Kalabaka – Ioannina – Lefkada – Parga
As we continue riding motorcycles in Greece, we were now in the middle of the country in a very unique region known as the Meteora. The landscape takes a sudden change and in contrast, is very different from the eastern coast. The sandy beaches are now replaced by rocky mountain ranges and the roads begin to test our abilities to ride on fully loaded bikes carrying dogs. The issue of being able to put your side stand down on a full bike is becoming more and more apparent now and this will always be a burden as we continue our journey.
Accommodation scoring: 0 = Worst 3 = Average 5 = Best
Kalabaka, Greece (distance from previous location – 183km )
- Roads (Scenic, Surface, Twisties, Police Presence) – 3
- Accommodation (Clean, Comfort, Space, Room Access, Shower) – 4
- WIFI (Download, Upload, Reliable) – 3
- Parking (Secure, Level Ground, Covered, Distance with luggage) – 2
- In the area (Shopping, Restaurants, POI) – 4
I expected the ride here to be a bit more, well, desert like but in actual fact, it was pretty much town after town on a lot of dual carriage ways. Views were stunning most of the time but you just never got that solitary feeling. I was also expecting Kalabaka to be a bit of a one-horse town, you know, the shop that opens when it feels like it and the one petrol station with only one pump that works and that one is diesel but no, it wasn’t like that at all.
Our accommodation, the Elena Guesthouse, sat at possibly one of the highest points in Kalabaka and thanks to the narrow sharp turning roads that were all up steep inclines, once again gave us ample opportunity to practice our riding skills on incredibly heavy bikes.
The guesthouse was indeed beautiful and had everything we needed with the exception of secure parking and easy access to our room. The room was up 2 flights of stairs and there was no lift, also, the bikes had to be parked across the road from the guesthouse.
Kalabaka is in fact a large town that has its eye very much on the tourism business and is alive with bars, restaurants and stores. Overshadowing the town is the Meteora rock formations that have made the area so famous and draws people here, year in and year out. Tourists flock here to drive up twisty roads to the top of these gigantic rocks to snap some pictures of monasteries from strategically placed lay-bys or as the locals call them, viewpoints or spend 4 hours on a guided tour looking at rocks, caves and monks for 70 euros for the two of us. We didn’t want to leave the dogs in the room for 4 hours, so we made our own tour and visited as much as we could without the need to hike for 30 minutes. We also managed to snap some great pictures too.
Again, we were at a location for 2 nights, which was another excuse to go out for the evening and yet again, introduce the local cats and dogs to our pair of hooligans, Ricky ‘The Rug’ O’Hara and Molly ‘Cat Smasher’ Perkins aka Team ‘Come on then if you think you’re hard enough!’. That evening, we enjoyed a very nice meal in the town while Cat Smasher Perkins enjoyed a 2-hour staring competition with a local feline that was clearly on borrowed time and was hoping for an opportunity to be helped along on its way. There are cats and dogs everywhere and it doesn’t even rain here that much!
The following day, we were heading further into mountain country and to our next challenging ride to an even more challenging parking place.
Pros: Elena Guesthouse, plenty to do and see, Meteora landscape
Cons: Stairs to the room, cats and dogs, local residents didn’t seem as friendly, the roads to the accommodation were a challenge.
Ioannina, Greece (distance from previous location – 123km )
- Roads (Scenic, Surface, Twisties, Police Presence) – 3
- Accommodation (Clean, Comfort, Space, Room Access, Shower) – 4
- WIFI (Download, Upload, Reliable) – 4
- Parking (Secure, Level Ground, Covered, Distance with luggage) – 4
- In the area (Shopping, Restaurants, POI) – 2 (you need a car)
Our next stop was in the beautiful region of Ioannina, home to Lake Pamvotida. Our accommodation, The View Hotel overlooks the lake from high up on a mountain in Lingiades. The roads up to the hotel are very twisty but the real challenge came when trying to park the bikes.
The View Hotel, or simply ‘The View’, is only 6 months old and as such is still need of some decent road surfaces. However, it’s not just the road surface, it’s the steep hill that the roads sit on, plus the hairpin turns you have to navigate to get to the garage. This wasn’t actually open to the public but the owner had been kind enough to let us store our bikes there. The road to the parking lot of the hotel is no problem for a car but we had the usual problem of bikes, luggage and a dog that bounces when it barks! Never the less, we made it to the parking but were not looking forward to taking the bikes back out again, which was going to be inevitable because we had no food and would need to venture back down the hill to a supermarket at some point.
Why put ourselves through this you might ask? Well, the answer is in the name of the hotel, the view! From just about anywhere you stand, the landscape is breathtaking but it goes beyond looking at a pretty horizon, this place changes by the hour. One moment you are looking at a beautiful sunny lake, then at night, you sit with a beer and look out at the whole area being lit up with distant lights that surround the lake but this is nothing compared to watching a storm at eye level or looking across the top of low floating clouds first thing in the morning. There just seemed to be something new to look at every couple of hours.
The facilities of the hotel were beautiful, this included a pool, community area to eat, snacks and drinks and elevators that took us down to our bikes. The rooms were spacious and modern with tables and chairs outside every room. The hosts were incredibly friendly and as remote a location as it was, the atmosphere was very pleasant. We were so pleased with the hotel that we stayed an extra night. We would have stayed an addition night but we knew there was some bad weather coming and decided to head back down the mountain while we could.
Going to the supermarket was a challenge too, as we were waiting for a gap in the storm that was raging to get a bike out and head down to the nearest town. This took all day and I spent most of my time staring out of the window, listening to my stomach grumbling. The fork lightning was bouncing all over the area and the hungrier I got, the more I started to weigh up my chances of not being turned into the Ghost Rider half down a mountain in Greece. Finally, about an hour before the supermarket was due to close, we saw a break in the weather and hot footed it to one of the bikes and shot down the hillside for supplies (best meal ever).
If you get a chance to visit this area, I can only recommend staying here. There are also restaurants withing walking distance where we had a really nice meal but check their opening times because they are closed on a Tuesday if I remember correctly.
Pros: The view, the accommodation and the hosts
Cons: The road into the hotel and garage with a full bike, need a car to see POI
Lefkada, Greece (distance from previous location – 132km )
- Roads (Scenic, Surface, Twisties, Police Presence) – 3
- Accommodation (Clean, Comfort, Space, Room Access, Shower) – 3
- WIFI (Download, Upload, Reliable) – 2
- Parking (Secure, Level Ground, Covered, Distance with luggage) – 2
- In the area (Shopping, Restaurants, POI) – 4
Leaving Ioannina, we were now on our way to the west coast of Greece to the Island of Lefkada which is joined to the mainland with a small bridge. We travelled on the island for about 30 mins before finding our accommodation, Vliho Bay Suites & Apartments. The rooms sit very close to the sea which to be honest, looked more like a lake. The rooms were nice enough but with a bit less room than our last place. Cats were everywhere again, which put the dogs back on high alert. This place also had a pool and at the tables next to it, they offered breakfast at an extra 10 euros. The Wi-Fi was terrible in our room but it was very strong next to the pool. There were various areas to park but unfortunately where we were, was very uneven ground.
On our second evening, we had a walk out to the beach to find a restaurant and with our dogs in tow found a nice place right on the shoreline. 20 mins into our meal, I heard a very familiar accent and a chap explaining the difference between a Yorkshire accent and a southern one. It was too much for me to resist and I went and introduced myself by stating “there is now’t wrong with a bloody Yorkshire accent lad!” We were immediately invited over for beer, as is the way in Yorkshire, and shared our latest travel stories. We also got talking to a German/Polish couple who were keen Harley Davidson riders, well, you can’t have everything can you! After we forgave them for their choice in motorcycles, we continued with more stories and more beer but eventually it was time to head back to our apartment. We stood up, said our goodbyes and as we stepped towards the edge of the canopy that have been covering us during our meal, the heavens opened and it lashed down the entire 15-20 mins it took us to walk back. As we stepped through our door dripping wet and leaving puddles everywhere, it stopped raining!
The following day it was time to leave and we had decided to stop in Lefkada town for breakfast. This was a bizarre experience due to the number of cameras and questions that came at us as we were parking the bikes. We even had one lady tell us that we had been seen the day before by her daughter and she hadn’t believed her when the daughter tried to explain what she had seen. After a very quick breakfast and 5 minutes of fame, we hit the road and headed north up the coast. We thought the previous accommodation in Ioannina had some difficult roads but they were about to feel like the M1 motorway compared to what was about to come!
Pros: Friendly owner, parking outside the room, nice view from the balcony.
Cons: Poor internet in our room (good from the pool area), uneven ground to park on.
Parga, Greece (distance from previous location – 85km )
- Roads (Scenic, Surface, Twisties, Police Presence) – 4/1 (Great until we were taken off road)
- Accommodation (Clean, Comfort, Space, Room Access, Shower) – 5
- WIFI (Download, Upload, Reliable) – 4
- Parking (Secure, Level Ground, Covered, Distance with luggage) – 1
- In the area (Shopping, Restaurants, POI) – 2
The ride from Lafkada to Parga was simply stunning with its coastal route and lush greenery in every direction. Along with the smooth tarmac, it was an absolute joy to ride. At one point we saw a petrol station on the opposite side of the road that overlooked the sea with beautiful garden seating situated under various trees, so we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to refuel earlier and have a drink.
All was going well until we hit Parga and the GPS decided it would be much more entertaining to take us up a mountain track that would be better described as a hiking trail. Adding insult to injury, it also got us lost and took us up, down and off road along some impossible tracks. Zsofi lost the bike on a tough corner that was a who’s who of what corners not to attempt and eventually we headed down the steepest concrete track into the town in the hope the GPS would recalculate and point us to a better road. It did indeed take us to a better track but not by much, the very rough concrete track that led to the apartment was straight up with severe hairpin turns, this was first gear all the way up and one hell of a challenge.
On reaching the accommodation, I managed to drop my bike with Molly on, simply trying to turn my bike around outside the house we had rented, this would be the second time today that pure anger has fuelled our ability to lift 2 fully loaded bikes. The beauty of dropping a fully loaded bike, is that it basically rolls with very little damage to the actual bike itself.
Our original idea was to book this accommodation for 3 nights and if we liked it, to see if we could book and additional 3 nights and use it as a base for day trips. Now our concern was navigating that same challenging road each time we wanted to leave the property.
However, once we were settled in to the apartment, all the trouble we had getting there just seemed to wash away. This place was simply stunning and we had the whole area to ourselves. The other 3 houses next to ours were currently vacant, so we didn’t have to worry about our monsters running around terrorizing the neighbourhood. The view of the hills with monasteries that were lit up at night was indeed a plus point. We made full use of the fully equipped kitchen and especially the much-needed washing machine as we were becoming a bit ripe.
The owner, Dimos, who is also a biker, unfortunately was away in Athens at the time. I would love to have a chance to catch up with him but it wasn’t to be. This guy was so cool and after reading our updates even offered us a free night and was all set to contact his friends in other parts of Greece to arrange more accommodation for us! Truly a really nice guy.
One of the nice things about using Booking.com, is that it supplies GPS co-ordinates as well as the address. This has become my go to source for adding addresses to my Garmin XT because it’s quicker and more accurate, especially when a lot of the addresses are written in Greek. Now if I could only just stop finding places that are up mountains! I need to start comparing locations with topographical maps to avoid any more surprise roads with shear drops. If you have never suffered from a fear of hights and often wondered what it was like, just have a go at some of the routes we used in Meteora, Ioannina or even Parga, that’s if you would like to experience temple throbbing concentration, aching hands from gripping, every muscle in your body tensing up and lastly, that conversation you have inside your own helmet about just how well can you really ride a bike and how far would you bounce!
Pros: Apartment was stunning, good view, great balcony, good WIFI, the owner is very cool and helpful.
Cons: The road to the apartment is too challenging, GPS takes you off roading to get there, hard to find even ground to park next to the apartment.
This was to be our last location riding motorcycles in Greece. Now it was time to head to Albania where we would be catching a ferry over to Italy.
