Bicycle Tour of Peloponnese, Greece,
From Korinth to Olympia
September/October, 2018
Day 6
Ride downhill from Kalavrita to Patras.
Ride through Vineyards and Olive Orchards.
Above: Three Stages of Love - This amazing set of pictures was on the wall of our lodging.
Above Left: Our morning view, we did not know what the weather was going to do. It would snow here this night, but our downhill ride would change us from cool jacket weather to partly sunny bike jersey weather. We would see just a few sprinkles this morning.
Above Right: Our morning briefing, Benton is at the helm.
Above Left: Loading the luggage.
Above Right: Readying for the ride, Terry and the Bee are at the left.
Above Left: Riding out.
Above Right: The restaurant where we had last night's wonderful dinner and conversation.
Above: Riding west - That is probably Marianne and Patrick.
Above Left: Bee Hives, we saw the most beehives in Greece on this particular bike tour than we have ever seen anywhere.
Above Right: An impromptu group-up, I think Sharon, Linda, and Greg.
Above: Sing!
Above Left: Our first peek at blue sky.
Above Right: Country gardens.
Above Left: A lot of things happened here at once. I took the picture because of all of the flowers in bloom. The woman at the far left of the image was heading out of the garden hut and walking toward the same flowers in the image. Then a strong wind (like 30 mph/50 kph) picked up an empty plastic five-gallon bucket from next to her hut and blew it directly at us. I had the camera in my right hand and with no time to warn the Stoker, I had to quickly steer the bike sharply to the left with only my left hand to avoid the impending bicycle-bucket collision. Terry saw the bucket shoot by her and she said something like 'Wow, Good Job' and at the same time the lady was apologizing in Greek (I don't speak but a few words of Greek but the lady had an expression genuine sincerity) and at the same time I said 'It's OK'. Then it was over.
Above Right: The international sign for Emergency Snow Route; during a snow storm, all abandoned vehicles on the road for any reason can be removed for safety purposes. Plus, that sign means that it snow's here! There will be 4-5" of snow here on this very night (but we will be down on the warm coast).
Above Left: A mix of fruit orchards. The netting is usually to protect Peaches or Apples, I could not quite tell which.
Above Right: Enjoying the view, cycling downhill but slowly because it is rather cool out at the moment.
Above Left: The town of Trexlo. It's not on the map and the road sign is in the next image down (but written in Greek).
Above Right: We found these guys on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and there is no explaining it.
Above Left: Trexlo (my translation) to the right. We're bunching-up to meet at a Café in about 3 kilometers.
Above Right: This could be Colorado, USA, and also notice the beginning of Fall Colors as we descend.
Above: Sheep.
Above Left: We are bunched to meet at a Café for a mid-morning snack and warm beverage.
Above Right: Menu.
Above Left: They are collecting Nuts. I tasted one of these nuts, it was kind of a cross between Beechnut and Walnut in flavor and texture - Yum
Above Right: Typical stone construction in mountain country anywhere in the world.
Above Left: Typical Greek Graveyard.
Above Right: Jolly Old England, it could be.
Above Left: Enjoying another mountain village.
Above Right: More Sheep.
Above Left: We've been traveling in and out of big Raspberry and Blackberry patches on the roadside, most of the plants have ripe berries (we were in the is Fall Harvest Season, it is a shorter season in the mountains). This was a bike in motion photo.
Above Right: We did not know it yet, but once we got through that slot the weather would become sunnier and pleasantly warm.
Above: It isn't a bike tour until a herd of animals block the way, it is much more pleasant with sheep than with bears (we came across 4 Grizzlies once).
Above: The Bee, at rest in front of a Café, Photo by Patrick Bennett.
Our group was supposed to stop here for lunch but the proprietors were in the midst of a family emergency (family member hospitalized). So, long story short, we did not eat or drink and we quickly moved on.
Above Left: Mountain Village.
Above Right: Not a Mountain Village, the Nazi's leveled the Village that was here with artillery bombardment.
Above Left: Safe drinking Water ahead.
Greece had the most safe water from the ground than of any country that we have visited yet. Even the tap-water in Athens is potable. It seemed that every village's town well had potable drinking water.
Above Right: Our first view of the Mediterranean Ocean (Telephoto 4x).
Above Left: Position indicator.
Above Right: Tandem Selfie with Dennis, Terry, and the Bee in Greece.
Above Left: That hilltop just ahead was our last of three mountain passes that we had to climb. At the top of the hill we would stop for water and a little snack. A stray dog would join us for lunch. Stray Dogs and Cats are permitted to exist by the local culture, same in Turkey as well, as the animals significantly reduce the rodent population. This custom dates back to Europe's Black Plague Days. In any case the dog was quite behaved. We did not share food because we didn't want the dog attracted to future cyclists.
Above Right: Nut Tree at the top of the hill, the fruit has a prickly cover on the shell. The actual nut is delicious - See next image for actual nut on the ground.
Lunch in the Kalavrita Mountains of Greece
Above Left: Nut of the tree where we stopped for a hill top snack.
Above Right: We're looking south at the leeward side of a weather mass, our side will be clear for another day (western Peloponnese, we're heading west), and that cloud mass is what we departed on this same morning.
Above Left: The Bee was parked at a mountain restaurant (where we stopped for lunch), Kalavrita Mountains, Greece.
Above: Dennis and Terry Struck and the Bee are visiting the Katarraktes mountain restaurant for lunch (Kalavrita Mountains, Greece; 26 Sept 2018).
The Café name is Katarraktes (in literal English) or Katarráktes (with accents) or καταρράκτες (in Greek) which means Cataracts (Waterfalls) in English.
Above Left: Looking out.
Above Right: Greek salad (no lettuce America).
Above Left: The Proprietress, she and her husbands were cards. The Proprietor shared some homemade wine with us. They spoke as much English as we spoke Greek. The Proprietor could determine where we were biking and he made a nice hand drawn map for us to get to Patras. We thanked them for all of their hospitality, we had a great lunch.
Above Right: Looking southwest.
Above Left: Here, while we are heading for Patras, we turned left for a more country road route with less traffic.
This was a major point of change: At this spot, we changed from a Mountain Climate to a Coastal Climate (humidity and temperature went up), we escaped the Mountain Climate for a more Temperate Climate, and we changed from mountain roads to more flat country roads.
Above Right: Flat country roads.
Above Left: Missed a photo-opportunity.
Above Right: Red Grapes.
Above: Olive trees and grape vines, we were enjoying the ride all the way.
Patras
Above: Patras, we were mixed with industrial traffic for a few kilometers but there was plenty of room, everyone there respected touring bike riders, and there were zero travel issues.
Above Left: Welcome to the Poseidon Palace - It was a wonderful hotel.
We were supposed to just spend one night here and head out for Zakynthos Island the next day but mother nature's Mediterranean Hurricane was catching up to us and we would spend the following night here as well. We still would not know what was going on for another 24 hours.
Above Right: Terry was checking us into the hotel. They had some very interesting furnishings.
Above Left: Looking back east from the Hotel's entrance drive.
Above Right: Looking across the hotel from our room.
Above Left: The hotel's pool and the ocean beyond.
Above Right: The Ionian Sea is a little bit perturbed.
Summary
We enjoyed our stay in Kalavrita.
We had a fantastic luncheon experience.
Most of today's cycling was downhill so that allowed us to enjoy wider views in a country with a wealth to offer.
Patras was a wonderful coastal town.
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