Greece to Sheffield

2nd - 15th December The Peleponnese, Greece

One of the delights of our travels has been meeting lovely people - especially Jana and Daniel, Elias (12) and Anna (8), who were great. They’re having 6 months in Europe, in their converted outside-broadcast van. We shared meals and life-stories (as you do with a wineglass in hand!). As their English is so good, we talked and laughed a lot. Elias’ English is excellent and puts our language skills to shame (NB I MUST LEARN GERMAN). They lent us ‘Life of Brian’ – an interesting balance to the religiosity we’ve seen in Eastern Europe! It was lovely having them as neighbours on the pebble beach and it would be nice to meet up again. Anna’s mobile, made for us from things she’d found on the beach, hangs in our van, as a reminder.

Although we’ve mainly been relaxing here, the odd place has attracted us. This amphitheatre, at Epidavros, is the most intact in Greece and is still used for performances today – the acoustics are amazing. Rick spent ages investigating its design and construction, so I won’t be surprised if we find one in Sheffield one day….

We now know a lot more about olives, thanks to the excellent museum in Sparta – and they’re more interesting and useful than you might think. The process of extracting the oil is very much the same today as 5th C BC, and the machinery looks remarkably similar.

Nafplion, near our beach, was the first capital of modern Greece (and looking at Athens now, I bet its populace thinks it had a close call….). It’s a very attractive place, with narrow streets and a busy harbour.
The Venetian Palamidhi fortress overlooks the city, 899 steps up and 899 steps down. I don’t know which direction of travel was worse! Still, the remains and the panoramic views were worth the leg-ache.

The Byzantine city of Mystras is set in the most beautiful countryside, 2038 ft up – and yes, we walked up, down and round it (Rick did it twice, after mixing up van keys!). It’s amazingly complete, with little alleys, houses, chapels and millions of steps….. In its zenith, it was the centre of Hellenic social and cultural society, only abandoned in 1954, though trying to spot the last occupied house was difficult!




We’ve been on some exciting twisty roads over Peloponnesian mountains, with steep gorges and scary ravines (especially as they have few crash barriers!).


We found snow and ice too - and some low overhangs.....





Sadly, we also saw the effect of the horrendous fires in August; whole hillsides are decimated, leaving charred stumps of olive groves and scorched earth. It was a wretched sight.









We also found a likely plot of land, at the end of an orange grove, overlooking the sea……. we dream on.

We’re now back in Sheffield for Christmas, having left the van in Athens until 9th January. It’s so fabulous to be home, seeing family and friends – and, many thanks to Kathleen and Derek, a bottle of champagne! Mind you, I reckon we’ll need to go back to Greece for a rest…….. Happy Christmas!

Greece

23rd Nov – 1st December - Attica, Greece

Nearly forgot to add these: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/3423rdNovTo15thDecGreecePart1

Greece is warm, sunny and very laid-back– hooray! This zooming around Europe is quite exhausting and we now need a holiday.

We found the Meteora - amazing constructions in a equally amazing environment. Between the 11th and 16th Centuries, weird and wonderful monasteries were built on sheer rock pillars, 300m up. We were rather pleased to find there are now steps, given their original access was via long ladders, or even slings pulled up by monks. The chapel frescos are fascinating (although they depict pretty gruesome events relating to the martyrdom of saints) and we were impressed by the multi-monk serving plank (see pic) .

We’ve been shopping in Argos, admired Mount Olympus from afar and tried to interpret the remains of Ancient Corinth - 7 Doric columns from the 6th Century Temple of Apollo, the theatre, odium and a section of stoa.

AcroCorinth, which sits 574m above the town was highly (sorry!) impressive and we walked most of its intact 2km fortified walls.

Rick was fascinated by the Corinth Canal (original idea was Nero’s, but it took ‘til 1893 to get done). Sheer walls are 261ft, with no parapet…..

We’re so pleased we decided to take it easy here – we’re staying in one place and have gentle excursions when we have energy. We’re well settled on a pebbly beach, 20m from the Aegean Sea in a small fishing village called Kiveri, on the East Coast of the Peleponnese . It’s delightful. There’s a water tap and very friendly German neighbours in 3 campervans. The locals stop to chat and one little boy gives us a wave every morning.

It’s so lovely to be surrounded by fresh fruit and veg. The orange, clementine and lemon trees are laden with luscious fruit. We may be the first to get citric poisoning the rate we’re eating them!

Greek hospitality is grand. Within a 24 hour period, a campsite owner was over-hospitable with his ‘chipru’ (i.e Rosi didn’t stop drinking quite soon enough….) and Rick was invited in to a christening in an old church in a cave!. Even the police who arrived at 12.30pm to check up on us were very polite and pleasant (not their normal image apparently).

Mind you, the downside is horrendous town traffic, double/triple parking and mad, mad drivers (Greece has the 2nd highest accident rate in Europe).

Sadly rubbish is everywhere. Imagine the most stunning Greek scenery, overlooking the beautiful coast – then you see the tons of discarded rubble, bottles, furniture, old washing machines…….all the countryside looks a dreadful mess. I can’t bear to put a pic in – you’d be horrified.

Must go and enjoy my ouzo in the sun, listening to the waves and watching the divers catch octopi…it’s a hard life.

Bulgaria

17th – 22nd November - Northern and Eastern Bulgaria

a few more pics at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/32BulgariaBlogpix

Nobody was interested in us leaving Romania and entering Bulgaria, but they did want the €14 to cross the only bridge over the Danube….

We drove through lovely countryside to get to Zahari Stoyanovo, where our friend Paul now lives. (He helped us build our house when he was a student and lived in a Commer van in our front garden). It was so great to see him and he looks really happy and contented, now that he’s ‘retired’ and left England for good, fulfilling his dream to own a piece of land, and become self-sufficient.

Later next year, he’ll start to build a straw-bale house on the footings of this old building. Would you be surprised to know Rick plans to go back to give him a hand?

He still has his dog, Ben, and now a puppy has successfully adopted him – Briony.

Apparently, many villages in Bulgaria are stuck in a timewarp, and Paul’s is noted for being 17th Century……. our walk round was quite an eye-opener. Rather like a farmyard with 100 houses in it. Sadly, many are now empty, as young people leave to get work in the cities. Each household produces enough for themselves, from growing food to distilling liquor.

At the moment he’s living in and renovating his sister’s house next door. There’s a lot to be done! Most of the work is basically re-building. Rick was intrigued by the wiring –as done by the electricity board!!

I’m dead impressed with his progress with learning Bulgarian after only 3 months – he’s determined to master it. We now known as POCE and RИK.

The local people seem quite intrigued by him, and they’ve made him very welcome (e.g. invitations to pig slaughtering). We were inevitably a topic of conversation in the ‘bar’. It’s like someone’s front room, with a few tables and a couple of fridges of beer. During winter, there seems to be a lot of drinking done, as the hard work outside comes to an end (at least for the men!). Puzzling, as this is predominantly a Muslim community….


Paul’s area is just beautiful (even in the snow) and the climate sounds just right (about 10 months sun and 2 of winter) – we’ll be going back to visit again!

We made our way to the Black Sea Coastal area – aka the Bulgarian Riviera. Whilst the sand and sea where lovely, the holiday villages and new apartments for foreigners seem incongruent with the poverty of some local towns.

Nessebar was used by the Byzantines as a base from which to attack Bulgaria. It’s a lovely fishing port now, with lots of well preserved 13th Century churches

Greece next – should we go via Turkey or not?

Romania

12th – 16th November, 2007 – Romania

More Pix at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/32RomaniaBlogpixReduced

Romania joined the EU this year and hopes for dramatic changes over the next 2 years - much of what we saw suggests it’s needed. Our impression is of a very poor country with very small pockets of wealth and development. Even so, people were very welcoming and we got lots of smiles and waves.

Much of the countryside is really beautiful, but fairly unproductive. Given Romania was ‘the breadbasket of Europe’ (pre-Ceausescu, of course), it has a long way to go before it could reclaim its title. The land is there, the finance isn’t.

Some of the old Saxon villages looked quite medieval and very poor. Basic mud-brick houses (with beaten earth floors) and barns are within a courtyard full of chickens, goats etc. Dogs and mud were everywhere. Some have no running water. However, other villages (eg Carta), although still obviously poor, had swept pavements, no rubbish and some cheerily painted houses. (Unexpectedly, we found a Cistercian Abbey in the village too.)

We found some intriguing architecture…. spot the stag?

The Transylvanian Alps are certainly special. We walked round the medieval fortress city of Sibiu, current European City of Culture. Its ancient architecture has been carefully restored and the enormous Square looks magnificent. It’s very Germanic in origin and felt quite like Rothenberg, only less chocolate-boxy. The Bell Tower offered superb views across to the snow-capped mountains - we kept a close eye on the time as we climbed past the 2.5 tonne bell!

Sighisoara’s medieval Citidal was at the top of about 200 wooden steps. Its 12th Century church had some fascinating frescos as well as the only crypt in Transylvania (ha! you might have guessed this city was the birthplace of Dracula (aka Vlad the Impaler). Some graves were suspiciously accessible…

Romanian roads are over-flowing with lorries, Dacia cars, horses, carts and pot-holes. In fact, there are more holes than road on many main routes. You couldn’t transport eggs here. Road improvements are happening, but we’re not convinced about the standard of repairs.

We walked around Simeria, a largish town which is trying hard to develop, but has a way to go – a bit like a farmyard with derelict factories in it. Crumbling concrete block of flats had a very depressing feel. We found a derelict steelworks which now seems to be used for cleaning out railways tankers –the waste flushes into the water system…… Standing on top of the railway bridge, it all looked really grim. Still the orange school certainly looked bright and cheerful and there was a new supermarket.

Wild camping is a definite no-go here, and many campsites are closed. Lorry parks are good and hotels usually let you park in their secure area for a small fee, or if you eat there. We found 2 excellent places, in Simeria (great meals) and Carta (did our washing for us).

Much to our amazement (and theirs) we met 4 blokes form Chesterfield, two of them driving a lorry donated by a Sheffield company. They’re carrying gift boxes to needy Rumanians. This time, to a leprosy centre on the Ukraine border and then the Black Sea area. Spare a thought for them as they sleep in their lorries in the snowy weather.

Budapest

7th - 11th November, 2007 – Budapest and Gyula, Hungary

More of Budapest at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/317thTo11thNovHungaryAndBudapest

Budapest was just fabulous! and getting round on its wonderfully integrated transport system was impressive – some of it may be old and grafiteed, but appearances belie effectiveness. Rick particularly enjoyed the funicular, (but I resisted the urge to join him in the Railway Museum).

Hungary was at the forefront of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and 20% Hungarians live in the capital. It’s a busy, thriving city which successfully manages to combine the ancient and modern, with grand buildings and elegant bridges. We thought it magnificent!

UNESCO again – the view of Castle Hill in Buda is on its List and includes the Palace, and the amazing Matyas Chursh (13th C original). Fishermen’s Bastion provides the ‘romantic’ ramparts from which to look across the Danube to Pest, the more modern part of the city.

Rick found the best ever European Market Hall and was in his element - he gazed in wonderment, both at its construction and its merchandise. It was truly amazing and the fruit and meat stalls were so spectacular, you wanted to eat really healthily. We re-named his favourite stall ‘Pic(kle) and Mix’.

A cruise on the Danube, with champagne, lunch and Strauss’ waltz was fun, and the river view was great. However, the day’s highlight was a theatre visit to marvel at folk-dancers and their musicians. Energetic, leaping, thigh-slapping, twisting in gorgeous traditional costumes (beautifully embroidered floral designs). It was truly a treat.

…and then there were the musicians at the other end of the scale…….

My first visit to a synagogue was to the largest in Europe. It’s recently been renovated and the Baroque and Moorish influences were evident. Particularly poignant was the memorial to the Hungarian Holocaust victims.

For 2000 years, people have enjoyed the city’s thermal springs (up to 80deg C!). Sadly, being November, many were under repair.

We drove for miles along very straight roads through very flat

farmland. There were some quite poor farms, but the towns look reasonably prosperous. Gyula, near the Romanian border has regenerated its centre and Rick was captivated by its glass and granite World Clock.

All over Hungary, we found friendly, helpful people – especially when your van gets stuck in mud….

We’re heading further south to Greece for some sun, via Romania and Bulgaria.