Inter Rail 1987 Day 11 and Day 12

Tuesday 9th June 1987
The alarm clock went off and woke me up at 8.00am. I was out of bed by 8.15am and down to the beach for a swim. Jon was a little shocked because I couldn't be arsed putting on my costume and went swimming topless in just my pants.

Had a shower and a bite to eat before heading off for the day. We made our way to the Mani region, which is famous for its tower houses. Came across a place that had a cave, a bit Dan-yr-Ogof ish. The Diros cavens at Pirgos Dirou are apparently quite famous.

Spent a lot of time sitting on the gorgeous beach. The bay reminded me a lot of Port Erin, shape wise anyway. The pebbles were very white, round and marble-like. The water was lovely, clear and blue, and whilst we paddled in the shallows we had stripey fish swimming around our feet.

We then headed off up the coast road to Kalamata. It was supposed to be a main road but it wiggled about, went up and down like no-one's business and was full of pot-holes. It turns out that this area suffered badly during the September 1986 earthquake and this road has yet to be repaired properly.

One surprising obstruction to our journey was a group of old men who were having a drink in their local which seemed to be in the road rather than just at the roadside. It took us bloody hours to get to Kalamata which turned out to be a big and particularly scrotty looking place. It too had suffered damage in the earthquake last year.

Once we were out of Kalamata and on the road to Pilos I got to drive for a bit. Found that it was as difficult to get used to a manual shift after so long driving an automatic as it was to adjust to driving a left hand drive car. Jon turned out to be a lousy passenger that didn't trust my driving one little bit.

We swapped back to him driving after stopping for a bit of a picnic lunch overlooking a bay. Suffered the first serious margarine problem of the holiday. Pilos turned out to be a lovely little fishing village with an incongrous roundabout at its centre. Turned south and headed for Methoni, a really small place that advertised beach camping which took a bit of finding. Showers were tepid and the toilets squatties but at 600 drachs a night we didn't really complain.

We headed straight for the beach where topless sunbathing was the order of the day. Jon made some comment about nude swimming and that was that. Bathers were removed once we were in the water and replaced before leaving but it was a great feeling swimming naked.

Dinner back at the campsite was beefburger, greek salad and chips washed down with a beer. Retired to bed but suffered an aerial bombardment from flying beetles before dropping off and getting a really good nights sleep.

Wednesday 10th June 1987
The alarm was due to go off at 8.00am but the inbuilt biological clock woke me up just before it went off. Managed to stir my stumps by 8.15 and went down to the beach. Did have a quick dip but it was too cold for much else. Had a shower and then it was time to get the show on the road.

We must have spent a good 2 hours wandering around Methoni Castle, especially the octagonal tower. The castle has been used since the Venetians in the 12th Century and has a medieaval vilage with dovecotes at its centre.

It was still being excavted. This enabled the intrepid explorers to investigate a new hole and connecting tunnels. An upside-down sleeping bat did however cause quite a bit of running away. Jon said he only ran after me to make sure I was OK but he was running in front of me!! After this we headed off for the ancient site of Messini.

The roads were interesting to say the least. We were OK whilst we were on the main road although navigating our way to our goal was a bit confusing because it was signposted "Ancient Ithomi". Once off the main road the fun really started. One of the potholes we came across near a commemorative cross we nearly failed to get escape from. In addition in some places, usuallly on hair pin bends, the road was doing its best to run away whilst the nearby earth was making a takeover attempt.

At one point there were loads of large blocks of stone in the road which we could just about get the car through. It turns out that this was the Arcadia Gate and part of the ancient fortifying wall of the site. Given the rigours of the journey we were pleased to find entrance to the site was free. The site was still being excavated. It was quite small but with a cosy amphitheatre and no screaming hordes of French and German bus carried tourists.

It was bloody hot so we headed towards the coast to a place with the bizarre name of Kyparissa. Enroute we came across Camping Tholo. We paid 800 dracs for our site with hot showers (solar power generated), English loos and a bar with no silly bazooki music playing. The good music played was even relayed into the loos.

Tholon Beach was long, sandy and very, very empty. Topless sunbathing and nude swimming soon gave way to nude sunbathing as there were so few people around. It was an absolutely gorgeous spot, very quiet and very pleasant. We had a meal in the bar and watched Greek TV. Couldn't believe the number of adverts in any one spot. Each commercial break must have been 10-15 minutes long. Finished the meal with some Greek ***** brandy. A little rough but palatable.

Obviously sleeping on the ground is an acquired art which gets better with practice and lack of flies, as I had a reaaly good nights sleep.

Mani Peninsula1

Mani Peninsula2

Jon Methoni

Methoni Castle

Me Methoni

Mycenae
Messene

Messene