''This feels so familiar. How many times during this trip have we taken pause at the end of the day and just picked a spot to watch the sun lazily drift back down to earth? How many times did we do that before this trip? I think this to me is so representative of our life now. Literally taking the time to smell roses and watch sunsets. And not just for these cliched moments, but being mindful and present for all the extraordinary and ordinary events as they unwind in front of us. Instead of allowing time to turn into an automaton, scrolling our lives away with little accountability.''

SOOO TRUE!!! I'm happy for you both (and a little jealous). Thanks for sharing your travels with us all still stuck in the matrix.

Just love the monasteries & Neda's GS yoga skills

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My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/329.html




A bit of an overcast day as we leave Meteora


We are continuing our southbound route through mainland Greece.

Today is a commuting day for us as we relocate ourselves in Greece. Our planned route takes us alongside the Pindus Mountain range, the same mountains that extend down from Southern Albania. Our ride is interrupted by a few sprinkles. Every time it rains, I think, "Uh oh. Is this it? Is our incredible string of good weather finally over"

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We pull into a restaurant in a tiny village along the way


Ate a very expensive meal of pasta while waiting for the rain to stop, which it did... Yay!

Food in Greece is so expensive. We keep promising ourselves that we'll do grocery shopping, but we're so used to cheap restaurant food while traveling through Eastern Europe.


The sunny weather continues for us, and 250kms later we pull into our next Greek town: Delphi.

One thing we are good at (well, Neda is good at it) is finding affordable accommodations. Despite Greece being so much more expensive than its neighbouring countries, we're averaging about €25 a night. Not bad.

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The guy who runs this hotel was so nice to us. I think we were his only guests.


And the view from the room... OMG!


We have a little balcony where we hang out for meals

The reason we eat out here is not just because the views and the weather are awesome. It's because we've taken a liking to Greek filo pastry, like spanokopita, filled with spinaches, cheeses and meats. Can't get enough of it! However, the filo crust is so flaky that we leave crumbs everywhere when we eat them. So the balcony is really the most practical place to eat our filo snacks. Gaahhh... so good, yet so messy!


One of the aforementioned filo pastries

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

The weather is getting so much hotter the further south we go. Since it's such a beautiful day, we go out for a little walk around our neighbourhood.


Greek motorcycle police officer. Let's follow him and see where he goes


"...so as I was chasing the suspect in his car, I took out my gun and shot the gas tank... and then KA-BOOM!"

I am loving the laid back atmosphere of all these small Greek towns. People just hang out in cafes or congregate on the street corners and talk to their neighbours. The slow pace of life here is really resonating with our own meandering travels, riding from village to village through Eastern Europe.


Had a chat with this very nice storekeeper, so we bought some Greek olives from him. More balcony food...

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

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The town of Delphi is set on the slope of Mount Parnassus

The whole region is very mountainous which means there are a lot of twisty roads in the area. But also... there's supposed to be Ancient Greek ruins somewhere around here! We'll have to go out to explore tomorrow.


Delphi at night

Oh yeah...


Happy Road Anniversary!

We're celebrating another year on the road!

It's not often that we reminisce about the beginning of our trip. These days, we're usually looking ahead - scheming and plotting like fiendish, mad scientists... These days, no plan seems too outlandish!

However, it's times like this when it's fun to talk about where we've gone and what we've done.

"Do you remember what you felt that first day we left Toronto?", I asked Neda.

"Excitement, of course. But also pride. I was proud that we actually did it. We had talked for so long about doing this trip and I was afraid that it would always just be that: talk. So when we finally rode away, I felt very proud of us."

For me, I definitely remember what I felt when we first set off. It was such an extreme sense of freedom! I felt like a dog whose leash had just snapped and then we were running, running, running.... out past the gates of the front yard that it seemed like we've been confined in all our lives. Out into a world that seemed so very big, yet inviting at the same time! I remember that insane rush of liberation and then thinking, "Oh, the places we'll go, and the things we'll see! I want it all now!"

And we ran and ran for those first few months, as if there would be an imminent end to this endless vacation. We rode so many miles, like the very next Monday morning we'd have to begrudgingly return to the office. It would take such a long time before we learned how to slow down.

I remember us during those very first days of our travels. We were tireless. Like dogs. We were crazy back then.

Hm. I think we're still a little bit crazy even now.

Happy Anniversary to us!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/330.html



You're off to great places! Today is your day! Your chariot is waiting, So... get on your way!" -- Dr. Zeus

Today *is* an exciting day! We are headed towards the Ancient Greek ruins at Delphi. You may have heard of the Oracle of Delphi? It's right here!


The ruins are just a couple of kms outside of town

The first thing that struck me about the ruins was the admission fee. We had read on the Internet that the fee is about €10 per person. A bit steep, but this is what we're here to see. When we arrived at the gates, the official sign displaying the fees was crudely taped over and there was a hastily printed paper pasted on the window.

The (very) new fee is now €15. Did I Hera right? €15? I know the country is having financial difficulties. Perhaps gouging tourists is the new way of raising funds? Regardless, it felt like we were being Troyed with.


The site of the ruins is very picturesque though. It's set on the slope of a mountain with a great view of the valley of Phocsis below

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Our first set of Ancient Greek ruins actually in Greece! This has been on our bucket list for so long! Very cool!


An unexploded warhead from the Ancient Greek wars

This is actually a belly button. Honestly. The legend is that Zeus set eagles loose to fly around the world, one heading east and another going west. They eventually met up here, at Delphi, the center of the world. The stone is called an Omphalos, which means "navel" in Greek. Delphi is the navel of the earth and the stone represents a belly button, believed to allow direct communications with the gods.

Or it's an Ancient Greek unexploded warhead.


Treasury of Athens (reconstructed)

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"The Pula Amphitheater..." "I know, Neda! I know!"

We hopped on the bike and rode about a km north of the main site at Delphi to visit another set of ruins.


The Tholos of Delphi

This is my favorite ruin in Delphi, mainly because it was partially reconstructed so you can imagine a little bit of what it originally looked like, but also because it's one of the few circular ruins in the area. The rest are all rectilinear. Scholars and archaeologists took fragments around the base to reconstruct three of the Doric columns, but you can see the base of twenty columns on the circumference of the dais. It would have been magnificent to see how it originally looked!


I think the white pieces are the reconstructed bits

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After a nice relaxing morning at the Oracle of Delphi ruins, we're back on the road without a Charon the world!

Neda rolls her eyes at all the bad puns. But I make no Apollo-gies. What's Demeter with her anyway? Just give her a Minotaur two, she'll come around. Styx and stones may break my bones. Hades gonna be Hades.

ohhh that felt good.


Our first fill-up in Greece! Yikes! Almost €50 to fill up both our bikes! We've been averaging about €32-€35 in Europe.

Greece is definitely a shock to our wallets. We planned to spend quite a bit of time in this country, but unfortunately we didn't know it would be this expensive. So glad we didn't spend last winter here! We would easily have spent 10-15 times more here than Thailand! Seriously, doing the math in my head, every month we spend here is about a year's worth of expenses in Chiang Mai.


One of the quaint Greek towns we pass through: Arachova

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At Arachova, Neda stops into a mini market (or mini-mapket) to get some drinks while I walk around and snap some quick shots


Church of St. John, Arachova


Loving the curves!

The whole area around Delphi is connected via roads that hug the contours of the side of Mount Parnassus. The asphalt twists and turns upon itself as it negotiates around the steep slopes. It's a lot of fun on two wheels! We are still heading south, towards the coasts of the Bay of Itea, which you can see in the distance.


Wheee!

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Reaching the bottom. The Bay of Itea


Crossing the Rion-Antirion Bridge to the Peloponnese peninsula

The Peloponnese peninsula is separated from mainland Greece by the Gulf of Corinth. As we continue our ride on the other side of the long suspension bridge, I noticed a marked difference from the north. The buildings were a bit more run-down and the area was more unkempt. It reminded me a little bit of the difference between mainland Italy and Sicily. This region seemed to be poorer than mainland Greece.

I did a little research and was surprised to learn that Sicily was part of Greece at one point in history. But that was over a thousand years ago, and today's state of poverty is due more to a lack of jobs, with the young people moving to Athens and the mainland.

We continued south along the western coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, taking in all the sights around us. The sun is lingering in the sky longer and longer each day, allowing us to ride later (actually, it's allowing me to sleep in later). This is one of those times where we don't have a destination planned for the evening. So when it looked like we'd run out of daylight, we duck off the main road into a largish hill-side village called Zacharo to find a place to lay our heads for the night.

The cobblestone streets shake our bones as we ride smaller concentric circles around the village, looking for signs for a hotel. Everything is light-copper hued in the late evening sunlight.


We find a place at the top of the hill. Neda goes inside to negotiate a price for a room.
The locals watch me in amusement while I snap more pictures...

There's a very good reason why we're on the Peloponnese peninsula. It's all about Neda.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/331.html



Neda's name isn't Croatian in origin. It's Persian. Translated, it means "Voice of God".

It's an unusual name, I have not met another Neda in my life. She pronounces it, "Neh-dah" and absolutely hates it when people call her "Nee-dah". She's okay with "Nay-dah" and sometimes gets "Nada" or "Anita", which is just bizarre.

I'm fascinated with her name. I have a million and one nicknames for her and from Google, I know that NEDA also stands for New England Dressage Association and National Eating Disorder Association. I also know that there are a couple of places in the world named Neda. One of them is just south of where we are, on the Peloponnese peninsula.

It's been on my To-Visit list for some time.

Neda doesn't really see what the big deal is and is just coming to indulge me.


The day starts off on a bad note

Neda has traded in cat pee on her seat to bird poop on her top case.


Off we go, out into the roads of Southern Greece!

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15 minutes later on the main road south and we see our first sign:


Neda Tavern! We know we are on the right track!

The "D" in Neda is a delta sign in Greek. We turn inland at this point. We are at the mouth of the Neda River, which is the only river in Greece with a feminine name. We follow the Neda to her source on the road that runs alongside her. That was a weird thing to type out...


More signs point us in the right direction. I keep telling Neda to pose in front of the signs. She is pretending to be excited.

We quickly leave the asphalt onto a much smaller road. Red gravel crunches benath our wheels as we make our way through the semi-arid landscape of the interior. Where is this taking us?!


The gravel road descends down to the river

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