After awakening to
the sound of a multitude of sparrows chattering in the trees above
the tent, we packed up and hit the road, picking up some breakfast
bits in the nearby town and eating them by the beach.
We then headed
south, pulling off the motorway near the town of Litochoro, which is
the gateway to Mount Olympus National Park and boasts an impressively
mountainous backdrop. We had hoped to find a cafe of some sort for
lunch and we needn't have worried as the main drag was lined with
cafes. Spoilt for choice, we opted for a little place selling gyros
and left utterly replete. As we drove out of town, we felt the first
few drops of rain of the trip.
We then continued
south onto a small peninsula known as Pelion, after the mountain that
forms it. As we drove further away from civilisation, the road got
narrower and narrower, until it was a single winding lane. By now,
the rain had become a bit heavier and the road was getting
slipperier. This wasn't a problem until we came to an extremely
steep, essentially right-angled turn in the road. The wheels lost
traction and we came to a halt as they squealed on the wet, cobbled
road. I got out and tried pushing, but to no avail. We weren't at all
sure how we were going to get up, but after Kate rolled back as far
as she could go to give herself a bit of a run-up, the wheels bit in
and we were on our way again...
...only to meet an
SUV driven by an elderly German couple coming the other way. There
was a bit of a drop on their side of the road and the male driver was
clearly of a nervous disposition and we quickly reached an impasse.
His wife got out, umbrella held high, and started gesturing and
speaking German at us, trying to get us to go past them. Kate wasn't
confident that she would fit, so the other driver started to back up,
but he was clearly not terribly accomplished at reversing, jerking
back in little fits and starts in random directions. The woman was
getting increasingly agitated, waving her umbrella about and barking
instructions that we couldn't understand and her husband ignored.
Eventually, he managed to back down the road to a point where he
could pull over and we sailed past them.
Not long after, we
reached the small settlement of Lefokastro, where we asked for
directions to our apartment, and after waking up the owner's very
sweet mother, decked out in her dressing gown and hair net, we
managed to check in and dump some stuff in our room. We then walked
into the village and chose a taverna – based mainly on the distance
from another taverna in which some musicians were loudly
'entertaining' their captive audience of glassy-eyed patrons – and
ordered a couple of beers, which we drank while the girls befriended
a chain-smoking granny fishing from the sea wall. The taverna with
the music was reputedly the best place to eat, but by the time we had
finished our beers, the music was still going, so we just stayed
where we were and had a delightful, peaceful meal.
On the way back to
our apartment, we were followed by a large stray dog that we dubbed
Cucumber for reasons no longer clear to me. Sarah was slightly
fearful of him, so we tried to get her to give him a bit of a pat as
he seemed perfectly friendly. But then, as the girls and I walked
ahead, Cucumber started to playfully bite Kate's hand and then
proceeded to jump up and pin her to a wall as the three of us doubled
over with laughter.
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