Sixteen days in Greece
...yes, 16 days in one country...and loved every minute of it!
Days 40-45 - Athens
Parked the bike for a few days...key highlights:
- Dinner with the Knox Family, captured in this post
- Did the touristy stuff such as visit museums and key sites
- Marcela flew in for a few days. Couldn't have come at a better time. Refer to blog post about loneliness for more details.
- Met Christos, Costas, and Stavroula, the crew from Motofashion who put together a short video on the Expedition (will be published soon on zugla.gr, details to follow). Also shared some amazing local fare and desserts with our new friends.
- Linked up with Lefteris, an old HBS friend and fellow McKinsey colleague who lives in Athens. Great to catch up!
Day 46 - Athens to Sounion, Greece - 1.5 hours, 60 miles. A beautiful evening ride down the southwest side of the peninsula to catch the sunset view of the Temple of Poseidon. Nothing short of breathtaking. Will never forget that evening.
Day 47 - Athens to Monemvasia, Greece - 4 hours, 190 miles. A nice ride into Peloponnesus via the seaside town of Nafplio. Cutting inland, we paused in Sparta in hopes of finding interesting relics or majestic monuments to this famous group of warfighters. Nope...nothing impressive, unfortunately, but did find one statue of the man, Leonidas. The hills and beautiful countryside are worth a visit, though. We then arrived at Monemvasia, a small island of castles and dozens of old churches. Only pedestrian traffic is strictly allowed, which makes for an incredibly peaceful stay.
Day 48 - Loop from Monemvasia to Elafonisos - 3 hours, 120 miles. Quick day trip along tiny, winding roads...then a short ferry ride to a deserted beach island. On a rainy off-season day, we shared the beach with a few gulls.
Day 49 - Monvemvasia to Xiropigado, Greece - 3 hours, 95 miles. A morning hike up to the top of Monvemvasia and an afternoon ride along the coast through the town of Leonidio. Hoping for more Spartan tributes...nope. The highlight of the day was definitely meeting our hotel host for the night, Christos (another Christos). He immediately proclaimed to love America and welcome us to his basement bar for a free beer. After Marcela wowed him with her newfound Greek phrases, he proclaimed to love Mexico even more.
Day 50 - Xiropigado to Athens Int'l Airport - 2.25 hours, 115 miles. Locked up Green for a slumber...gotta catch a flight.
Day 51-52 - Santorini. Definitely lives up the hype...especially in the off-season, when there's no traffic, cheaper lodging, and fewer issues for drone pilots.
Day 53 - Athens Int'l Airport to Meteora, Greece - 4.5 hours, 240 miles. Long day of riding, but arrived just in time for sunset and a stroll through the nearby town of Kalabaka.
Day 54 - Meteora. Six monasteries, built in the 15th and 16th centuries, perched atop monolithic boulders hundreds of feet tall. Absolutely stunning churches with amazingly intricate carvings and elaborate depictions of atrocities suffered by saints and Christians. Will elaborate in another post.
Day 55 - Meteora to Kavala, Greece - 4.25 hours, 235 miles. Long ride. Closing on Turkey.
Note: On this trip, we made good connections with ten people... (2 Christos, 3 Costas, 2 Tasos, 2 Lefteris, and the one and only Stavroula). Though the names were often the same (and easy to remember), each contributed their own piece to make the visit to Greece amazing!
