My Inner G(r)eek

We are in Crete!


When I last wrote, the ferry from Italy had just deposited us in Patras on the Peloponnese Peninsula from where we would pedal to the Port of Piraeus (oh how I love a little alliteration).  We began with threats of rain, but the good weather held and there was significant wind at our backs (not such a big deal with ebikes, but always nice!)  So it was a lovely ride along the coast to our first campsite at Akrata Beach.  We remembered it from our stay nearly eight years ago on our way back to Germany from Crete.  It was still nice and the weather was a lot better than in April 2009, so we stayed two nights and enjoyed some time biking along the coast and spending a little time on the pebbly beach.

Sunrise on Akrata Beach

Mew friend on Akrata Beach (that was actually a typo, but now....pun intended!)

As we arrived at the next campsite in Korinthos, we were trying to decide whether to ride our bikes or take the train to Pireaus (near Athens) where we would catch the overnight ferry to Crete. We don't like taking trains with all of our gear (especially the bike trailer) but we weren't sure how busy the roads to Pireaus would be.   We also heard that the campsite along the way was awful - cold, saltwater showers (!?) and  lots of traffic noise.  Then we learned that there was a two-day maritime strike.  So not only could we not ride our bikes to Pireaus the next day (as the ride involved two short ferries) but we had to spend an extra night in Korinthos because there would be no ferry to Crete for the next two days anyway.  No problem, though; we spent a nice day riding around ancient Korinth and the area, as well as visiting the train station to strategize how to best manage with the bikes.

Ancient Corinth

On the subway in Athens

Turned out the train ride was easy (says Judy) and we made it to Pireaus early enough to enjoy a nice lunch, buy some wine/groceries for the ferry and chill out at the port until it was time to leave (in the evening).  With our bikes, we got to be one of the first ones on board, so we were able to find a place to charge the bike batteries and scope out a good sleeping area on deck.  The trip was good.

Sleeping place on the ferry deck

Before sunrise - early arrival in Heraklion, Crete

We arrived in Crete in the town of Heraklion at about 7am and had to make the 65 km ride to Pitsidia - or a campsite a few kilometers away in Matala - over a mountain range.  I was worried that our batteries or motors wouldn't make it, but it turned out just fine, and we rolled into Matala well before lunchtime.  Unfortunately, the campsite, though beautiful (and cheap!), was extremely sandy and the wind picked up in the afternoon - picking up the sand with it - making it even less ideal.  The original plan was to stay at the campsite until we found an apartment, but that plan was more or less blown away.  Or perhaps I should say the answer, my friend, was blowing in the wind - yes we were camping in the shadow of caves once inhabited by Bob Dylan (Nobel Prize winner/snubber!) and others in the '60s.

The famous caves/coast, Matala

Above Komos beach - by Pitsidia 

We found a place to stay for the last week of September in Pitsidia at what we thought was the rock-bottom price of €28 per night, but then the next day we found a nice apartment (but not until November - after the tourists leave) for €300 per month.  The host there directed us to her niece who rented us a room (with kitchen outside) for €300 for the month of October.  That's where we are now (or where we were when I started writing this).  Great room, but the internet/cell service is dodgy.  Still, compared to eight years ago when we had to walk a couple of miles to the internet cafe to make contact with the outside world, walking up the street to send an email or make a Whatsapp call is a luxury.

The terrace outside our October digs

Healthy eating in Pitsidia

It's been fun reacquainting ourselves with Crete and Pitsidia.  There are still a lot of tourists here - mostly German - many of whom visit often for extended vacations (weeks/months).  But the tourist season is about to end and the town is beginning to empty out.  By the beginning of November, most of the restaurants will be closed, but a few stay open for the winter.   Not too many people stay for the winter, but we've already recognized some people from last time we were here.  Not too much seems to have changed, although some of our favorite places/people are no longer here. The couple we really liked who ran the local "pub" moved away and the pub is no more.  Another favorite, a Cafenion (traditional Greek coffee house/meeting place) run by a woman we knew also closed - although she's still here running her guesthouse.   We'll see what the winter holds.

Enjoying a beer at the beach in Kalamaki
(while the restaurants are still open)

Great setting - calling Shirley Valentine!
(thinking often of that movie...)

We've been exploring the area by bike, and the ebikes make a lot of interesting destinations a lot more accessible.  We found some beautiful roads leading into the mountains that we probably wouldn't have conquered without the battery power.  We've also been riding to the local weekly markets for fresh produce (and souvlaki and beer, of course).  Also during October, I spent a lot of afternoons on the beach.  And now that the weather is starting to get cooler, we're exploring some of the back roads on foot.

Souvlaki in Timbaki - at the market

Making the Souvlaki

Matthias riding with the sheep

Yup, we rode that road

My favorite spot on Komos beach

Oh, and getting in touch with my inner geek: learning "code" has been on my to-do list for a while, so I've been using the dodgy internet when we have it to take an online course. Was hoping to add a splashy feature to the blog using my newfound knowledge,

but all I've learned to do so far is format text.

(and that was hard!)

And finally, of course we voted. Sent the absentee ballots a few weeks ago and received confirmation that they were received in Florida.  I'm sure I don't need to explain who we voted for.  Please, please, please let her win! Next installment from the next chapter in American history - hope I'm not censored!

Absentee Ballot 

Bikes, Boats and Bahn

Whoa.  Looking back I see how long overdue I am for a post. As with most things, the longer I put it off, the harder it is to sit down and do.  But here I am in a hotel in Patras, Greece, with wifi connection.  Matthias is sleeping and I've got no excuses (except for the desire to catch up with Bill Maher, Trevor Noah and the rest....)

Speaking of TV, I visited a mineral water factory in Bavaria - kept thinking of Laverne and Shirley and wanted to throw a glove on one of the bottles and watch it go through the motions.  Kinda like one of those FB posts "Like" if you remember this....

We've come quite a long way since I left off in Bavaria.  We got our bikes tended to (and wallets emptied) in a nice town called Traunstein.  After that, we started riding north, in the general direction of Gommern, where Matthias' parents live.   First, we followed a regional bike trail to a small town called Marktl, now famous (in Germany) as the birthplace of Pope Benedikt.  We had been to the campsite 10 years earlier and had fond memories, and it was still a nice place - a family run farmhouse-turned-campsite.  Another reason we went there was to visit Burghausen.  It boasts the longest castle complex in Europe - we had seen it from across the river on our way to Salzburg and thought it would be interesting to visit.  It was.

Scene riding from Rosenheim to Traunstein

Biergarten in Traunstein - a highlight while our bikes were getting tended to.  Judy is somewhere in the picture  

The "Burg" (Castle) in Burghausen

After that we headed over the rolling hills of lower Bavaria toward Landshut.  We really had no inclination to visit Landshut but there was a good train (Bahn) connection to Gommern, and the campsite was located fairly close to the train station, so it worked for us.  But it's always good to have low expectations, right?  We found Landshut, located just an hour outside of Munich, to be a really nice town.  The campsite was great - quiet, riverside, and totally close to town - and there just happened to be a huge festival going on while we were there (oh darn).  So our last two days of the summer bike trip ended on a high note - great food, music and (of course) beer.

This is a "milk automat" on the road - you bring a bottle (or buy one from a machine) and get it filled with fresh cow milk.  We somehow figured out how to have a taste.  The enlarged picture (possible by clicking) shows it better.  It was quite good. 

Festival in Landshut - the band was awesome!

Must admit, I don't remember taking this picture, but I think it's pretty cool!

Leaving Landshut, we took a few trains to reach Gommern.  Traveling on German trains is wonderful, but with our fully-loaded bikes, and the bike trailer Matthias pulls, it can be a stressful experience.  We did miss one train connection, but that meant we had to have lunch (döner kepab) in Hof while waiting for the next train - a treat, in fact.  And we arrived in Gommern just in time for dinner with Matthias' parents a couple of days before his father's (Achim's) 70th birthday.  Upon our arrival, we learned that Achim's sister, Ingrid, who lives near Bonn, had changed her plans and would not be able to make the trip for the celebration.  While I was sorry to learn that she wouldn't be joining us, it turned out that Achim had bought a lot of her favorite regional eats that needed to be consumed.  As we were enjoying some of the treats, I remembered that Inge was terribly fond of red wine.  And yes, it turned out that Achim bought a few bottles for her, and it was up to us to enjoy them.  JOY!

Red wine!

The 70th birthday party was nice.  I can now understand a lot more German than I could at Achim's sixtieth ten years ago, so I could communicate better with family members.  It was a lovely, typical German affair - Achim invited a man who played the accordion, so there was a lot of traditional music and singing to go along with the eating and drinking.  Prost!

Two of a kind

Family Photo!

It was that kind of night - I ordered a vodka!

Video sing along!

Breakfast the next day - on the terrace.

So, following the birthday festivities, Birgitt and Achim (Matthias parents) took off on a trip to Croatia.  We were waiting for a set of keys to be made for one of our bike locks (Matthias lost his keys in Salzburg), and it turned out we needed to wait nearly two weeks for one of the special keys to come in. So we squatted at Matthias' parents' house for another week, where we did some shopping, bike riding and tv watching.  The key was ready just before his parents returned so we got to visit with them again before heading south - to Greece.

Castle near Gommern - built by the mother of Katherine the Great (Russian Tsarina) who was born nearby.

We took another long train journey back to Bavaria, and luckily made all our connections to Rosenheim, where we stayed at a campsite we visited a month before.  We then rode a few days to Innsbruck, stopping at Kufstein and a beautiful campsite in the Zillertal (Ziller River Valley in Austria) on the way to Innsbruck.  From Innsbruck, we took a train to Bologna.  More on that in a minute.

Back on the Inn River Radweg (Bike path) riding toward Innsbruck. 

OMG - best campsite bathroom EVER!  Seriously, this was the shower room at the campsite in Zillertal.

The view from the Zillertal campground (with our tent in front).

Bologna.  Let me just say I knew Matthias would hate it, but I REALLY wanted to go because I heard it was one of the great places to eat in Italy.  So I basically said, "Suck it up, Matthias, and let's have our 13th anniversary celebration in Bologna!"    By the way, the reason we stopped in Bologna is  because it was on the train line to Ancona, where the ferries leave for Greece.  So we had to stop there anyway.  Matthias wasn't loving it - he really doesn't care for Italy, to put it lightly, and the fact that the campsite cost nearly 30 Euros didn't help.  But we spent two nights there, with a full day to explore the city and EAT.  It did cost a lot, but I really enjoyed it!!

First stop in Italy - deli at Brennero (the Brenner Pass over the Alps) for a snack! 

Gelato in Bologna!!

Scenes from the Anniversary dinner - looks like Matthias could enjoy it after all!

Still eating!

And eating...

From Bologna, it was an easy train ride to Ancona, where we got the ferry to Greece.  I was amused (after being annoyed?) seeing the change in Matthias as we boarded the ferry.  I guess he feels at home in Greece, and I can't really blame him.  The ferry was fun - lots of people from everywhere, beautiful scenery, and interesting accommodations.  We didn't book a cabin (of course) but we did have our sleeping bags and air mattresses with us so it made "deck accommodations" quite comfortable.

Rainbow over Ancona as we were leaving! 

Our dinner on board!

Greece!! (or Albania - I'm not sure)

And so, we just arrived in Patras and booked a hotel for the first night.  Had a delicious dinner by the sea (Matthias couldn't stop talking about how much better it was than in Italy - not sure I totally agree, but let him have the moment) and now I've just finished writing the blog (or blogging, I guess).  Tomorrow we're off on our bikes toward Piraeus and Crete, with a few camping stops on the way.  It's supposed to rain, but can I really complain?  No.

Climb Every Mountain

Maybe an appropriate title for the blog entry but certainly my least favorite song from the movie.  Probably because Maria didn't sing it.  Anyway...

Selfie in the alps!

Still seeing amazing things on the bike tour, but also dealing with challenges.  Right now, we're in a very nice campsite by Rosenheim, Germany.  But there's a group of young people not far from our tent (it's Saturday) and Matthias is concerned about being able to sleep.  We'll see how loud they are...  We've also got some issues with our bikes.  Matthias' bike is making a weird noise and something seems to be wrong with the brakes.  I guess the problem with buying really nice e-bikes is when there's a problem, it's a big deal.  The bikes are great, and the battery power really helps when climbing hills (you still have to pedal, but I feel like such a cheater when I pass people on non-powered bikes!)  But we bought a special brand so there are aren't a ton of "authorized dealers" to find when there's a problem.  So we're heading back to a town we visited before with an appointment for bike repair next week.  Not too bad, as the town was really, really nice, but disppointing because we had just reached the heart of the Alps when things started to go wrong.  Yeah, I'm a little cranky.

Is this not the most beautiful spot to have bike problems?!

After Salzburg, we rode a short distance to Bad Reichenhall in the foothills of the German Alps.  We found a nice campsite there and the next day rode our bikes (or pushed them thanks to the GPS sending us on what turned out to be more of a hiking trail which was too steep and stony for my citybike) to my first ALM!  This was very exciting for me, as Matthias had told me about Alms for ages - pastures high up in the mountains where farmers would bring their milk cows for the summer to graze on grass and flowers to make  the cheese special, or something to that effect.  The Alms are also beloved destinations for German "wanderers" (hikers) as they serve food and drinks - the better ones serve homemade cheese, bread, butter, etc.  And some also offer a place to camp for the night.  Anyway, it's dreamy - high in the hills, fantastic views, the sound of cowbells and the smell of cowpies, well.... that's even good, too.  Pictures don't do justice, and after seeing my first alm, I didn't think any could top it.  But each one we visited had its own charm - some had better food, some had better scenery, but all were great!

My first view of my first Alm

Best Beer Garden in the world! 

And another view 

And another...

And now that I think of it, the bike problems do tend to have silver linings.  On Saturday night in Bad Reichenhall, my bike computer failed.  And that didin't just mean I'd be without my beloved GPS (I do kiss it every time it helps me find our destination), but without the computer, the motor doesn't work.  Wouldn't be so much of a problem if I didn't buy a citybike with only 8 gears instead of my 21-gear usual (next time!).  And since everything (everything! except restaurants and gas stations) is closed in Germany on Sundays, we knew we had to wait until Monday to even check it out.  So we had to stay another night in Bad Reichenhall, which gave us time on Sunday to hike up to a beautiful Alm and have fabulous dinner in a beer garden/brewery in town.  On Monday morning we found a bike shop and the solution was simple - all we needed to do was reset the computer (all four buttons at once - I tried everything else and this was NOWHERE in the manual!!)  So, we had ample time for a little side trip to Königsee.

Königsee!

Biergarten in Bad Reichenhall

SteinerAlm by Bad Reichenhall

Our next stop was Siegsdorf, where we stayed at an old farmhouse campsite (turned out to be Matthias' favorite, which is good because that's where we're heading back to to have his bike checked).  It was basicallly just around the mountain from Bad Reichenhall (not far as the crow flies) so we got to do more "mountain biking" and visit an Alm with the best cheese so far.  After that, we rode to Kufstein, Austria, where we waited out a horrible rain day (and I got a horrible haircut).  Luckily our tent stayed dry.

Our tent at the Siegsdorf Campsite, with the Alps in the background

We were again lucky as we packed up the next day just before the rain started and had a mostly dry ride up the Inn River to Hall in Tirol (Austria), just outside of Innsbruck.  The campsite there was packed to the gills, but the scenery beyond the landscape of tents, RVs and trailers was pretty spectacular.  The next day, we took a scenic ride with a change in altitude of over 1000 meters (thank you e-bike!) with of course a stop at a beautiful Alm along the way.  Unfortunately, Matthias' brakes started to make noise, and when he took off his wheel to inspect, a bunch of other things when wrong.  So we had to stay another night and visit a bike shop in Innsbruck the next day.  The silver lining?  We got to spend the day walking around Innsbruck, something we probably would have skipped if we decided to move on.  The bad news:  The bike guy said Matthias needed new brakes, so we decided to turn around and head back down the Inn river instead of heading deeper into the Alps.  Next time!

Campsite in Hall in Tirol - our tent is tucked away on the left-hand side -can't see it.

Minigolf course next to our campsite in Hall in Tirol

Alm by Hall in Tirol

Innsbruck!

On our way back, we stopped at a campsite (we had passed by in the reverse direction) in a beautiful area called Alpbachtal (Alpbach river valley).  We had another rain day (but not all day pouring like in Kufstein) so we stayed, and I got to take advantage of the tourist card that was part of our camping package.  That included free admission to Tiroler Farmhouse Museum, which was an open air museum with various rebuilt farmhouses from throughout the area - many dating  back to the 1500s - in a beautiful landscape.  I loved seeing all the different house styles, especially since I had been seeing the houses for weeks and always appreciated that part of the scenery. I constantly think how the mountains, rivers and landscape here are beautiful, and how the landscape in the USA compares.  In the US, the mountains are bigger and maybe more spectacular, but what makes the difference here is the look of the buildings (farms, old castles, towns, etc.) along the way.   I had to drag Matthias to the museum but he really enjoyed it. In the afternoon, I rode my bike to a gondola/ski lift (also part of the tourist card deal).  The scenery was somewhat stifled by clouds (it was a rain day) but there was an Alm and a few cows up there to keep me company (couldn't convince Matthias to come with me on this one).

Baurenhöfe (farmhouse) museum

At the museum - just like the scenery along the way, but with explanations

Top o' the mountain selfie with the cable car in the background

Cows to keep me company

The next day, the weather was (a little) better so we rode to Rosenheim, where we are now.  Okay, "now" is a few days ago, when I left off writing this....

In Rosenheim, we spent a rain day riding to a bike shop that gave us the bad news that we needed to travel to another bike shop to get the work Matthias needed done.  The next day, we took a trip to Wasserburg am Inn - the town wasn't all that spectacular, but the ride was nice.  And on Sunday, we got to go to a dorf (village) fest, which was a true highlight.  Great bands, great food and great beer, along with what seemed to be the whole town (and more) decked out in traditional Bavarian garb.  Fantastic!

Stercklfisch (fish on a stick) at the dorf fest  

Little village - BIG beer!

The whole town was here!  Even Heidi's grandfather (can you find him in the picture?)

Now we are back in the campsite on the hill in Siegsdorf - Matthias' favorite.  We've got a couple days to kill before our bike appointment so we'll be heading back into the hills to visit a few more Alms.  Just under two weeks to go before we need to be back in Gommern for Matthias' father's birthday bash.

Dinner at the campsite restaurant in Siegsdorf. Turns out today is a Bavarian Holiday so we couldn't buy groceries and had to eat in the restaurant.  Oh darn!