To continue...
Sep. 28th, 2005 09:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwrenSept 13-21 is posted earlier.
Sept 22: Hiked to Ypsarion; hiked to next village. Bussed to Limenaria.
Sept 23: Hiked to next village. Ferry/bus to Thessalolinki, then overnight bus to Ioannina.
Sept 24: Vikos Gorge hike fell through (fuckity fuck) due to no busses on Sat. Bus to Kalambaka.
(Continued next post.)
Sept 22: Hiked to Ypsarion; hiked to next village. Bussed to Limenaria.
Personal Journal: Hiking maps
If anybody wants to make some money, they just need to make up some hiking maps of Thassos and sell them at local kiosks. I would have traded my left arm (or ear, or something) for one after a while. Nobody knew anything. Thassos is really promoted as a place to go hiking, but it's not organized at all. I was eventually prepared to just set off and bushwhack, but I stopped for some food at what turned out to be an English eatery and found that the proprieter had (what I assume was) the island's sole hiking map pinned to his wall. He let me look at it, but told me it was worth "more than his life." I made some notes on a trail up the highest mountain and took off to find my bus.
The trail was wonderful for the first few miles. There were farms and escaped grape vines everywhere. Figs. The air smelled of culinary herbs and I stopped to pick oregano, thyme and sage. There were ancient irrigation ditches lined with stones, still being used. An old grape vineyard was guarded by a horse's skull and I carefully did not steal any grapes from it. I ate lots of little blackcaps hanging about though, and wondered if the small purple berries were a primitive native grape or related to the elderberry. I didn't eat any, though.
The trail got increasily muddy and hard to walk after a while, though. I could hear goat bells all around me as the little critters trotted the slopes, and I eventually slogged through the rich mud up to some rocks and hit a false summit. I tried to go further, but the very narrow trail was blocked by a sphynx in the form of a cow. She mooed the riddle at me and while I knew the answer, I couldn't tell her in cow-language and she was looking rather murderous. I decided to let the cow-sphynx win and started heading downhill again.
Then I hiked from Potomia to Skala Potomia. Sore feet by the time I got there, so I soaked in the sea and then ate souvlaki. The waiter gave me a free dessert but didn't have the English to really explain how it was made. Alas! It was delicious, and all I know is it had eggs and chocolate and coconut in it. And bread, I think.
Personal Journal: Plants
Thassos has olives in groves, in abandoned groves, and everywhere else. Figs, both cultivated and wild. There was a huge fig tree covering what I assumed was the bus shelter outside Skala Marion, where I hiked to from Limenarias. There were two, old broken chairs there, so I sat and waited for the bus, unable to walk any more. I picked apart a ripe fig and ate a little while waiting. I don't really like figs, but it was there and ready and therefore hard to pass up.
Olympos had tons of boxwood, pine, other evergreens, beech, wild cyclamen, tulips and crocuses, vine maples and tons more. The richness, lushness and diversity was stunning. Wild roses, too. I snagged a few hips for dad, so he can grow some Mt. Olympos roses at home.
Sept 23: Hiked to next village. Ferry/bus to Thessalolinki, then overnight bus to Ioannina.
Sept 24: Vikos Gorge hike fell through (fuckity fuck) due to no busses on Sat. Bus to Kalambaka.
I didn't manage to leave Thessaloniki until 9:30 PM (after leaving Thassos and successfully avoiding Captain Horndog, if he was even on the boat). After a sleepless busride throughout the night, I landed in Ioannina at 4:30 am. The surly guy at the counter refused to speak English, but eventually gave in and yelled at me that the busses to the Vikos Gorge only run MWF.
I am throwing away my travel book. I knew I should have brought Lonely Planet and not Frommers. The only thing Frommers said was that the busses were "bad" and you should "rent a car." Well, that's dandy if you can FIND a car and if you also are comfortable driving a stick. I'm not entirely used to them and I don't want to jump into driving one on those twisty, windy, dangerous mountain roads. Not that I could find a car rental place, anyway.
I hung out at the bus station until daylight and went to explore the Turkish Bazaar, visit Aslan Pasha's mosque, and walk around the lake. I was grumpy because I wanted to be hiking instead. I did enjoy the bazaar though, and finding out more about the Turkish invasion.
Still, I took the 2:00 bus to Meteora. (Kalambaka)
Meteora deserves its own post. Later, though. I'm getting tired. I'll leave you with this pic.
Sept 22: Hiked to Ypsarion; hiked to next village. Bussed to Limenaria.
Sept 23: Hiked to next village. Ferry/bus to Thessalolinki, then overnight bus to Ioannina.
Sept 24: Vikos Gorge hike fell through (fuckity fuck) due to no busses on Sat. Bus to Kalambaka.
(Continued next post.)
Sept 22: Hiked to Ypsarion; hiked to next village. Bussed to Limenaria.
Personal Journal: Hiking maps
If anybody wants to make some money, they just need to make up some hiking maps of Thassos and sell them at local kiosks. I would have traded my left arm (or ear, or something) for one after a while. Nobody knew anything. Thassos is really promoted as a place to go hiking, but it's not organized at all. I was eventually prepared to just set off and bushwhack, but I stopped for some food at what turned out to be an English eatery and found that the proprieter had (what I assume was) the island's sole hiking map pinned to his wall. He let me look at it, but told me it was worth "more than his life." I made some notes on a trail up the highest mountain and took off to find my bus.
The trail was wonderful for the first few miles. There were farms and escaped grape vines everywhere. Figs. The air smelled of culinary herbs and I stopped to pick oregano, thyme and sage. There were ancient irrigation ditches lined with stones, still being used. An old grape vineyard was guarded by a horse's skull and I carefully did not steal any grapes from it. I ate lots of little blackcaps hanging about though, and wondered if the small purple berries were a primitive native grape or related to the elderberry. I didn't eat any, though.
The trail got increasily muddy and hard to walk after a while, though. I could hear goat bells all around me as the little critters trotted the slopes, and I eventually slogged through the rich mud up to some rocks and hit a false summit. I tried to go further, but the very narrow trail was blocked by a sphynx in the form of a cow. She mooed the riddle at me and while I knew the answer, I couldn't tell her in cow-language and she was looking rather murderous. I decided to let the cow-sphynx win and started heading downhill again.
Then I hiked from Potomia to Skala Potomia. Sore feet by the time I got there, so I soaked in the sea and then ate souvlaki. The waiter gave me a free dessert but didn't have the English to really explain how it was made. Alas! It was delicious, and all I know is it had eggs and chocolate and coconut in it. And bread, I think.
Personal Journal: Plants
Thassos has olives in groves, in abandoned groves, and everywhere else. Figs, both cultivated and wild. There was a huge fig tree covering what I assumed was the bus shelter outside Skala Marion, where I hiked to from Limenarias. There were two, old broken chairs there, so I sat and waited for the bus, unable to walk any more. I picked apart a ripe fig and ate a little while waiting. I don't really like figs, but it was there and ready and therefore hard to pass up.
Olympos had tons of boxwood, pine, other evergreens, beech, wild cyclamen, tulips and crocuses, vine maples and tons more. The richness, lushness and diversity was stunning. Wild roses, too. I snagged a few hips for dad, so he can grow some Mt. Olympos roses at home.
Sept 23: Hiked to next village. Ferry/bus to Thessalolinki, then overnight bus to Ioannina.
Sept 24: Vikos Gorge hike fell through (fuckity fuck) due to no busses on Sat. Bus to Kalambaka.
I didn't manage to leave Thessaloniki until 9:30 PM (after leaving Thassos and successfully avoiding Captain Horndog, if he was even on the boat). After a sleepless busride throughout the night, I landed in Ioannina at 4:30 am. The surly guy at the counter refused to speak English, but eventually gave in and yelled at me that the busses to the Vikos Gorge only run MWF.
I am throwing away my travel book. I knew I should have brought Lonely Planet and not Frommers. The only thing Frommers said was that the busses were "bad" and you should "rent a car." Well, that's dandy if you can FIND a car and if you also are comfortable driving a stick. I'm not entirely used to them and I don't want to jump into driving one on those twisty, windy, dangerous mountain roads. Not that I could find a car rental place, anyway.
I hung out at the bus station until daylight and went to explore the Turkish Bazaar, visit Aslan Pasha's mosque, and walk around the lake. I was grumpy because I wanted to be hiking instead. I did enjoy the bazaar though, and finding out more about the Turkish invasion.
Still, I took the 2:00 bus to Meteora. (Kalambaka)
Meteora deserves its own post. Later, though. I'm getting tired. I'll leave you with this pic.
