Non-French TidbitsCampgrounds in Greece

By Jim and Emmy Humberd

Rather than a campsite, we are camped near Galaxídi along the shore of the Gulf of Corinth. The very friendly man camped next door, gave us his business card and said we should call him if we have a problem while we are in Greece. Now that is a virtuous man. During the night the wind and rain were so strong the camper swayed back and forth, so we moved the camper so it was headed into the wind - end of problem.

It was raining hard as we entered Athens, but we figured if we turned right, on the road to Kórinthos (Corinth, or Korinth), we would find Camping Athens, and we did. Most names can be recognized in any spelling, but Corinth is a little different. May the First is Labor Day, and a holiday for just about everyone. Most tourist spots were closed for the day, but at night, just a few steps from our campsite, we could see the floodlit Acropolis, across the city, high atop the Parthenon.

While camped along the shore near Kórinthos, an old man and his wife herded a flock of sheep along the beach. Jim tried to buy the Shepherd's staff, but he would not sell. (Stayed tuned!) We never camp outside of a campsite, unless there are others there also. This time there was a small bus, pulling a small trailer, with nine people from South Africa.

When we first parked in Kios, a dredge was busy and noisy, and some ship builders were at work repairing several small ships. All that noise stopped at dusk, and all was OK. While there were no other campers on the dock, we were just in back of restaurants and homes, and did not feel at all unprotected.

We looked at the beach area near Giannitsochori, and found a place along with seven other campers, and a man rebuilding his row-boat. We told Emmy's Cousin Hugo that perhaps the Germans did capture Greece. There must be more German tourists here now, than German soldiers in WW II.

We saw some campers on the dock in Gíthio, and joined them, thinking we had campsite company for the night. We soon found they were in line to catch the 11:00 PM ferryboat to the island of Crete. We then moved to the other end of the pier. In an antique store in Gíthio Jim found the Greek shepherd's staff, he's been looking for. Emmy said she has an eccentric husband. He's walking around town trying to look like a Greek shepherd. Excellent addition to the collection.

Métsovo is one of our favorite Greek towns. Our free camping site was in the main parking lot, or market place, in the center of town, along with several other campers, and a bunch of very large tourist busses. We were up with the sun the next morning. No way to sleep after a couple of the busses decided to warm their noisy diesel engines.

At Skárfia the campsite was located near the water, a long drive off the road, and was named Camping Venezuela. The owner, whose name is Dukakis, said the country of Venezuela is the place to make money in the winter, and Greece is the place to live from May to September, each summer.

We got off the main road near Pori, and found another camper parked near the beach, so we did too. The only problem was the noise until midnight (they thought it was music), from a restaurant a block away, then a heavy rain for an hour or two.

We told the campground owner in Kavala that his campground is the best we have visited in Greece. There are campgrounds this nice or nicer in northern Europe, but we have found none this pleasant, south of Switzerland. There was grass, and hedges, and the facilities were excellent.

There is a nice sandy beach at Agia Triada, and the facilities are not too bad. Had to retrace our drive of yesterday, back to Thessaloniki, then drove around that city some more.

Near Agios Nikolaos there are olive groves and miles of stone fences, or perhaps they are just long piles of stone, they don't seem to divide or protect anything. A lot of tiny Greek churches all over the countryside, some look like they would be crowded with a congregation of maybe a dozen people.

The campsite at Kalívia was located high on a cliff over looking the water. As expected, there were a lot of Germans in RVs in this campsite. In nearby Árta there is an old bridge over the Arahthos, built in the 1600's. There are several arches, but the Árta bridge is in bad shape and not in use.

The campsite near Vravróna was on a beach with a couple of campers and plenty of beach visitors during the daytime. We spent the night with one other camper, from East Berlin, and a small truck that was stuck on the beach. At 2:00 AM a noisy crowd with a large truck, pulled it out of the sand.

Books by Jim and Emmy Humberd:
Invitation to France
Invitation to Germany
Invitation to Italy

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