DECEMBER
2006
ROUMANIA-Bucharest
ROUMANIA-Bucharest
Friday 1st dawned cloudy but not misty, after yesterday’s sun. The morning was spent repairing the caravan, replacing the damaged window catches with good ones from the small, high windows, the damaged catches taking their place. The computer and printer compartments were fitted and are now ready to be painted and glued into place.
Saturday 2nd we bussed into Bucharest in order to see the Old Town and several churches, we saw the Royal Palace, Ceausescu’s last stand and the People’s Palace. The churches remained in hiding among the narrow streets. There were patches of sunshine through the overcast. There were problems during the day, on the bus into town a plausible rogue inspector convinced us we had underpaid with the tickets sold us at the camp. A fine of £9- being half the required fine, was paid by us. We were also stopped by the “passport police”, who tried to separate us, they disappeared rapidly when Mervyn loudly demanded the police station. Sunday we continued south under an overcast sky, to the Bulgarian border at Guirgui, on the way to the border we pulled into a fuel station with credit card signs, when it was time to pay they said the card machine was not working. We didn’t have enough cash to pay, they found the instructions and lo and behold the machine worked! At the border we didn’t have a vignette, they would not sell us one on entering Romania, nor at a fuel station. The fine was €140-, but he accepted €40- (£28-) cash, there was no receipt. It also cost us €6- to cross the bridge
and €5- to drive through the
nonexistent disinfectant. We were very happy to leave
Romania!! We found a camp just south of Ruse. A fine Monday morning found us on
the A5 travelling south to Veliko Tarnovo where we drove along no entry
streets (following the locals and the police) to the fortress which
Mervyn visited. Howard’s back was painful and he remained in the
caravan. When we left the town we ended up on the A5 going the
wrong
way, a U turn into a parking bay remedied this. On to Drjanovo to
see a monastery and camp in the local site. Tuesday heavy cloud greeted
us as we left the camp to head for Plovdiv via Gabrovo (where the sky
cleared to give us a fine sunny day) and Kazanlak, where we turned west
to Pavel Banja, and then south along a mountain road. In Plovdiv
Howard took a taxi while Mervyn followed in the caravan to the
camp. Wednesday
we left Plovdiv to go via Asenovgrad, through a narrow gorge, to the
Bachkovo Monestary, with it’s beautiful painted walls. Then back
to Asenovgrad to travel southeast to the border at Svilengrad and into
Greece. By the time we cleared the border, it seems that Greek
border computers can also be temperamental, it was getting late, and
the road on the map was still being built, we stopped at a hotel in
Orestiada, having arrived there by 81km of minor roads, not 57km of a
major road. The hotel car park was round the back and open to the
public, Mervyn’s decision to sleep in the caravan was not
unexpected. Early Thursday
Mervyn came into the hotel for a hot shower and breakfast. The
drive started in mist with the sun appearing briefly as we journeyed to
the only camp in that area at Alexandropolis. A short day but a
nice site on the Aegean. Friday was a mixed day,
Mervyn baked a cake, we went shopping and drew out some Euros.
After lunch we relaxed.Saturday 9th we travelled westwards to Kavala, via Philippi, found the camp closed (open in the book) and so on to the next camp, only 10km but through the town centre. Sunday back through Kavala to view the aqueduct and castle, then through the town again to drive to Asprovelte. We used the motorway which passed the camp and
had to return on the lesser roads to find
it.
On Monday we
travelled south to Oranopoli to try for a boat trip to view the
monasteries. On arrival it was misty, the camp was closed and
there was nowhere to park. We left for Epanomi, the nearest camp
to Thessalonika, we could not find the camp, it was closed, we ended up
at another camp, also closed but they allowed us to stay. Tuesday we made an early
start driving round Thessalonika to go to Vergina to see the King’s
Tombs. It was a dull day, so after a short visit we went on to
Meteora, a long day’s drive. Wednesday 
was spend on
chores and we ate out that evening. Thursday Mervyn visited one
of the monasteries, the guide book stated closed on Friday, it was
closed,
open on Friday. After lunch we shopped. On Friday we visited the
monasteries, two were closed, including the one above, the paintings in
one of the churches were superb.Saturday 16th we left for Stylida. Sunday we continued on to Delfi on switchback roads. Monday into Delfi, the site was very interesting, it took most of the day. Mervyn was OK Howard was worn out. Tuesday Mervyn went to see the rest of the site, Howard made some shelves. Wednesday we drove to Osios Loukas, to visit the monastery and continued along the minor road towards Athens until we ran out of road at Ag Anna. We drove north to rejoin the main Athens road near Leivadeia. We came in on the E75 from the northeast and joined a traffic jam. We then joined the E94 to go to Dafni. We discovered later that the roads had been renumbered, we returned on the (new) E94 to drive past the airport, and ended up at Sounion at 1730. The gate was locked, but opened up a few minutes later. A too early start on Thursday took us up to the temple of Poseidon, it
opened in 40minutes. We didn’t
wait.
We journeyed along the coast to Athens finding a supermarket on the
way, through
Athens and on to the correct road for the camp. It was badly
signposted and we missed it, we turned back on the duel carriageway and
spotted the camp on the other side. No left or u turns, at
traffic lights. We
turne
d
into a side road and found too many badly parked cars, we couldn‘t
turn a corner. Blasts on the horn brought a man to shift his car,
we returned to the correct carriageway and entered the camp in time
for a late lunch. Friday
we visited Athens to visit
the Acropolis, seeing the Parthenon, the Erechteon, the Temple of
Hephaestus and many others. We lunched and Mervyn continued to
see the
Temple of Olympian Zeus among others, while Howard returned to the
caravan.Saturday 23rd Mervyn returned to Athens to visit the Archaeological Museum, the Roman Cemetery, the Agora, Hadrian’s Library, the Lysicrates Monument and the Tower of the Winds, while Howard sorted his jazz tunes, went on the net and started a jigsaw. Sunday we left Athens, visited the closed Monastery at Dafni, shopped and ended up at Mikines. Monday, Howard fixed the printer compartment, Mervyn cooked the turkey and Christmas pudding. Dinner was followed by a restful afternoon and a gift of turkey, cheese and salad from the camp owners. Tuesday Boxing Day, we walked up to the archaeological site, it was closed. On returning to the caravan, Howard fixed the computer compartment and two wall pockets for maps etc. Wednesday an early start took us to the ruins again, they were open, Agamemnon’s Tomb and the Citadel surmounted by the Royal Palace. Back to the camp to pay the bill and then on to Nafplion, there was nobody at the camp so we went to the Theatre and Temples at Epidavros, we then returned to the camp and booked in. Thursday Mervyn visited Napflion while Howard relaxed. Friday we drove into Napflion and up to the Fortress above the town, the views from the top were superb. The next stop was the Citadel at Tiryntha, and then on to Sparta, all in brilliant sunshine.
From Sparta on Saturday 30th we made an early start (not early enough), and we went up to Mistras in the middle of a convoy of Italian caravans, parking was difficult. Most of the morning was spent scrambling about on the steep slopes, then back to the camp for lunch and a relaxing afternoon. Sunday a relaxed start took us south to Gythio. In Gythio a mistaken route took us up an increasingly narrow street, we were required to reverse down, with Greek help, and directed into another narrow street and on to the camp, in brilliant sunshine, for elevenses.
GREECE-Gythio