Leaving
Kalo Nero we drove a short distance of 39 miles (62kms) to Voidokilia. En route we went through the little village of
Filiatra and did a double take as we passed by what looked like a mini Eiffel Tower. We reminded ourselves that we are still in Greece and not
Paris!
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| Replica (sort of) of the Eiffel Tower in Greece - built in 1960's and stands 26-metres high and funded by a Greek-American Doctor |
We
had read that the curved beach in the bay at Voidokilia is one of the best in Greece, so we were looking forward to getting there. It's about 5kms off the main road, down a very narrow track. Navigating our way off road to it wasn’t easy, as we cut through a couple of small villages and in places a tight squeeze for poor old Sonny, our
motorhome. There were a few ‘breath in’
moments and scraping of the wing-mirrors on the bushes and then on top of that we
had to dodge a couple crazy Greek drivers hurtling around the corners at 100mph! That said, it was worth it once we got there. We parked up behind the sand dunes on the edge of the lagoon (N36.96678 E21.66220), where we spotted Flamingos, Egrets, Grey Herons and even a water snake!
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| Sonny parked up on the edge of the lagoon on the right-hand side |
As
we got out, we spotted a ‘No Camping’ sign. We know that wild Camping is forbidden in Greece but this is the first sign we have seen in all the times we have been wild camping in Greece. Being British and all of that, we don’t like
breaking the rules but speaking to most Greek’s these rules only apply in high season,
and as it’s now November the police will turn a blind eye so we were happy to stop
the night – along with a French, Italian, Polish and German motorhome. They had chosen to park in the sand dunes, but we preferred to stop the night by the lagoon and watch the wild life.
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| No camping with a big an ‘anarchy symbol’ graffitied across it - the Greek's hate rules! Common guys, seriously a fine of €6.73 is no deterrent! |
From
the edge of the beach we made the steep climb to Nestor’s caves and then
further on to the castle, which involves a little bit of rock climbing but there are metal ropes to help you up. Nestor (AKA King of Pylos and veteran of the Trojan War). is a
myth and one of Homer’s Argonauts from the ancient Greek poem by Odyssey. Mmm, so why does he have a cave named after him and a palace further up the road?!
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| Walking up to Nestor's cave and the castle |
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| A band of sand dunes separate the sea from a large lagoon, which is a bird conservation area. |
The cave is very dark and has a massive bat hole in the roof which according to
Odyssey’ Nestor kept cows in here – it smelt like they were still living here
or maybe that was the bats!
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| The castle walls are vast, but the area is so overgrown they are hard to reach |
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| Found this solitary fella lurking in the grass on the way down. Looks very much like a locust to us - hope there's not a swarm of them coming! |
Getting
back to the bottom, we were ready for a dip in that crystal clear water.
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| Possible the best beach we have been to! The water is quite shallow, with lovely soft sand on the bottom and you have to go out some distance before it comes up to your waist. |
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| Our perfect spot, on a perfect beach - hard to believe it's November |
It is such a pretty and unspoiled beach – not a café or restaurant in site. Bet you can't move for tourists in the summer though and I guess that's when they would enforce the 'no camping'. We had such a peaceful night's sleep and considered stopping another night but decided to move on, further south.
We
spent the following morning swimming and walking around the lagoon before moving on 10
miles (16kms) up the road to Pylos. We
parked on the pier at Navarino Bay (home of an historic battle) and once again disobeyed a ‘no camping’ at
the entrance (N36.916093 E21.695065). We
joined a French camper and it wasn’t long before a Czech camper joined us too. It's a lovely seaside town and very quiet this time of year but there are lots of bars and cafés still open
and a 48metre sailing ship – ‘Galileo’ was in town.
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| Galileo |
We
spoke to a couple of Brits that were travelling on it, who told us it set
sail from Athens and is travelling around for 9 days, docking at various ports around the Peloponnese before returning to Athens.
Bit of history - The
Battle of Navarino took place here in 1827, during the Greek War of
Independence. The great powers of
Britain, France and Russia attempted to force an armistice on the Turks and
sent 27 warships here to do battle with the Turkish Fleet of 89 ships. The Greek allies sank and destroyed 53 of them - a victory that pretty much ended Turkish control of Greek waters. There are a few memorials dedicated to it and other wars around the town. We
walked around the marina, which was more like a boat graveyard. We came across this old rusty boat, which looked like
it was a life boat in its former life.
We then spotted a lovely old Taverna in the town, which unfortunately was closed.
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| Old Taverna in Pylos |
As we stood, an elderly Greek man (must have been at least 80) walked by and asked us where we were from. We told him we were from England, he then went on to ask if we spoke English. With a big grin Mel politely and with no hint of sarcasm said, “yes, we do, we are from England!”. He told us that Pylos was his home and that he was born here, but he had lived and worked in Washington DC for 40 years and had only been back here for 4 years. He then said, “sorry to bother you” and walked on. A bit of a random conversation, but I bet he had some great stories to tell.
A bit more mooching around the town, then it was back to watch the sunset before Mel made one of his signature motorhome dishes for tea - a curry!
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| The sky is on fire over Pylos, as the sun sets |
It was lovely to sit and listen to the gentle sound of the waves hitting the rocks and prayed there would be no wild dogs barking in the night or church bells chiming.
Sally
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