To the Western Beaches (6/27/09)

TOP TRIP
Trip – Koroni Beach-Stella’s Vineyard Beach, Kefalonia, Greece
Distance – 10 km
Difficulty – Medium

From Western Beaches

Every morning two volunteers from Team Turtle ride to the old road to Koroni. They then kayak to Lefkas – checking each beach for turtle nests. Saturday, however, Manu (director of the volunteer program here at Katelios) and I were assigned to the Koroni run – of course, Manu makes the schedule.

Manu said he wanted to check out more of the beaches to the west for possible turtle nests. So our kayaking was 4 times the distance that it normally is, but we didn’t have to bike or hike the old Koroni Road.

We found no nests or tracks (the storm that had settled on the Ionians for the past week could easily have erased any sign of nesting turtles). But we did have a good day where I explored near reaches of Kefalonia through the unexpectedly choppy waves.

Three Saints and a Cemetery (6/22/09)

Trip: Mavrata – Kastro – Mavrata
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Sights: St. George’s Castle, St. Theodore’s Church, Mycenaean Cemetery and Ecclesiastical Museum (St. Andrew’s Church)

The road to St. George’s Castle and the town of Kastro, Kefalonia was not as hard as Akrokorinthos or even the road to Mavrata. But, I still would have liked to avoid it – if I’d known that Agios Georgios Castle was closed until July. I mean people had been there from my group and not mentioned it to me.

Alas, had I not gotten up that hill, I would never have seen the old church of St. Theodore’s. The outside walls and a stone piece from the original altar was all that survived other than the belfry with old bells that hung from it.

I rode down the hill back to the Argostoli-Poros road and across it toward Mazarakata. Mazarakata has a surviving Mycenaean era cemetery. While near Poros they have found the tholos type of the wanax or king, this cemetery is made of the pit graves of the commoners. This gives credence to the belief that it wasn’t modern Ithaki, but Kefalonia, that was Odysseus’ Ithaca.

My final stop was at the Milapidia Monastery. The Monastery houses both the church of St. Andrew and an Ecclesiastical Museum. The church is a lovely stone chapel, rebuilt since the earthquake. The museum housed a large number of wooden icons and wooden screens that can be found at the altar of orthodox churches. Some of the icons date from the 15th and 16th Centuries. Upstairs the museum housed the furnishings from the Bishop’s residence at Agios Georgios.

After my trip through Kefalonia’s ecclesiastic history, I returned to Mavrata and Base-station Turtle.

In Search of the Ponies – Mt. Ainos (6/9/09)

From Mt. Ainos

According to the badly written description at the Katelios Environmental Center, the Mt. Ainos ponies are a breed of wee ponies who are wild on the Mountain that dominates the island of Kefalonia. They stand only 12 hands tall and there are only 10 or 14 of them still alive (depending on which part of the badly written description you believe).

After three fruitless night shifts (no turtles, although we had one “false crawl”) Ariel, Damien and I were determined to set out into the mountain in search of the summit and these supposed ponies.

Unfortunately we failed on both counts. My tourist map I bought in Poros, gave us questionable – if not false information to the summit.

Yet, it was still a great day. About an hour and a half into the hike, Damien and I convinced Ariel that it would be better if we climbed one of the gorges to the top.

At first it was rather simple. We hiked up the wide gorge until we got to a small cliff. The small cliff was easy to scale. Atop that we saw another 50 meters to the next cliff and so on.

Unfortunately, it got harder and harder and harder as we went. Several cliffs were in rapid succession. As the legs and arms wearied, the cliffs were even harder. Ariel worried we wouldn’t find the road again. I reassured her that I was positive we would. (Unfortunately, I could not reassure myself.) At one point I did almost slide off the hardest of the cliffs. I went a good 10 feet before catching myself).

Ainos is 1627 meters. At about 1200 meters we found the road again. This was the hardest part of the trip I found. It wasn’t simply a cliff to rock climb (without ropes, anchors or helmets) but a slight incline (slight as in 60 degrees) covered in gravel from the gorge to the road. I got to a place where I could not go any further and the way down was only a 30 meter slide to certain broken bones!

With the help of cooler heads (Damien and Ariel) I was able to scramble the remaining part of the way.

In retrospect I thought Ariel was probably right that we shouldn’t have done that. But, I also agreed with Damien, “It was better to do that 600 meters in altitude than walk the long twisty road that MAY have gotten us to the summit.”

Still no ponies!

Mission: ZAKYNTHOS – training 1 (6/4/09)

Damien questioned the trip more than I did. “So are there any currents out there?”

Manu’s answer was “I don’t know. I didn’t see any from the ferry; and it is a small ferry.”

The mission, should we chose to accept it is to kayak from Katelios Harbor on Kefalonia to Agios Nikolas (St. Nick) on Zakynthos. It is a distance of 18 km over the open Ionian Sea.

Manu and his friend Markus have been quasi-planning this trip for years now. So, it was to come to fruition this year. When I heard about it, I wanted in. This is the perfect excursion for Bikespedition ’09!

Manu has been training for a few weeks for the mission. Thursday was thus the day Damien and I began our training. We met Manu on the beach; he took us out across the Mounda Beach to Mounda Point and around to the rocks that divide Mounda from Skala.

This beautiful early morning trip took us over the beautiful sea and past one of the world’s top beaches – Kamina. We got a good look at the caves around Mounda Point and the beach there.

Total trip was 11km.

Break on Through to the Otherside

TOP TRIP
Date: 5/16/09
Distance: 50 miles
Sights: Loutraki, Nea Perachora, Lighthouse and ancient temple

When standing on the sight of the Ancient temple at Perachora (after you've waded through the waves of French tourists blocking everything), you see how it got its name "The Other Side." Modern, Ancient and Akro Korinthos are a mere 5 miles across the Gulf of Corinth from you. Here was a two storied temple that the Korinthians boated to (lacking the technological know-how to make it the 20 miles longer trip cycling).

About noon Saturday, I set out to find the other side. With Jim Morrison running through my head, I fought down the Coast Road to Korinthos. From there I got to the Posedieon Bridge. It is one of the 2 drawbridges on teh Canal. both of which actually sink into the canal when they are "drawn." I had to wait there 25 minutes.

But this gave me ample time to get pictures of the Dioklos. The Dioklos was the ancient road over which the Corinthians dragged boats over the Isthmus (for a neat fee, of course). Then I sailed into Loutraki. I stopped by the beach for a coffee and sandwich. (Grilled ham and cheese referred to in Greece as "Toast"). Then I left Loutraki for a tough 10 km up hill ride into New Perachora. Then back down to the ancient site.

It must be beautiful and peaceful where there arnen't two busloads of French tourists who are offended when you try to walk down the only steps to the site - I mean they are just sitting there!

I slowly made my way back to Vrachati. The hill up from the lighthouse isn't as hard. But I still desperately needed fruit. The fruit guy spoke no English. Fortunately for me a Jamaican cab driver arrived and playing interpreter. I made it back in time for dinner on the pebbles at Edem in Vrachati.

Down the Coast Road

Προβολή Down the Coast Ride σε χάρτη μεγαλύτερου μεγέθους

TOP TRIP
Date: 5/15/09
Trip: Vrachati - Xilocastro
Distance: 25 miles
Sights: Gulf of Corinth, Goats

I sat in rush hour traffic in Kaito. The road is too small for the number of people trying to fit into it. Driving me crazy as I sat at the edge. That's when I felt something nudge up against me. I looked over and there was goat, mouth open trying to bite me.

With a "Annngh!" and throw from me, the other two goats who were in the back of this pickup started neighing? Chalk that up to number 14 of things you don't see in the States.

I had heard about this nature trail in Xilocastro. It was only 12 miles from Vrachati. So on a lazy Friday that we left early, I went off. In an easy ride, I hugged the Gulf til I got to Xilocastro. Well, the trail wasn't great but it was something.

I took the trail up and back. Then back to Vrachati.

Up to the Ruins (4/26/09): Akrokorinthos

Ancient Corinth

TOP TRIP

Ride: Vrachati – Akrokorinthos – Vrachati

Distance: about 25 miles (with my cycling around looking for food)

Difficulty: Hard

Sights: Ancient Corinth, Akrokorinthos, Gulf of Corinth

The guide book clearly said “Acrocorinth is a s

hort trip from Ancient Corinth.” About 15 minutes up to Akrokorinthos, I realized “Maybe the guidebook handed planned to have someone cycle up.” But I figured I was almost to the top but then I saw the car that had passed me on what I thought was another hill. “Shit!” I thought. I wasn’t going to make it without stopping. I found a safe place to stop on the shoulder and drank a whole bottle of water. I took a breath and pushed my way up to the top of the hill.

My first day in Corinthia, I needed to see Ancient Corinth. I got onto Schwarzfahrer and made my way out. I rode out east from Vrachati down the National Road for a good 5 or six miles. There is a turn off to the town of Archea Korinthos. The small r

oad that leads to the town heads straight toward Akrokorinthos. If you follow the signs to Akrokorinthos you come across the archaeological site of Korinthos with the remaining pillars of the Temple of Apollo..

For six euros you get entrance into the old city. The main piece to the site is the Temple of Apollo. There are 5 or 6 columns remaining from the temple. What is weird is that the columns are not Corinthian. They have the Doric capitals, not the flowery, leafy ones which are named for the city. There are Corinthian capitals remaining from “Temple E” in the back part of the site.

The site is beautiful with ancient trees growing amongst the crumbling ruins. As earthquake after earthquake knocked down the city, the sites that have remained the best include the colonnades of shops and the one temple. Everywhere I went I kept running into masses. There were three going on all around the site. One was in Latin, one in German, and one in maybe Italian or Portuguese.

After a couple of hours wandering the old city, I left for my “short trip” to Akrokorinthos. I followed the first sign which then merely took me to an unmarked fork in the road. I had to decide which left or right. I had a fifty-fifty shot so I went right. That only lasted about 30 feet over the crest of a small hill when I was stopped by sheep crossing the road.

There were two Roma people fixing their car. I asked “Akrokorinthos?” They both shrugged. The shepherd then pointed his stick (not staff) back behind me. “Shit, I should have gone left!”

From Archea Korinthos

I turned around got back to the fork. I went left! That’s when my “short trip” to Akrokorinthos really began – up 600 meters in 3 kilometers. That makes an average grade of 20% - more steep than any hill on the Tour this year (but considerably shorter).

I finally fought my way up 3km of hell. At an average of 5 mph, it took me nearly half an hour to reach the top. Strangely enough, it was well worth it. There is an old Frankish/Venetian fortress at the top. It was remarkably well preserved and took up a huge acreage. I spent about 2 hours climbing around the walls and ramparts. Some parts of the fortress were right up against the cliffs of the hill. There is no way they would let you traipse around it so freely in the States.

From Archea Korinthos

I made it back down the mountain and cycled along the back roads and beach back to Vrachati.