trip doing the Paris-Dakar rally route the year it was cancelled - they went along it a few weeks before the Mauritanians started taking pot shots at the pre-scouts, which led to its cancellation. They had been caught by bad weather through Europe and down through the Dalmatian coast and so I think they were glad of some sun. SPOT
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