11 April
2025 – Last Day In Greece
Miles
driven today = 56
Total Miles
to date = 3,324
This
morning we left Toroni and continued along the coast road to complete our of circuit
of Sithonia.
For a while the surrounding
pine forest was perhaps even thicker than it was on the East Coast.
We saw some evidence of logging but it seemed
to be more as a result of maintenance than any sort of commercial
forestry.
After a while the forest gave
way to neatly terraced vineyards and then we were back in olive growing
territory.
On the
whole Sithonia is wonderfully underdeveloped.
The one exception is Porto Carras where a huge modern resort blots the
landscape, complete with a totally out of context golf course.
The road noticeably widened at this point to
smooth the way for the holidaymakers who no doubt pay through the nose to stay
there.
On completing
the loop we stopped off at Lidl in Nikiti to top up on some of the Greek
goodies which have been staples of our shopping list for the last few weeks but
we are less likely to find once we cross the border.
Then we followed the coast northwards for a
way before climbing inland to Metagkitsi and on towards Ierissos on the neck of
the Athos Peninsula.
Just before we
dropped back down to the coast we stopped off to take in the fabulous views.
Initially we headed for a possible stopover place we had identified on the seafront at Ierissos.
From what
we saw while driving through, it wasn’t the most stimulating of towns.
There is a campsite very nearby and the gates
were open but it was deserted and I could find nothing online to suggest that they
might currently be accepting visitors.
Our
parking spot was pleasant enough but there was a bar nearby which potentially
could be blasting out music until the early hours and there was also evidence that
the local youth practice their do-nuts in the car park, so given it’s a Friday
we decided not to risk it and moved on.
We found
ourselves a spot on the beach just a kilometre or so out of town. It’s certainly very quiet with nobody around
to disturb us at all. In fact it’s a
quite incredible stretch of beach which is sadly spoilt somewhat by the amount
of litter. We’re not talking piles of
rubbish on a Sicilian scale but it’s definitely the worst we’ve seen on our
Greek travels which is rather disheartening.
There are a
few signs around advising wild camping is banned (which officially it is all
over Greece) but we’ve read that a blind eye is turned provided there is no ”camping
behaviour” such as setting up awnings or getting your tables and chairs
out.
If you do you could potentially be
up for a €300 fine.
We’ve certainly
become a lot more gung-ho on this trip about using wild camping spots than we
have been in the past.
Out of Season
when there are relatively few campsites open it really doesn’t seem to be an
issue provided you use a tiny amount of common sense over where you park.
As soon as
we parked we were surrounded by a herd of goats who presumably use this as
common grazing land.
They were under the
watchful eye of their friendly goatherd and his dogs.
He gave us an agreeable nod as we passed so
we were sure we weren’t treading on his toes by being here.
We took our
final beach walk for this trip, or at least until we are back within sight of
the North Sea on the other side of the continent.
The sand stretches for miles in either
direction.
Only interrupted
by a couple of very weird and interesting rock formations.
We had
hoped to be wearing our Summer wardrobe a lot more by now but the wind is still
bitingly cold at times.
I guess in many
ways that’s been the only minor disappointment.
We also thought we would be having Salad for tea most nights.
We’ve had shepherd’s pie this evening.
Proper Winter fair.
So that is
Greece pretty much wrapped up.
With the exception
of the pan handle which stretches East from here to the Turkish border we’ve
done the majority of the mainland coastline, as well as dipping inland for some
of the major sites.
It’s been great.
Really great.
Now let’s go have a look at Bulgaria.
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