Greece Part 10 - The Journey Home - Northern Greece

Monday 27^th June

After 5 days at home during which time we had attended Scott’s graduation and caught up with friends and relatives it was time to return to Greece so we caught the last EasyJet flight of the day from Glasgow to Gatwick where we stayed overnight in the Bloc hotel at the airport.

Tuesday 28^th June

After a good, but short night’s sleep we caught the morning EasyJet flight (EZY 9051) from Gatwick to Thessonaliki. We arrived in Thessonaliki at 11.10 hrs. and as we only had hand luggage to carry we walked the two and a half miles along the side of the busy main road to Vasilladis Marine where both the car and trailer had been stored since early May.

After my return to Kazakhstan in May I had managed to source replacement suspension units in the UK for the trailer and had had a pair (complete with stub axels and breaks) shipped out to Greece in early June. Having arranged with the ever helpful Haroula at Vasilladis Marine to have the units fitted to the trailer in advance of our arrival today, I was keen to see what if anything had been done. 

If the worst came to the worst, I could easily fit the units myself, but that would mean spending a day at the yard and a night in Thessonaliki, both of which we would like to avoid if possible as we wanted to head south to Preveza as soon as possible.

Arriving at the yard we found a mechanic just finishing work on the trailer. The new suspension units were fitted, but the brakes appeared to be causing a bit of a problem as there was confusion about the configuration of the brake linkage. The fact that the trailer was a break-back trailer had not been understood as such trailers do not appear to be common in Greece (in fact the trailer company who carried out the temporary repair in Italy had never seen one either).  Not understanding the way the linkage worked, the yard owner had instructed the mechanic to fit additional brackets to the linkage, which had unfortunately to be removed after I demonstrated that they were preventing the trailer breaking it’s back as it is designed to.

Ready to leave for Preveza

The car as expected started first time and having paid the very reasonable bill for storage and with the empty trailer behind us we set out for Preveza some 220 miles or so to the south west of us.

Our journey across Greece saw us retrace our original route to Thessonaliki from Igoumenitsa on the E90 / A2 until we passed the small town of Mparfe which was just short of Igoumenitsa itself. Here we took exit No 5 and turned south following the E951 / E5 and then the E21 and finally the E952, which took us through the tunnel under the mouth of the inland sea from Preveza on the north side to the marina at the south side.

Just before Preveza we passed what looked to be extensive ruins along the side of the road (E21) these it turned out were the remains of the ancient city of Nicopolis ("Victory City") dating back to the Roman times. The city was built just outside the modern town of Preveza by Augustus, the founder of the Roman Empire, to commemorate his victory at the naval Battle of Actium, on 2 September 31 BC.

The battle saw Octavian's forces (Octavian being the adopted son of Julius Caesar) defeated those of Mark Antony and queen Cleopatra of Egypt. Mark Antony committed suicide after losing the battle, in case you have ever wondered what happened to him.

The city is believed to have, at its peak, a population of 150,000 and continued to thrive under Roman and later Byzantine rule and even later experiencing brief periods of Bulgarian rule until the 10th century after which it appeared to go into decline as history records that the modern Preveza grew around a military outpost built by the Bulgarians, following their conquest of Nicopolis.

The ruins looked to be an interesting place to visit, but as it was late in the afternoon, we decided to go back and visit them another day, knowing we would pass through Preveza again when we started our journey home.

Unfortunately we never did manage back to the ruins as our route north took us to the coastal side (west) of Preveza, so the ruins of Nicopolis remains on our “to do" list for the next time we are back in Greece.

Without having to nurse a damaged wheel bearing we had a much better journey across Greece this time and arrived at the Marina just before 18.00 hrs., having stopped once for lunch and fuel.

We left the car and trailer on the road next to the security guardhouse at the marina’s main gate and found Tra Bhui at the pontoon just as we had left her.

Wednesday 29^th June

After breakfast and after Kathleen had spent a considerable time washing and grooming herself, we hauled Tra Bhui out for the final time. The Cleoppatra Marina where we were staying did not have a slipway, but the very helpful and friendly staff at the marina next door were happy for us to use their slipway at no charge.

Recovering Tra Bui - Preveza 

With Tra Bhui back on her trailer we asked the Manager at the Cleopatra Marina if we could use the hose to wash the accumulated marine growth off Tra Bhui’s hull. Certainly not we were told only the marina staff were qualified to do that (qualified to use a hose!!!!) and that as they were busy (sitting in the sun) they could not do it. 

Even if they could do it we would have to pay for this service in advance. Despite pointing out that we had stayed at the Marina for 9 days during which time we had handed over a large sum of Euros and not used any power or water which we had been charged for, the manager was adamant that we could not wash our hull!

Something needs a wash!

We had found that the staff at the Marina were with the exception of the bar staff who were great, to be some of the most unhelpful people that we had met in Greece! The marina has the potential to be a first class facility if you ignore the smell of the water, which in the berths near the toilets really does stink! However the attitude of the management is one of amazing arrogance to the extent that customers are treated with contempt! 

I would be very reluctant to deal with them again especially when there are other marinas nearby.

De-rigging Tra Bhui outside the marina

The rest of the morning was spent de-rigging and unloading Tra Bhui. Everything that came out of her had to be  packed into the car in a manner that would allow us to access things that we would need during our journey home without having to unpack everything each day. This is easier said than done!

Packed at last we made final use of the marina showers before starting our journey home. Our first stop was in Preveza itself as having read about some of it’s interesting history, we wanted to see the town and find some lunch.

The Ottomans re-founded Preveza around in 1477, and over the next 20 years or so further strengthened the fortifications around it.

The naval Battle of Preveza was fought off the shores of Preveza on the 29^th of September 1538, where the Ottoman fleet of Hayreddin Barbarossa defeated a united Christian fleet under the Genoese captain Andrea Doria. This day is still a Turkish Navy National Holiday.

Preveza was hotly contested in several Ottoman-Venetian Wars, during the period between the 15^th and the 19^th centuries until following the Treaty of Campo Formio, where Napoleon Bonaparte decreed the final dissolution of the Venetian Republic, Preveza – like other Venetian possessions in Greece and Albania – was ceded to Revolutionary France and a small French garrison was established in Preveza.

Napoleon Bonaparte, however, focused his attention in another direction, launching the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria, placing France at war with the Ottoman Empire and giving little thought to the fate of the small Preveza garrison exposed on the edge of Ottoman territory.

In October 1798, the local Ottoman governor Ali Pasha Tepelena – having great ambitions to make himself a semi-independent ruler – attacked Preveza with an overwhelming force. In the Battle of Nicopolis on 12 October 1798 the 7,000 Ottoman troops of Ali Pasha and his son Mukhtar completely overwhelmed the 280 French grenadiers stationed there.

Though Preveza would remain under Ottoman rule for more than a century, the short period of Greek militias active in the city and the shock of the massacre that followed of the both the Greeks and French as well as the influence of the ideas of the French Revolution had a part in the development of Greek nationalism which later contributed towards the start of the Greek War of Independence, three decades later.

According to the Congress of Berlin in 1878, parts of southern Epirus, including Preveza, were to be ceded by the Ottoman Empire to the Kingdom of Greece, but it was not until 1912 during the first Balkan War that control was finally taken by the Greek Army on 21 October and the city was liberated.

After the Balkan Wars the harbor of Preveza became a significant regional commercial center in western Greece.

Along with the rest of Greece, Preveza was occupied by Fascist Italy (1941–1943) and Nazi Germany (1943–1944) during World War II. After the departure of the Wehrmacht from Preveza, in September 1944, an episode of the Greek Civil War known as the Battle of Preveza took place, lasting for 16 days, between armed partisans of the right-wing EDES and the left-wing EAM-ELAS. The fights stopped after the Convention of Cazerta between Great Britain and the two main Greek resistance groups, EDES and ELAS.

Today Preveza is a commercial harbour and tourist hub, with a marina, 4 Museums, two cinemas, an open theatre, a music Hall (OASIS), many clubs, taverns and cafes, benefiting from its proximity to the nearby Aktion National Airport and the nearby island of Lefkada, a major tourist destination.

Despite it’s historic past we found Preveza to be just another Greek town. The waterfront was peasant enough, but slightly run down and the town itself mainly consisted of mostly relatively modern and not particularly nice looking flatted developments. I would however stress that by no means did we see all of Preveza, it is a big town and we had limited time to spend there, so there could well be hidden gems of buildings, parks and areas that we did not see.

Moving back from the waterfront we found a nice little restaurant with tables and chairs set out in the alleyway outside where we ate a lunch of Greek salad and bread after which we resumed our journey northwards.

We were now route planning as opposed to passage planning. Instead of looking for suitable harbours we were looking for suitable campsites. Our criteria for a suitable campsite was location, facilities, size, how busy it would likely be and most importantly could the pitch or parking accommodate a 30 foot long trailer with a boat on it! The need to park Tar Bhui on her trailer precluded us going to a large number of campsites on the way home as the on her trailer she was simply too long for either the pitch or parking.

Our ferry crossing back to Italy from Igoumenitsa in Greece was booked for Friday evening so we wanted to find a suitable campsite not too far from the ferry, near a beach, near a village or small town (to save having to drive every day) and close to some places of interest. We found a likely site just outside the seaside town of Parga.

Camping Volos is located at the end of a beach just to the west of and within easy walking distance the town itself. The road down to the campsite was impressively steep and twisting and with cars parked along both sides of it we knew that once we started descending down it we were committed to going to the bottom as there was obviously no place to turn before then. 

Had we not been towing Tra Bhui with a powerful 4 x 4 I would have been reluctant to drive down to Camping Volos as while the descent would have been OK, getting back up to the main road after our stay might have been a bit more of a problem with the trailer weighing in at just under 2 tons. But the our Toyota Landcruiser with it’s massive torque dealt with both the descent and ascent with ease.

Camping Volos

Camping Volos was fortunately quiet as we were arriving just before the start of the Greek and Italian peak holiday season.  We found a pretty decent pitch on to which both the car and trailer fitted, but to access it we needed to drive over a number of other pitches. Had the site been busy we would have either had problems getting on to or off of the pitch.

Camping Volos

Once on the pitch and with the car parked alongside the trailer it was time to put up our roof tent for the first time since collecting it from the factory in Italy in April.

Erecting our roof tent for the first time

The tent which is we had purchased was a Maggiolina MC14 made by Autohome in Italy.   Living in Scotland where the sun does not always shine and where rain is not unknown, we had steered away from the larger and cheaper canvas tents going instead for the largest tent made by Maggiolina.

Looking like an oversized roof box, it has an insulated glassfibre roof and acrylic fabric walls which are both waterproof and breathable. The tent came complete with an inbuilt mattress, alloy access ladder, pillows and led internal lighting.

The tent we found to be very simple to erect as it is raised and lowered by winding a detachable handle either clockwise or anticlockwise, something that takes under a minute. An additional benefit of the tent is that pillows and bedding can be left inside when the tent is lowered for travelling thereby reducing the amount of gear carried inside the car.

Camping Volos was pretty quiet when we were there

Having not really planned our return journey before leaving the UK in April we found ourselves wishing that we had brought our folding table and chairs with us, but we solved this omission while at Camping Volos by simply borrowing a table and chairs from a stack of discarded bar furniture that we found stored behind the toilet block.

The restaurant we ate at set on top of the hill overlooking the bay

Our campsite set up we set out to explore the immediate area on foot before eating at a restaurant set high on the hill that separates the beach and bay from the town of Parga.

Thursday 30^th June

After a morning run and breakfast we left Tra Bhui on the pitch and headed south again by car to the nearby village of Ammoudia which was according to our guidebook one of the most likely sites for the fabled River Styx.

The river of Styx is according to Greek mythology the river that forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld (Hades). The rivers Styx, Phlegethon, Acheron, Lethe, and Cocytus all converge at the center of the underworld on a great marsh, which sometimes is also called the Styx.

Obviously going to find the entrance to the underworld had all the trappings of a fun day out!

The riverside in the village of Ammoudia

Arriving in Ammoudia which was only a 30 minute drive away we parked up under the shade of a tree behind the town’s perfect, but empty beach and set out to find the promised site of the temple that was used to prepare the bodies. After an hour or so of fruitless searching and with a fair amount of negative comments having been made about Greek direction signs we decided to stop for a cold drink at a bar beside the river before heading back inland to nearby Mesopotamos where we hoped to find some different direction signs to follow.

Sure enough we quickly found better signs which lead us to what was thought to be the site of the Nekromantio Acheronta.

The site was well preserved and subject to a fairly reasonable entrance fee which we paid as we were keen to see the site in more detail. To simply describe it the site contains a lot of large and well cut stones in the forms of various walls, There is large underground chamber which we reached by descending a steep steel stair. On top of the original (ancient) ruins which until fairly recently were all completely buried under metres of dirt a newer church has been built, The church now sites up in the air as the dirt covering the ancient ruins has been excavated and removed from site.

A number of information boards told us about the site

The really impressive underground chamber - built with no obvious means of access

As to the history of what we were looking at; I will leave that to the official information that we were given when we visited the site:-

The remains of a number of walls and buildings were plain to see

Situated close to ancient Ephyra, on the top of a small hill, on the northwestern side of which lies the present day village of Mesopotamos, is the most important and most ancient Oracle of the Dead of Antiquity, the Nekyomanteion  of Acheronta.

It is thought that it was here that the ancients located the Gates of the Underworld which led to the kingdom of Hades.

Charon, the ferryman of Hades carried dead souls across the River Styx to the entrance of Hades, after having received a coin which was placed in or on the mouth of the dead by their relatives to pay for passage.

Upon the bank of the river Styx stood Cerberus, the guardian three-headed hound with a lion tail that ended in a serpent.

Restored vases and urns

Upon entering the Underworld, the souls presented themselves to the four judges, Pluto, Minos, Rhadamanthys and Aeacus who decided over their deeds during their life on earth. Only few mortals managed to descend to Hades alive and come back to life again.

The alluvial deposits of the rivers Acheron(Styx), Cocytus (Mavros) and Pyriphlegethon (Vovos), contributed to the formation of a marsh and later a lake, the Acherusia, which today has dried up. There is a rock with a cave on the northwest side of the lake at the meeting point of the three rivers which was an ideal location to erect the Oracle. A renowned place, also known through Homer's eloquent descriptions (eighth century BC), for centuries a popular destination where mortals turned in order to meet the dead, bring proper offerings, and predict things to come.

One of a number of intact walls which are over 2000 years old

The stonework was really impressive

The physical and spiritual tests experienced during their stay for days on end in the dark rooms of the Necromanteion: the isolation, the magical rituals, the prayers, the summoning’s, the wandering through dark corridors and the common belief in apparitions of the dead created the necessary psychic predisposition in the pilgrim. The special diet which the pilgrims were required to have contributed to this considerably. The main sanctuary is rectangular with 22 m long sides. It comprises the main hall, corridors and reception rooms, and for the staff, preparation rooms, storing rooms where clay jars with visitors' offerings have been preserved, the labyrinth and the actual sanctuary where the oracles were given.

Looking north from the top of the site

The oracle, known to everyone of Hellenic origin since Homer's epoch, was burnt down and destroyed by the Romans in 167 BC. After its destruction, the courtyard was inhabited again in the first century BC. In the eighteenth century the Monastery of Agios Ioannis Prodromos (Saint John the Baptist) was built upon the ruins of the Oracle, the primary temple (Katholikon) which still stands upon the ruins.

According to Herodotus, the river Styx originates near Feneos. Styx is also a goddess with prehistoric roots in Greek mythology as a daughter of Tethys, after whom the river is named and because of whom it had miraculous powers.

After a very enjoyable visit and full of interest in mythological Greece we set out to walk to a nearby smaller temple which our ticket we thought gave us access to. But as it was Thursday it was shut! So we never found out what the temple was or how it related to or was part of the underworld. Defeated by a locked gate we headed back to the car stopping on the way to buy cold drinks and pastries from the town’s baker.

View back to the beach and river from the breakwater

Returning back to Ammoudia we parked near the river mouth at the south end of what was now a very busy little beach. It was amazing how many people had arrived in the few hours since we had been there in the morning. After a short walk and a swim we headed back to the campsite.

In the evening we climbed over the hill to nearby Parga for dinner. Parga which goes back to the 14^th century is built on what is thought to have been the even older ancient town of Toryne.

Parga was originally built on top of the mountain "Pezovolo". In 1360 the Pargians, in order to avoid the attacks of the Magrebins, transferred the village to its present location. During that period, with the help of the Normans, who held the island of Corfu, the fortress of Parga was built on the hill that we had just climbed over when walking from the campsite to the town.

Parga from the adjacent hill

In 1401 a treaty was signed with the Venetians, and the rule of Ionian Islands passed to them. The Venetians respected the lifestyle of the Pargians who provided, in turn, invaluable assistance to the fleet of the Venetians. At the same time the Pargians fought by the side of their compatriots to throw off the Ottoman rule. As Parga was the only free Christian village of Epirus, it was a perfect refuge for persecuted fighters and their families. In 1797 the area, along with the Ionian Islands and Parga, fell into the hands of the French, and in 1800, proclaimed free city status with broad authority under the protection of the Sublime Porte. In 1815, with the fortunes of the French failing, the citizens of Parga revolted against French rule and sought the protection of the British.

In 1817, following a treaty between Britain and the Ottoman Empire, the British granted Parga to the Ottomans – never trust the British as they swap countries and rearrange borders all over the world with stunning regularity!

Looking up at the castle

This resulted in the Good Friday of 1819 where 4,000 Pargians, having with them the ashes of the bones of their ancestors, their sacred images, flags and a handful of soil from their homeland, exiled themselves in the British protectorate of Corfu where they settled. The former citizens of Parga never ceased to dream of returning to a free country and to participate actively in the struggle for liberation. But they had to wait almost 100 years for this. Parga and the rest of Epirus was liberated from the Ottoman rule on 1913 following the victory of Greece in the Balkan Wars.

From the castle looking west - Camping Volos is 1/3 of the way in from the LHS

With 3 near perfect beaches (to either side and in front) Parga is now a tourist hotspot and even when we were there before peak season, the town appeared to be bursting at the seams with tourists, many of who were British. The town itself had no real appeal to us as it was too busy, full of awful tourist shops, restaurants and bars where fast food and cheap drinks were the order of the day. We were fortunate to find a nice quiet traditional Greek restaurant at the top of small private beach to the east of the main town where we had a very nice dinner before we walked back to the campsite.

Friday 1^st July

We were due to move on today heading north to Igoumenitsa to catch the evening ferry to Brindisi in Italy. After another morning run and breakfast we asked the campsite owners if we could stay on our pitch until the afternoon as the campsite was quiet (almost empty). This would allow us time to go and explore the well preserved 11^th century castle that stands on the headland between the bay where we were staying and Parga.

The Castle and town from above

The Castle was initially built in the 11th century by the residents of Parga to protect their town from pirates and the Turks. In the 13th century, as their control of the region increased, the Venetians rebuilt the castle to fortify the area. In 1452, Parga and the castle were occupied by the Ottomans for two years during which time part of the castle was demolished. 1537, Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa burnt and destroyed the fortress and the houses within.

The ruins are pretty intact if a bit overgrown

There was a number of vaulted buildings and cellars

Before the reconstruction of the castle in 1572 by the Venetians, the Turks demolished it once again. The Venetians rebuilt it for the third and last time creating a perfect, strong fortress that stayed impregnable until 1819, despite attacks, especially by Ali Pasha of Ioannina, who besieged them from the castle of Agia-Anthousa. The Venetians created a perfect defense plan which they combined with the natural fortification made the fortress. Outside the castle eight towers placed in different positions completed the defense. Inside the narrow space of citadel there were 400 houses, positioned so that they occupied only a small space far away from the seaside.

From this castle the free-besieged population of Parga and Souli fought epic battles, retaining their freedom for centuries.

From the faucet “Kremasma” the tanks of the castle and the houses were provided with water. The castle for its provision used the two bays of Valtos and Pogonia. When Parga was sold to the Ottomans, Ali Pasha enhanced it even more by placing both its harem and Turkish bath at the top, which radically improved the rooms within the castle itself.

Sitting on a terrace within the castle overlooking the bay

After lunch at the castle we walked back to the campsite for a quick swim in the sea. Once packed (we left the table and chairs where we found them) we left Camping Volos at a fairly late time of 15.00 hrs. and retraced our route to the main road and then turned north to Igoumenitsa which was only 30 miles from Parga.

Igoumenitsa is the chief port of the Thesprotia and Epirus regions, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, connecting northwestern Mainland Greece with the Ionian Islands and Italy. The city is built on easternmost end of the Gulf of Igoumenitsa in the Ionian Sea and primary aspects of the economy are maritime, transport, services, agriculture and tourism. The 670 km (420 mi) long Egnatia Highway, which serves northern Greece, terminates at Igoumenitsa, making it the main gateway port for northern Greece and Turkey

Arriving in Igoumenitsa we easily found the ferry terminal and with our car and trailer parked up in the car park outside and having checked in for our crossing we headed into town to have a look around.

It was late afternoon and both of us fancied something to eat. I had my mind set on a frozen yogurt if we saw a shop selling them or failing that a coffee and something to eat. A large and busy town, Igoumenitsa was pretty unappealing as a place to visit – again we only saw part of the town, but that part did include the waterfront and the pedestrianized town centre. I am sure there are nicer parts of the town but we can only judge it based on what we saw.

We struggled to find anywhere selling frozen ice-cream so we concentrated on a coffee and something to eat instead. Surprisingly it was hard – no impossible – to find anywhere selling coffee that either looked nice enough to go into or was selling anything to eat! Eventually we came across what must be Greece’s smallest frozen yogurt franchise, but it was big enough for two very nice and welcome frozen yogurts.

With time to kill we sat in the sunshine outside a large church overlooking the harbour and read our books before walking back along the sea front to the ferry terminal.

Looking along the sea front at Igoumenitsa from old harbour to new harbour

Walking back to the ferry terminal was due to a difference of opinion. Kathleen obviously not having been too impressed with the town thought that we would be better eating in the ferry terminal while I on the other hand had seen nothing but stand up fast food and sandwich outlets at the terminal and thought that we would be better eating in town.

Having checked that the car and trailer were still where we left them and that they had not been tampered with, the possibility of picking up a stowaway from Syria at the back of our minds we headed back into town having discounted eating at the ferry terminal after seeing what was on offer.

We had seen a number of restaurants not too far away and decided to try one of these. The one we chose was not great, but it was cheap and neither of us suffered any ill effects from it.

By now it was time to get ourselves to the queue for the ferry, something that is normally a quite simple affair, that is anywhere apart from Greece! The port entry gate is at the end of the motorway where a number of roads and slip roads come together. This means that there are at least 4 lanes of traffic trying to get into 2 or 3 gate lines within a distance of under 100m. The gate lines make no concession to compensate for where you are coming from so there is immediate chaos as trucks and cars intermingle as they try and get into the correct lane. Matters are not helped by the speed at which vehicles are checked and inspected. Each vehicle takes a while, but not because the checks and inspections are exhaustive, but because the port officials none of whom have any form of uniform and all of whom are smoking, simply move slowly or not at all.

Even more bizarrely one we eventually got into the port – there was no inspection of Tra Bhui which at 26 feet long and with her full cover in place could have been carrying anything inside – you drive into an enormous parking area where there are no lanes or any structured parking of any kind. Here you simply find the berth where you think the ferry may dock at and then park as near to it as you can.

The evening was memorable for all the wrong reasons and Kathleen decided that she was better sitting outside the ferry terminal reading while we waited for the ferry while I remained with the car.

Ready to board, but waiting on the ferry which hasn't arrived yet

The ferry which was meant to depart at 01.00hrs on Saturday morning and which we expected to board around midnight did not actually arrive in port until 02.45 hrs. delaying our departure to 03.20 hrs. A delay which we could have done without!

Ferries by night

With a crossing time of under 8 hrs. we felt that a cabin was not justified, which is just as well as all the affordable ones were taken! We had planned on sleeping on the deck, something that is quiet a normal thing to do on a Greek ferry. We found a quiet corner inside on the upper deck just at the end of the corridor leading to the stateroom cabins where we settled in for the night as the ferry took us out of Greek waters.