winter in Greece

[snailsontour]

peterandlinda - 2010-11-26 3:36 PM

 

Hi

A couple of days ago we drove around the Likodhimo Mountains from Finikounda, via Koroni to Kalamata. We had been told that on the waterfront, a couple of Km west of the harbour, we could get LPG but it was not to be. We drove up the dirt track up the side of the depot and enquired, but were told that they could only refill bottles, not Gaslow cylinders. We didn’t push the point but suppose if we’d shown them the yellow cylinders they may have had a suitable adaptor – in any case we weren’t too impressed by the two operatives having a break, fags on the go, in the middle of a propane tank farm!

 

 

To refill bottles at the lpg depot outside Kalamata you have to remove the bottles from the vehicle as they are filled by weight. They refill anything ie refillable (Gaslow) or non-refillable bottles (Calor Propane, butane). And hey, fags on the go etc - this is Greece remember!

 

Be warned, if you do go to Athens, there are only 5 fuel stations (regardless of what are listed) that will refill your bottles. - Ask any taxi driver for help if you need it.

[Don Madge]

snailsontour - 2010-12-03 10:02 PM

To refill bottles at the lpg depot outside Kalamata you have to remove the bottles from the vehicle as they are filled by weight. They refill anything ie refillable (Gaslow) or non-refillable bottles (Calor Propane, butane). And hey, fags on the go etc - this is Greece remember!

 

Just a word of warning on refilling gas bottles at the gas plants in Greece.

 

Before you attempt to use the bottles make sure you "GAS OFF" if you don't you could get liquid gas coming through your burners.

 

Over the years we have refilled Calor bottles at Kalamata and Athens and often they have been overfilled.

 

To "GAS OFF" find a quiet location, take the bottles down wind from the van and slowly open the valve just a fraction.

 

If the bottle has been over filled liquid gas will come out of the bottle. Once the liquid has stopped flowing you then have vapour and the bottle is safe to use.

 

We once spent about ten minutes gassing off a bottle so don't panic if it takes a few minutes.

 

This does not apply to the refillable bottles as they have the 80% shut off valve which stops overfilling.

 

Safe travelling.

 

Don

[peterandlinda]

Hi

 

A bit more on our journey:

 

We left Monemvasia but didn’t go too far, just 23Km up the coast to Limeni Gherakas. We parked on a car park by the ‘sea loch’ before the village with a beautiful view across two km of calm inlet (N36°47.280’ E23°04.928’). Within half an hour of arriving a friendly local told us that a better place was available round the headland and through the village. We had coffee and a sit in the sun and then walked into the village along the quay, an inch or so above the water, passing the odd seasonal taverna or two (closed) and ending up by the main harbour where there were German, Danish and Greek motor homes well ensconced on ramps with chocks, gennys etc. We asked if there was water available but they said no (but they clearly had some arrangement.) There was room for us but we decided to stay where we were, because it was more sheltered from the gusty southerly winds. The whole inlet is very sheltered, we were forecast 30 knot southerlies although it was 25° C and sunny for much of the day.

Many thanks from us to the MHF forum member who sent us details of this lovely location. We liked it so much we stayed the next day too (partly because for part of the day it was still very windy) and sat in awe of the scenery challenging each other to think of a more perfect spot we had stayed - the Hebrides, the Rockies and Austria were compared but rejected.

We don’t have the quality of camera lenses or skill to record it but looking over this inlet towards isolated stands of cypress reflected in the water, with Heron standing motionless and Egrets swooping down is something to behold, but there aren’t any facilities, nor shops so we went back to Monemvasia (yes – again!) for another night and to refill the water. The weather turned a bit cool (by Peloponnese standards) and we even had the gas heating on for a while and in the morning the auto changeover on the Gaslow had switched to the second cylinder (after almost a fortnight without mains power) so we did a bit of map study and decided to drive, via Skala and Sparta to the Autogas outlet at Tripoli. We stopped at Lidl and Carrefour in Skala to stock up.

We then drove to and beyond Nafplio, most of this road is very good and unusually wide but as you come down from the mountains towards the Argholikos Gulf the views were astounding, not that the driver had much time to look at them because there is a long series of hairpin bends.

We chose to stay at Iria Beach Camping beyond Nafplio (N 37.49717° E 22.99059°) because the weather forecast was predicting high winds followed by temperatures down to minus 4°C over the next few days and we also needed to do some laundry and a bit of cleaning. The site has hot water, 16amp hook-ups and good Wifi (for €17 a week). There are a handful of Northern Europeans staying here for the winter (most of whom have bizarrely stuck notices on individual doors in the toilets claiming ownership). We were quoted €15 a night, including power which whilst not cheap seemed reasonable. There is also a book exchange in reception but although there were many books in German and Dutch, some in French and Greek we only found three in English which of course we had already read. We spent the afternoon sorting out the boot and making sure that gloves and hats were readily accessible in case they were soon needed.

 

P&L

[le canichot depang]

Love reading your posts and takes us back to 26yrs ago when we spent nearly a year in Greece in an old, cold transit conversion. We worked at a campsite near Nafplion in a little seaside port called Tolo (Tolon), it was called Camping Lido, I think there were actually 2 campsites of the same name Lido 1 & Lido 2 about a mile down the road. It was a lovely little town with a harbour at the end which in the winter you would probably be able to camp at, everything else was closed in the winter. We also did some orange picking for a couple of months during the winter from around Sparta and up around Patras and if my memory serves me correctly, the weather was nice up until the New Year when it suddenly became very cold in the mornings, but then the way that weather patterns have been changing anything could happen!

Keep on with the journey it is lovely hearing about it - thank you

[peterandlinda]

Hi

 

We drove past Camping Lido the other day, it is still there but was closed.

 

To continue the saga:

 

It didn’t drop below freezing and stayed at +2° at the lowest but with a brisk northerly wind blowing it certainly felt like it was below freezing and we did need the gloves and hats. We walked (rather briskly) in a southerly direction along the seashore for a mile or so and discovered a small minimarket which surprisingly was open although it looked well shut from outside. Whilst there wasn’t much stock at this time of year there was fresh milk, yoghurt, cheese and some fruit and vegetables that were in a bit of a sorry state. The guy had to unlock the fridge outside for us to get some milk out and in conversation informed us that the shop was open 12 hours daily 7 days per week. He had his net book out and presumably a good connection to keep him from total boredom during these winter days. We felt we should return to shop even if we didnt’t need much. In the fields along the road we greeted people harvesting Broccoli and we identified other maritime crops like globe artichokes – the soil does look very rich.

After a week at Iria beach we went back to Nafplio via the AB supermarket at Argos (on the Nafplio road) and stayed for a night on the harbour (N37.568007° E22.800718°) A wander around the old town was extended into a leisurely lunch on Sintagma square, where we also bought English papers, followed by Italian ice-cream round the corner at Antica Gelateria di Roma – an experience not to be missed (we made our own ice-cream before we set off on our travels and though no-one has yet matched that, this came pretty close).

On to Salandi beach (N37°26.989’ E23°07.411). This was not without its twists, turns and road discrepancies. Between Nafplio and Lighourio there is a road on the map, and on our TomTom, which is not yet open and Dhidhima has now been bypassed – you need to look out for a right turn off the Spetses road to take you into the village and on to Salandi. What a curious place this is, there is a big 1960s hotel which looks like it has been derelict since the ‘70s, a ‘holiday village’ development which looks like it has never opened, a few scattered, half built villas and a big pebbly beach with a little chapel at each end of it. We parked right next to one of the chapels for the night, ten feet from an azure sea.

From Salandi we made our way south along the Argolid peninsula, intending to stop for a night at PortoCheli, but there appeared to be a travelling fair set up on the parking area, so we set off again east past Ermioni (couldn’t stay there – market day) and along the East coast road. This road is awful, badly maintained, twisting, narrow and badly signed. It does improve a bit north of Galatas though. After 120 difficult km we spent the night on the harbour at Archea Epidavros (N 37.63694 E 23.16188). Coming through the town we had a police car bipping his siren at us (not really at us, the narrow one way system was blocked by a delivery driver in a white van). Finally to end off a less than perfect day it rained heavily.

We carried on North West to look at the Corinth canal at Isthmia (which gave us the expression Isthmus apparently) and were lucky enough to see a huge ship entering the canal over the top of the road bridge which they lowered into the canal. Inventive lot the Victorians, even if they were French. We spent the night at the new Camper stop at ancient Corinth and had a look at the ruins through the fence (well it is €6 each to get in). The Camper stop (N37°54.696’ E22°52.742’) is seemingly converted from a farm yard but has everything you could need for €10 a night and is about 400 metres from the archaeology.

 

P&L

[LordThornber]

Fantastic reading, as ever and thankyou.

 

Martyn

[Guest JudgeMental]

what are the daytime temps like? recently in Alicante it has been 20 deg C

 

To Be honest your trip is starting to sound a bit grim now....I dont really think Greece a proper winter destination. Surely Spain/North Africa better.......

[cleo]

:-D brilliant blog peter and linda keep sendin them :D

[peterandlinda]

JudgeMental - 2010-12-17 10:12 PM

 

what are the daytime temps like? recently in Alicante it has been 20 deg C

 

To Be honest your trip is starting to sound a bit grim now....I dont really think Greece a proper winter destination. Surely Spain/North Africa better.......

 

Hi Judge

 

I think you are correct, generally the South East of Spain is the warmest and driest place in Europe in the winter - but we were there last winter and it was the worst weather thay had had for sixty years, so we thought we'd try Greece and so far not bad. It is plus 15 degrees here in Finikounda at the moment (I guess about twenty more than most of the UK!)and we are promised 20 degrees by Christmas eve, but it was only two degrees in Corinth this morning with a touch of ground frost. We have had the same northerly winds here that you've had, but they are now swinging round to the south again and it ain't far to the Sahara.

 

P&L

[Guest JudgeMental]

That is better then Alicante which is appprox 11-12 deg C at the moment...you enjoy yourselves! :-D

 

6 inches of snow (again) in London :-S

[Don Madge]

Hi P & L,

 

Get yourselves to Crete you won't regret it especially in the south of the island.

 

Don

[peterandlinda]

Don Madge - 2010-12-18 3:56 PM

 

Hi P & L,

 

Get yourselves to Crete you won't regret it especially in the south of the island.

 

Don

 

Thanks Don, we are thinking Crete and Turkey for next winter via the overland route so I am sure we will have lots of questions for you before then. We have returned to Finikounda and are planning a campsite stay over Xmas and New Year then we are off to Southern Italy.

 

L+P

[peterandlinda]

Hi

 

From Corinth we drove rapidly down the motorway, via Tripoli for another gas top-up, to Kalamata for a LIDL fix and on to Finikounda for a while over Christmas, staying again at Camping Thines. We had a good lunch at the Taverna Elena on the Sunday before Christmas, Saganaki, Sardines and Souvlaki, but we were told that they were closed over both the Christmas and New Year weekends. At Camping Thines, three ladies went for a swim on Christmas morning, an annual event we understand, one was the campsite owner, another one her daughter and the third a permanent (UK) resident (sorry, our memory for names is awful) – somebody’s son joined them briefly but neither of us was tempted. There were three vans on site apart from the English resident, an Austrian couple who were staying until April, a German couple who left on Boxing Day (we were pleased because they were noisy) and us. Apparently Camping Finikes, the other open campsite further out of town, was much busier.

We then lazed about for nearly a fortnight, spending quite a time sitting in the sun with highs of 20° in the daytime. We then drove to Katakolo on the way to Patras for a return visit and we were rather surprised at how quiet the place was on New Year’s Eve, though the two ships in harbour sounded their whistles at midnight and there were a dozen desultory fireworks. On New Year’s Day though, by lunchtime, the place was heaving.

So on to Patras, which deserves a particular mention. The approach to the port was OK (Sunday morning after New-Year) and we arrived at the passenger terminal early (we always arrive early, anywhere) and eventually managed to park in a place that was not obstructing other traffic. Within two minutes we had someone lying down under the back of the van looking to see if there was space for him to hide. As the co-pilot was attempting to check in for our ferry in the passenger terminal, the pilot was monitoring the back of the van on the rear view camera. During the time we were parked at Patras there must have been twenty attempts to find a space under the van but after a while (and we are a little ashamed by this) there seemed to be no alternative but to start the engine as the next one got head, shoulders and torso underneath. They all came out very quickly, but smiling – they knew the game, but none seemed to realise that we could see them on camera. One young man in a Santa Claus hat climbed up the ladder on the back. We have to admit that we started the engine, reversed quickly, and tested the brakes. He got off.

We were eventually told to drive a km south to gate one, enter the port and drive back to the passenger terminal inside the port security fence and “board the boat when it arrives”, the first bit of which we did, dutifully. We drove towards the passenger terminal, safely on the inside of the port security fence, only to find more groups of young men trying to find a space under our van. The problem then was that there were no further directions or signage as to where to go next. We later discovered the parking/waiting area by asking a coach driver (they really are very helpful people!) and there was a police presence in the waiting area – what a difference – though we still had the van searched inside, underneath (at some length) and outside.

We do feel sorry for these desperate young men, but not when they are trying to use us as a vehicle to prosperity, and their behaviour was quite intimidating.

Our advice to anyone joining a ferry at Patras is:

• Before you go, make sure that every door is locked, including the lockers.

• Don’t arrive before the latest recommended time.

• If you can, get into the port area before you check in.

• Until you leave your van on the boat, don’t leave it unattended.

 

This brings our Greek adventure to an end for this trip although we already plan to return next year and also visit Turkey and Crete. For now we are off to Southern Italy another first for us. Although TomTom don’t claim 100% coverage of Greece, the coverage was excellent and we also relied a great deal on the excellent Peloponnese atlas which we obtained from Stanfords in London (Anavasi Digital) which was £30. This has 1:50,000 detail and is based on satellite imaging so it is very accurate and you can easily use it to work out GPS co-ordinates.

 

P&L

[gfere40]

Hi there,

I have been in UK, for 4 years, and I know how much British people  love their holidays close to a beach in Caribbean, Paxos, Corfu, but I am here to propose you something different regarding Winter in Greece. I am from Ioannina and a small place called Papigo.

Papigo is a small village next to Vikos Gorge, a fantastic place that combines Natural Beauty and some perfect holidays with waterfalls, natural lakes and many many others that nature brought in that place so easy.

Regards

Grigoris