A few more countries

Well, a ship job didn't materialize when I had hoped, so I need to fly myself back over the Atlantic. Well, not exactly "myself". I joined Alix in flying "home" on a stand-by ticket thanks to Alix's good friend and pilot, Elisabeth. My friend too of course.

So the plan was, ferry over from Samos to Kuşadasi in Turkey, spend a few days in the area, head over to Istanbul (not Constantinople), spend a couple of days, then fly out on Delta's direct flight to NYC. That was the plan. All went well until the "fly out" part. No seats, very busy.

So now we're on a train heading to Bucharest where we have an excellent chance of getting a seat on tomorrow's flight to NYC. We're at the Bulgaria-Romania border crossing and it's much smoother than leaving Turkey. Well, not that leaving Turkey wasn't smooth, but they made us all get off the train and line up to get our exit stamps. By the time we figured out what was going on, Alix and I were near the end of the line, and for some reason, they decided to start handing out tourist oriented surveys. The Mexican girl ahead of me got an English form when she admitted to speaking English, then Alix was pulled aside for a survey too, but apparently there were no more English forms left so they sent her on her way. Then, seeing my Greek passport, they gave me a Greek form... ughhh... lots of big words, and judging by the English form, quite a poor translation. So as I copied the answers off the Mexican girl's form, Alix went back to the train and worried
about what was taking me so long...

I am a man!

In case you didn't know. I now have proof.

Long distance bicycle touring

I had an epiphany the other day. It came when Alix and I were trying to lug our 50kg+ each of unwieldy luggage. How can something so efficient, adventurous, beautiful, sleek, quick and nimble as a fully loaded touring bicycle be reduced to such an unmanageable pile of luggage?

I got to thinking about some of those long distance, round-the-world, keep cycling till who knows when, to who knows where cyclists that we've come across in our travels. Perhaps their passion is born of simply NOT wanting to drag their crap onto taxis, buses and airplanes. The solution? Just keep cycling!

I've often thought that it would have been much less tiring to have spent a week or 2 cycling there when we load all of our stuff onto a bus to head from one part of Mexico to another for a bike tour. The same goes for our time in Greece where we're dragging around many more things for camping, plus souvenirs, etc...

Hiking the Kalderimi in Pilio

There are these old, old stone pathways that used to connect many villages in the days before cars and roads. People would walk. People don't walk anymore. People think you must be crazy to walk. Many of the old stone pathways still exist and are maintained for crazy people who like to walk.

Fountains

All over Greece you find these beautiful stone fountains where some mountain spring has been somehow diverted or piped in. What could look better on a hot day?

How to waste half a day

Find a cafe with wireless internet. Sit.

Especially effecting at wasting time when you can plug in your netbook and not worry about killing the battery.

Meteora

A rare geological phenomenon makes for spectacular scenery, and a great place to build monasteries if you want be able to defend them really well. Nice for a hike too, and excellent climbing. But mass tourism has arrived here for sure.

A bird's nest on a church

The picture is pretty self explanatory.

Looking back (Arcadia in May)

We started our touring this year in Xiropighadho of the Prefecture of Arcadia in the Peloponnese. Looking back to May (with waaaayyyyy too many pictures:

http://basily.smugmug.com/gallery/8116173_cdKad

Zagharohoria

A stunning setting for old stone villages.

Yes, those are a lot of switch-back to cycle up to Papigko - killer ride!

Hiking around Zagharohoria

Alexandra and I had a fantastic introduction to multi-day hiking and we are hooked! We left our bicycles and most of our things behind in Papigko and spent 4 days hiking around and camped in the wilderness for 3 nights. What a beautiful area!

Beautiful Kastoria

Kastoria is a small city set on the narrow part of a bulbous peninsula jutting out into a lake, surrounded by striking mountains. It is laden with dozen of byzantine churches, and has a well preserved old quarter. The fur trade brought fame and fortune to this city, but we came for the architecture and a lovely unloaded ride around the peninsula.

A complete photo journal of our trip to Albania

Follow this link to entirely too many pictures from Albania:

http://basily.smugmug.com/gallery/8473810_uJ2vW

Not that Albania isn't deserving of a lot of pictures and many more, but you'd be forgiven for flipping through them quickly, or just scanning the thumbnails and only opening the occasional picture that strikes your fancy.

As Albanian as can be

Some more pictures of very typical things in Albania, some beautiful places and interesting things.

Albania

We decided to pop into Albania for a few days or a week or so. What do you know about Albania? Not much I bet, but it's a fascinating country.