Greece bike tour

I rode around Greece with my friends Bobby and Natalie in the summer of 2023. We rode from Athens along the north of the Peloponnese peninsula with stops in Ancient Corinth, Mykines, Nafplio, Epidavros, Methana and Poros amongst a few others. This was a “credit card” tour so we only stayed in hotels and B&Bs.

I get the most joy out of travel when I travel by bike it’s a lot of fun to be out in the sun getting exercise while also sightseeing and experiencing new cultures but it’s more than just fun it feels liberating in a certain kind of way there’s a sort of freedom in knowing

That you can travel around the world or at least a small part of the world if your trip is shorter just by the strength of your own 2 feet last summer three of us took a trip to Greece to exercise some of that freedom and find a little Adventure along the way Soly my friends Bobby and atalie who I toured Southern Portugal with last year joined me again this time on the other side of Europe we met up in the capital Athens with our bikes one of the only parts of the trip we planned ahead of time we felt like we established a good

Kind of Rhythm last time and didn’t think it was important to make too many decisions and commitments from across the ocean I know it stresses some people out but I find it freeing not to have to decide where I’m staying or which way I’m going until the last minute

Basically when I’m Already There Greece being a hugely popular tourist destination had had no shortage of places to stay in great itineraries so we did some research ahead of time but left most of the decision- making till the end there was a heatwave drought and Wildfire situation in the country around

The time of our arrival which influenced some of our decisions as well in Athens we explored some museums and put our bikes together in preparation to depart the direction was finally Chosen and we set out South towards the port of peras riding out of Athens was like riding out

Of most big cities a little irritating but there are a few dedicated lanes that made it a little more pleasant even though we had to climb some stairs once or twice a little further along the way we met some Curious friendly locals who informed us that we just climbed the

Second tallest hill in Paras there was a significant Haze in the air from recent wildfires and it was oppressively hot we rode past the huge Port Town to a smaller one called Pama and took a short ferry ride to the island of salamina the ferry was the kind you

Could drive a car onto and it had multiple decks we were on the lower deck with all the cars I was just trying to tr view as soon as we got off the boat the dense urban sprawl was replaced with quiet country living after riding over a small hill we found ourselves riding

Along a Cove with sandy beaches we couldn’t help ourselves and went right in the water without even changing out of our cycling clothes it was a great relief from the heat just a bit further along the bay we had our first run in with the trips arch nemesis but more on

That later when we reached the opposite end of salamina we took an even shorter fery ride back to the Mainland the moon had just come up and we only had a few hours of daylight so we started thinking about where to stay we knew there’d be a

Small hotel in nearby mea so we booked it for the night and headed in that direction we took the scenic route along the coast and passed a Charming little Marina in a town called Pachi it was getting late and I thought maybe we could stay here for the night our mea

Reservation came with no cancellation fee so we traded it for a small BNB apartment I spotted on a tiny ad on the side of a building in town we had our first dinner of the trip along the water with a bunch of cats running between between our feet and you can say we

Severely underestimated the portion sizes the next day our journey took us further west towards ancient Corinth we crossed a small Canal separating the mainland from pelones a large Peninsula SL Island that we’ll be spending the rest of our trip on WE sped past the canal and spent a significant portion of

The rest of the day riding along the coast we stopped at a tiny beach again to cool off it was completely empty except for one fisherman part of the reason we chose this route was to be close to the water and be able to jump B whenever we wanted we were happy to

Indulge at lunch I finally got some fresh grilled sardines that I was desperately searching all around Portugal for last year and couldn’t find shared a little with this guy as we got closer to our destination we began to see this giant Hill in the distance it was kind of magical looking

In the residual Haze and Setting Sun it turned out to be the hill the Acropolis of Corinth was built on and there are ruins up there to go and explore fortunately we didn’t have to climb the hill as the town of was situated right next to it with its own set of

Impressive ruins as I took photos of the moon rising over the Temple of Apollo I noticed people entering the site after hours it turned out there was an open air Opera being performed free to the public in probably the most remarkable setting you could possibly Imagine if I wasn’t starving from riding all day I’d probably stay longer even though Opera isn’t really my preferred genre in the morning we went to explore Acro Corin after a second daytime visit to the main ruins in town we took a cab up the hill which had some pretty remarkable Views N all the exploring made it difficult to get a whole day of riding in though Bobby did decide to ride back to the canal and come back we decided to stay in Corinth another night before heading out further along the peninsula on the next day’s ride one of the day stops was

On the ruins of ancient Nea it was a bit smaller than some of what we saw in Athens and Corinth but there was an impressive ruin of the Temple of Zeus that dates back to the 4th Century BC the riding was becoming more Scenic with distant Blue Hills all around us and GR

Groves of old olive trees and cypresses lining the road I was mesmerized by this tiny Hill with what looked like castle ruins on top shining in the Sun at dusk we reached our destination which was the town of mikin chosen because it was next to yet another set of ruins to explore

Next day rinse and repeat this time though at the ruins of Ancient M with an overcast Sky which is rather fitting given the tragic history of this place the site itself was a bit less visually striking with no tall columns but there was a great museum onite along with this

Creepy tomb to explore we intentionally came this way because we wanted to see a lot of culture but we were also starting to realize that there’s so many sites in such a small area that we have to pick and choose which ones to see and which ones to skip once the day’s Explorations

Were done we wrote a short distance to the town of Argos for lunch Argos is one of the oldest continuously populated cities in the world the castle on the hill I saw earlier is located here on yet another Acropolis which just means City on a Hill in Greek in case you are

Wondering we settled for looking at it from below and continue to arrive towards the Gulf of argolis and the City of Napo here again we ran into our old enemy and I know what you’re thinking and no it’s not dogs I’m kind of known for uh complaining about dogs chasing me

And Greece has a reputation in the bike touring circles for aggressive dogs though we found them to be pretty well behaved in our trip now the Real Enemy was this Insidious goat head Thorn Natalie had two Flats on the first day of riding another on the second day of

Riding and and when we were coming out of Argos we rode through a big fat patch of these things they are an annoying invasive plant that grows all over the place and is pretty unremarkable looking and easy to miss its thorns are really sharp and pierce tires easily Natalie

Was getting the worst of it because she had Supple gravel tires that would usually be run tubeless while Bobby and I had touring tires with the added flat protection that comes with After experiencing all the joy of patching tubes daily and changing several Flats on the road Natalie finally went to a

Bike shop to replace the tubes with some sealant and never had another another flat on the trip even the touring to IR got at least one or two Flats so it’s definitely something to watch out for if you’re riding this part of the world Napo was a busy City with lots of

Historical sites and was actually briefly the capital of Greece in the 19th century our first impression that it was a bit too touristy but we still chose to stay another night when we realized how much there was left to see there were nice cobblestone streets several castles and there was even a

Beach at one side of town it was only the fifth day of the riding portion of the trip we already taking our second rest day it made for an unimpressive mileage total but it left more time to take photos photos of castles photos of ruins photos of

Landscapes and photos of cats there were a lot of cats and many of them were very friendly especially if you gave them food bunch of adorable Beggars we climbed the castle above the city to take in the views before packing up to hit the road again the next day after

Nao we crossed back to the north nor coast of pelones and the rest of our trip was spent riding East towards poros we explored an ancient theater in epidavros an incredibly well preserved site with dramatic scenery that served at the backdrop to many plays in Antiquity the seaside town of ancient

Epidavros was a peaceful place to spend the night with lots of affordable lodging options the riding along the coast had some stunning paved ups and downs we ran into the only other set of touring cyclists of the whole trip on this stretch a lovely couple from Australia that were smiling the whole

Time we stopped for the night in the volcanic town of methana our first impression that we made a huge mistake there was a thick sulfur smell like rotten eggs coming towards us that kept getting stronger until we reached the source at the entrance of the city it

Was this terrifying pool of Milky water next to an abandoned hotel that apparently people bathe in I was not going anywhere near it luckily though the wind pulled all of that smell away from the actual center of the city where we would stay and we can actually enjoy

A meal without puking a nice French couple we met who also bik tour but we’re not touring in the this particular trip took this photo of us holding our noses just like last year the end of our trip was marked by rain we delayed our departure to wait out the worst of it

Once we got going the last day of riding was probably the most beautiful of the whole trip we rode through this dirt road along an olive farm with pines and stunning Coastline views at every turn the coast of Love apparently and I totally loved It A After a few more amazing miles along the coast we arrived in galates it’s a small Port Town a short distance away from the island of poros not to be confused with the island of paros we took a 10-minute ferry ride and set our things down at a hotel in the

Harbor strangely porus was not even mentioned in my Greece travel guide book but has a ton of yachts and tourists along with the usual Fair of restaurants and gift shops the town in the Hills behind the harbor was incredibly picturesque we walked around the tiny alleys with colorful windows and

Doorways for a little while until the rains came back we chose porous to end our ride in because there’s a fairly quick FY back to Athens that runs frequently from here we were delayed by weather again but eventually got going and made it back to the City in time for

Yet another Deluge of rain I’d be lying if I said food wasn’t a motivation for choosing to go to Greece the food was terrific though I wouldn’t say I was blown away probably my expectations were Skyhigh and were met though not exceeded imagine you guys are not disappointed uh something I learned was

Basically every dish can improve with capers I usually have a jar in back of my fridge but since coming back from Greece I’ve added Capers to more and more food one standout meal was this ier of shrimp in a lemon sauce with some incredibly fresh and flavorful Capers I

Regret not getting seconds one area that did far exceed our expectations was Hospitality at times I couldn’t believe I was in Europe where I regularly expect Surly and indifferent staff on at least three occasions the hotel workers offered to let us pay less for our stay completely unprompted one amazing place

We stayed at in particular was the Petit planet in Mikes besides having this beautiful view from the courtyard the lady who ran it was incredibly sweet to to us she even offered to drive us the kilometer or two to the ruins so we wouldn’t have to lock up our bikes and

Gave us a guide book to borrow we found Greek people to be extremely warm and friendly the whole trip always eager to help us get the most enjoyment out of their Country N This awesome pita sandwich was the first thing we ate in Athens and also the last we did one last bit of sightseeing and then had the joy of carrying our bike boxes across town to our Airbnb where we would have to pack them up as with most

Trips I feel like it was a bit too short and went by too fast I hope to come back and see the rest of the peninsula along with more of the Mainland and maybe more of the islands as well big thank thanks to Bobby and Natalie for being rad

Travel buddies and not complaining when I spent hours taking the same photo over and over again also thanks to my friend Manny who gave some great advice on where to go and what to see this video took a long time to release because of how much effort it takes to organize my

Thoughts and all that kind of stuff leave a comment if it was useful and at least somewhat enjoyable uh thanks for watching