European Concerts - First Stop: Greece!

Sabbaticals rock and here's the gory details. Read along if you want to be a groupie!

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Postby Tawmass » Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:03 am

* September 15, 2008, morning, Astakos, Greece: Upon leaving the hotel in Itea, I noticed my initials on their doors - cool! Wow, it actually rained! There was even a few bolts of lightning - a welcome sight, as it’s been weeks since I’ve seen rain. Temps are cooler too! I decided to stay in the Port of Astakos yesterday at the Hotel Stratos, which was probably built in the 50’s, and it was $50/night. Decent older place with plenty of plants and charm, but no internet, although, “There is internet café up the street” the hotel clerk said. At dusk there was 27 kazillion birds partying in the neighboring trees and the sound was almost deafening - they were having fun! Oh yeah, and Greece has these extremely-loud crickets of some sort. They were especially noticeable in Serres and Athens. The Hotel Stratos room key is straight out of the past too in the form of a basic, skeleton key, which makes me concerned about leaving things in the room. The view from my deck is stellar! Dinner was pizza at a street taverna and I took half of it with me for the next day. Breakfast this morn was somewhat typical, but no eggs or yogurt, however there was green Jello(?) and the milk at least looked like moo juice, but it tasted odd, so I don’t know if it was sour or goat milk.

I found a few archeological sites yesterday, but it was frustrating as there were no mileages to the spots, and sometimes the signs vanished. One sight was closed indefinitely for repairs and the theater site closed at 2pm, and I of course got there at 3pm. Dang. And check out the modded Mercedes and Datsun hearses. I came across numerous churches that all had adjacent graveyards. Look at the older couple who died in their 80’s - they had such a pleasant smile - they looked like happy people. The numerous churches/graveyards started making me feel mortal, then the song “Dust In The Wind” came on and added to the feeling. We’re all so insignificant and life is a one-lap race - with no practice laps. I still have a number of things to do and places to see before I croak. I’m thankful I’m doing a few of them now. What will your legacy or mark on life be?

I’ll say it again, Europe has all the cool bikes! Danno, there are Trans-Alps everywhere! Check out the awesome Honda 650 supermoto! The Yamaha DT200 was owned by the big guy on the right playing Cribbage. None of us could speak the other’s language, but we all had fun trying, especially the old dude in the background - he was funny. They all had a good laugh at my expense when I hit my head on their sign too.

I got a much-needed haircut today (from a barber named John, pronounced 'Yawnee') and still need to call up Hertz and see which port I can drop off their car and catch a ferry to Italy from. Astakos has a ferry and is a nice port, but no Hertz.
-Tom
Nice initials!
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Another beautiful coastline. Oh, ignore the mattress and other trash on the right.
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Check out the huge, killer bridge that crossed over the straits to Patra!
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This pic is dedicated to Mark "Kato" Kariya!
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Unfortunately it was closed for repairs.
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Another closed ruins.
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After taking the theatre pic, this island-sized machine rounded the corner behind me at a high rate of speed - look at the claws on the front of it! I got my ass back in the car and jetted - taking a pic at the same time! I'm sure it was driven by some local having fun scaring tourists. It worked. I used to run heavy equipment, but never anything like that.
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If this was prime, I'd hate to see sub prime!
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The view from my deck at the Hotel Stratos in Port of Astakos.
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It was a beautiful night. Of the pic of the three ladies below, the middle was my waitress, and the two outside ladies happened to be strolling by and they were very proud that they were sisters. The blonde below is the daughter of the waitress.
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Last edited by Tawmass on Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:36 am, edited 9 times in total.
You don't stop riding because you grow old, you grow old because you stop riding.
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Postby Tawmass » Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:38 am

* September 16, 2008, noon, Thessaloniki (again!), Greece: I got hosed! It turns out that I can’t just leave the little Opel Astra at Preveza’s Hertz without paying a $175-Euro relocation fee - WTF? However, once I hit Italy, I can rent a Hertz car and drive it in France, Germany, yadda, yadda, and leave it, but outside of Greece - nooooooo. So after talking with Sophia from Hertz yesterday morning, my only choice was to drive the dang Asstra 500km's (300 miles!) back to Thessaloniki and return it. Now I will have to book a flight from Thessaloniki to Italy. There is no Eurorail, so that option's out. Argh. I snagged a room at the Hotel Anessis in downtown Thessaloniki, then hit a travel service and booked a flight to Florence, Italia. It doesn't leave until tomorrow afternoon, so it looks like it will be a lazy day in Thessaloniki.

I'm hoping I can get something HERE.

With the glass being half full, the drive back from the west coast of Greece was nothing short of epic! It was incredibly beautiful and a side of Greece I didn't know existed, especially around the town of Loannina! The miles and miles of constantly-winding roads would be a motorcycle heaven!
-Tom

Water was flooding everywhere due to the rains. Hard to tell from the pic, but the river is overflowing.
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Loannina is nestled around a lake at the base of the mountains. I like the locale of this village.
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These two goat herders were trying to get their flock across the busy highway - was very interesting to watch!
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Not sure if this means bumps in the road, or that Dolly Parton is lying on her back. I looked faithfully, but never found her.
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These double-front axle trucks were all over for construction and actually hauled on the very windy roads.
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Greece evidently is all about tunnels now (I lost count of how many I drove through), especially since it appears the country is one, giant rock attached to the center of the Earth. The existing, old-windy roads would be a motorbiking dream though!
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All of these sheep were wearing some sort of cowbell and as they were grazing, it sounded like this massive windchime! I wonder if the sheep herders request 'More cowbell!'?
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I found this situation very touching: I drove past this older lady walking along the road. She's wearing black because she is a widow. (If they become widowed, they wear black the rest of their life I was told.) Around the corner was an old shrine with a freshly-lit candle. I can only assume that for years she goes down daily and lights a candle for her deceased husband.
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I finally realized this type of sign signifies that you're leaving the city limits.
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Pink Floyd's 'Animals' album cover - almost.
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Ah, almost to Thessaloniki. Whoa, is that a town for gynocologists?
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You don't stop riding because you grow old, you grow old because you stop riding.

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Postby E-Ticket » Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:22 am

The pics and stories are great, Tom-bo... keep 'e, coming!

Remember, you're having fun for all of us. - RandyB

P.S. Annel is back and said "howdy" and that you would probably have lot's of great stories to tell. Well, duh!
"AYHIN"

Mine: '12 KTM 350 EXC-F ("Wee Beasty"); '99 Honda VFR 800i Interceptor
(AMA Member)
Wife: '22 Kawasaki KLX 140R F; '04 Honda CBR600 F4i (AMA Member)

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Postby Tawmass » Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:22 pm

You saw Anell? Ask her where the heck her and Brian went? I'm sure they wanted 'alone' time from Barb, Fred and I.

* September 17, 2008, evening, Florence, Italy: I finally made it - woohoo! I’m sorta glad to leave Greece. In my general opinion, a lot of people in Greece were not that friendly. I’m not saying all, just a lot. There were certainly friendly people, but most wanted nothing to do with me. Maybe it was my deodorant? I had a good conversation with the lady at the travel service named Efi. I inquired why the often times rude behavior by so many Greeks. She said that it was because most of them are uneducated and do not like Bush politics and, since I’m American, I must be just like President Bush. She cited two recent issues: the Iraq War and the recent Olympics when Bush recognized Makedonia as a separate country from Greece. They are pretty torqued over that last one, plus the Greeks have a long memory it seems. Oh well, I came away with many, many very good memories/pix from Greece, but the two things that stand out not so good are so many unfriendly people and all the trash.

I have been looking into bike rental places in Italy and around Europe and happened upon this guy: Achilles Krete Tours. I love his intro, plus click on his enduro tours link. Good stuff, and maybe I should’ve continued further south from Santorini? I decided to go try out this place: www.stradanova.com I have a date with them at 9am Thursday morn to look at some KTMs and BMWs. I inquired to my good Italian friend, Stefano and here’s what he replied - he always cracks me up! (hope it was okay to share, Stefano!)

Looks nice!
You have to take the winery road to Greve in Chianti and have the wild boar ragu in the main plaza of the little town. Watch out for “very nice wines” they can be very expensive…go for vino della casa (house wine) instead.
Out of Florence is ok.
In Florence watch out for the following:
- anyone approaching you for some special deal or marvelous offer. Do not trust anyone. There is no such thing there.
- be aggressive in the lines, try the excitement of being Italian! Bump away your friendly American friends!
- people that look local asking you for directions…or bumping into you, especially in crowded places…they are just removing your wallet or other things from your pockets! THIS IS VERY COMMON!!!!
- ALWAYS use the lock on the bike, even for 10 seconds drop at a store or anything else.
- Keep eye contact with everything you own (want a bad idea? go to the restroom with something on your restaurant table…it’s magic! it disappears!)
- any gas is fine for your bike. Do not buy expensive gas (like 98), the regular is just fine (just do not use diesel!).
- try to avoid places that uses the sweep on the paper for the card…trust only the electronic thingy. If they have to (like for a deposit) ask for the slip when you are done. This is not very critical, but just to be safe and not find a Country Italian Villa on your credit card…
- enjoy and eat like a pig!!!!
Stefano.


So I got up this morning, had the usual Greek breakfast (that comes with the hotel fee), hit the ATM for the Euros, took a shower and… Speaking of shower, this was one of the best ones yet! Check it out, it actually has a shower curtain and toilet seat! It's basically about the size of a dinky RV shower - same parts too, as you can see. Now look closer and notice the shower curtain stops at just about the edge of the shower perimeter - just enough so that all the water hit’s the curtain and (you guessed it) drains directly on the floor. No wonder all the Greek bathrooms have drains in the middle of the floor! Then I went to use my Visa to pay for the room and it wouldn’t work - yikes! After some help today, along with some very-long distance calls, it got resolved. They were concerned it was stolen with all the large charges in Greece. I guess that’s a good thing, and I forgot to let them know before I left. Then I caught a taxi to the airport. The driver didn’t say a word, started smoking and I asked if he could enable the window switch in the back, so I could roll down the window (it was hot too), so he did. About one mile later, he rolled up my window and pointed at his ear. Argh. Waiting at the airport I heard a couple girls talking behind me reading my ISDE shirt. Turns out they were from Serres and we had a great conversation. I also briefly met a couple from Belgium who were there for the ISDE too. They said they were fans of Mandi Maston and the wife gave me some yarn strings of the Belgium colors. I hope I make it to the ISDE again and see them, although there’s no way I will remember their names.

Finally, I’m going to Italia! CLICK HERE to go see the next leg of my sojourn - Italy!
-Tom
It rained again in Thessaloniki! The brightest rainbow shown - but I had my darn camera in my room (hard to believe!). I ran and got it, and this was what was left.
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Maybe Efi was right?
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This pic is for all my TransAlp afficionados (and you know who you are). Here's a look at what you can't have - they're everywhere over here!
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The shower. At least it has a toilet seat and curtain!
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If crash, BIG boom! This is a Honda three wheeler, FYI.
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The two very-nice and funny girls from Serres: Haradini and Kiki.
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The full route I did in Greece.
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You don't stop riding because you grow old, you grow old because you stop riding.

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Postby Ride » Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:08 pm

AWESOME.


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