Monday 7th July.
We are parked up tonight on the quayside at Pylos. We are finally back on the road after eight days in Camping Finikes. Whilst we were there Phil read six books from the campsite library and I caught zero fish. The Italian guy opposite came back from the beach every morning with a brace of fish he had caught and I couldn't understand his good fortune or my bad luck. Then, one day, we discovered the secret of his success. He had a dinghy and was going a couple of hundred metres off shore to do his fishing. I finally gave up when a German guy snorkeling swam up to me one day, stuck his head out of the water, wagged his finger at me and said "No fish here, sorry."
We had a relaxing time though for just over a week, the longest we have stopped anywhere on our travels, and we are now refreshed and ready for action!
We drove this morning to Methoni and spent a pleasant couple of hours exploring the 15th-century Venetian fortress. It's a massive fortification built on a promontory leading to a much smaller fortress accessed over a narrow causeway. One of the main buildings is covered in scaffolding and there are signs all around with the dreaded EU logo on but no sign of activity. The whole area is covered with wild flowers, entry was free and there was a pleasant cooling sea breeze as we wandered about.
Another half hours drive and we arrived here at Pylos which is a beautiful little town, aren't all Greek towns beautiful, I hear you say and the answer is yes but as we've travelled around the Greek coastline we've noticed differences in layout and architectural style. There is a definite Venetian influence to be seen here in the buildings surrounding the central square which itself is dominated by massive plane trees. We had a meal there tonight as kids ran about, kicking footballs and small fishing boats returned to the harbour.
Tomorrow we plan on driving a little further north to visit Nestor's Cave and hopefully park overnight on the edge of the Gialova Lagoon.
Wild flowers on the approach to the fortress.
The fortress.
Pylos.
Pat.
Posted with Blogsy
Hi Pat and Phil,
ReplyDeletewhat a funny fishermen`s story, you obviously will need a dinghy too.
And in rememberance of the Battle of Navarino and the importance of the Royal Fleet for the independence of Greece....might be you can get a beer for free in Pylos.