In the Greek midwinter

Somewhat shaky from possibly the sickiest crossing in maritime history, we arrived in the pre-dawn dark of Patra to thunderstorms, rain and Greek roads. This is probably not how most tourists hit Greece. Not for us the blazing heat stepping off a plane on a 2-week package holiday.  When you are dog tired and wobbly, I can’t recommend driving a 40-foot rig through blatting rain along the laughingly-called ‘motorway’ from Patra to Corinth. I’m sure this will be fantastic when and if it is ever finished – but for now it is a labyrinth of single carriageways, potholes and impatient traffic. Joe gritted his teeth and drove doggedly until the sun started to rise. Service stations are something the Greeks really should be introduced to, but for now there is a a gaping dearth of lattes to be had roadside in the wee small hours in the Peloponnese. We eventually found a garage and, pathetically grateful, bought practically all she had to sell and supped our coffees as the sun rose.

Maybe not the most auspicious arrival to the country that was to be our home for the next five months. But we have always been huge fans of Greece, its islands, people, beaches, history and food … so we were planning to overwinter there.

For the first five hours of that stay, we trundled our weary way through Corinth, Tripoli then Sparta. This involves much in the way of decent road (oh thank you, EU!) but also some fairly high and hairpin ridden stretches. Beyond Sparta the road simply shrugs its shoulders and reverts to the Greece of old; Amykles at this point held our European record for the very worst potholes ever (how we laugh, looking back now. That’s nothing!) We wrecked four tyres in this village alone over the coming months. It seems that every settlement is responsible for its own road repairs, though the government controls those in open country, and some villages have proven to be downright irresponsible. Or downright broke.

Our destination was Gythion and we managed to get there – amazingly – in one piece. You can’t get much further south in mainland Greece and Gythion is a thriving, year-round working port with joyous beaches, breezes, bobbing boats, octopi hanging from awnings and latte opportunities galore. Though in the heart of winter you can see amazing snow-capped mountains, it remains mild and dreamy throughout the year. It was mid-morning on market day when we encountered the bemusing one-way system and we drew a lot of stares from those indiscriminately double parking or just standing in the middle of the road chatting, as our enormous RV made its way through the narrow, bustling streets. We were rewarded for our butt-clenching efforts however when the seafront appeared out of nowhere: seas teeming with fish stretching out towards the African coast. Tavernas, hairdressers, bakeries and pharmacies galore: how such a small town supported all these business we did not fathom through the whole winter.