Reluctantly we departed ‘Camping Hellas’ after a few relaxing days in the sunshine. We were fully charged with electric, topped up with 150 litres of water and we’d even managed to do some clothes washing - something we hadn’t done properly in… well I’d rather not say, for fear of causing offence. Nevertheless, we couldn’t stay there forever no matter how perfect a location it might have been. We had to move on; Athens awaited.
As far as free parking spaces go, we’ve had some ‘goodun’s’: A stones throw from the beach in Torrenueva, 5 minutes from La Ramblas in Barcelona, the ‘spot with a view’ overlooking Monaco and a dead 
centre location in Split, but our location in Athens beats them all hands down. Our Camperstop book told us there was some “tolerated but not official” parking available next to the Acropolis. We didn’t expect there to be any, but we had a look just in case, and were we thankful that we did. We managed to find a large car park about 3 minutes walk from the beautiful structure, and what’s more it was clearly visible from the Motorhome windows! We arrived at night, which is when the Acropolis looks its most stunning, and the car park was located next to some small shops (selling postcards and ornaments) underneath apartments with balconies with views of the Acropolis. I don’t think you could ever tire of that view.
I suppose this parking spot is a bit of a cheat, because the next day we were asked to move on by a s
tern but quite friendly gentleman who must have owned a nearby shop, but we didn’t mind as we’d already explored the city by the time he wanted us to vacate the area. Athens was by far the hottest city we’ve been to since Valencia (where we must have got through about 5 litres of water each in the space of a few hours). We weren’t expecting this sort of heat in mid October.
We did the usual tourist malarkey, visit the sights, buy the postcard, thinking but thankfully not buying the t-shirt, and them moved on the following evening to Ancient Olympia, the sight of the first ever Olympic Games. Entry to the sight cost 6 Euros, a cost we were willing to pay, along with lit
erally thousands of others, a staggering amount for a Wednesday afternoon late in the year. The sun continued to shine, which allowed us to stroll pleasantly and slowly through the remains of old sports venues, houses, athlete only areas and of course the old stadium. The latter in reality is no more than a long strip of gravel in the middle of a large sloped field on either side, but it was still impressive to think that all those hundreds of years ago this was the very spot where the Olympics began, and is still going to this day.
In a short space of time we also managed to visit the archaeological sites of Korinthos and Mykines. Ancient Korinthos being home to the ruins of the 5th Century BC Temple of Apollo (pictured), which in 4
4 BC was made Capital of Roman Greece by Julius Caesar. Olympia though was to be the last of our historical sights in Greece, and on the Wednesday night we drove to a beach a few kilometres north of the airport town of Preveza, so we could spend a relaxing Thursday in the sun before our Ferry from Igoumenitsa departed for Italy at 1.30am on Friday morning. Relax we certainly did, breaking from the sun bathing only for the necessary. We were joined on the beach by three other Motorhomes from France and Germany respectively.
The Ferry crossing was uneventful and took 9 hours. We travelled with Endeavour Lines, and the total cost came to 160 Euros for 2 adults plus the Motorhome, not including the 30 Euros “Port Tax” they surprised us with upon checking in at the Ferry terminal. The majority of other vehicles parked up in Igoumenitsa waiting to board were Motorhomes, and by an amazing coincidence one of the other 2 British outfits was also a fellow Southamptonian! The gentleman noticed our Southampton scarf on the dash board, was equally surprised to see us as we were to see him so he came over to introduce himself - what a small world we thought.
After a brief visit to Bari we travelled West to the small town of Airola, 20 kilometres from Benevento in the direction of Naples. We were following directions for an Aire listed in the Camperstop book, which simply said “Tennis Airola”, not particularly helpful in a city you’ve never been to before. We stopped and asked for directions a few times, and eventually one man couldn’t explain the directions so he drove there himself and we followed, which we thought we very good of him. Upon arriving however we found out that “Tennis Airola” was simply a hotel which had a few Tennis Courts and Football Pitches - not exactly what our Camperstop book had promised us. The man we followed went into the hotel and spoke on our behalf until the friendly Italian American proprietor called Enzo appeared and told us we could park in his car park, and even lent us an extension lead to hook up to his electric - which was handy as we’d been driving around for a few hours in the hope of a few volts for a much needed cup of tea. Enzo was extremely helpful, giving tips on local attractions and things to see and even gave us his mobile number in case we needed anything during the night! In the morning he presented us with a bill of 5 Euros, unannounced. We weren’t too displeased (we should have expected it at a Hotel I suppose) but it would have been nice if he’d told us before hand.
From Benevento, Pompeii is a nightmare to reach if travelling by Motorhome. It’s only about 40 or so kilometres, but what should have taken us 30 minutes took more in the region of 3 hours. We found the SS162 quite quickly, the most direct route according to the map and a major-ish road to boot. After only 2 minutes it turned into a narrow street home to small shops and apartments which would have been more suited in central Venice than act as a direct road to Pompeii. Cars were breezing through without issue, but a large Motorhome like Eric was struggling through even the wider parts of the roads. Throughout the drive roads kept ending abruptly, changing names or heading in the wrong direction for no good reason other than to confuse the tourists, and of course there wasn‘t much space to turn around in a 7 metre long vehicle. We gave the locals a good laugh in a few towns though where we passed them on the same street 3 or 4 different times - each one harder than the last as yet another Fiat Punto had parked 2 feet from the curb.
We did eventually reach Pompeii, after yet more diversions due to the fact that the major roads into the town were closed because The Pope was visiting. At first we thought all the crowds gathe
red on the streets were there to welcome us, but apparently not. The ruined City of Pompeii was even busier than Olympia, but not surprising given the size of the “attraction”. It was much bigger than I expected, literally a whole city in ruins; hours it took us to wander it all. The cost was a very reasonable 11 Euros each, but for some unknown reason EU Citizens aged between 18-24 gained a 50% discount, which was given to us on presentation of our driving licenses. Strange but helpful to little scamps like us.
We parked up in a Campsite/Camperstop directly opposite the entrance to ancient Pompeii, buried by Vesuvius’ ash in 79 AD, costing 15 Euros with Electricity and shower facilities. After the long, stressful drive we were willing to pay this just to have somewhere safe to park… a hot shower was a major temptation too. I hope they’re powerful showers, hell they need to be!
Watching the Pope on the big screen
Waiting to board the Ferry at Igoumenitsa
1 comment:
mate,
looks like proper indiana jones territory!!!
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