Modern Vespa

We are off on another European Scooter Rally with the Vespa Club del Mediterraneo.

This one is to the Peloponnese, a large portion of southern Greece, that has seaside villages along with mountain towns.

The riding can be a bit extreme at times in the mountains with narrow, pitted roads that turn into gravel.

We are into our second stop out of Athens, at the Styga Mountain Resort.

The ride here was a bit of an adventure as the resort is on one side of a mountain that is not accessible from the other side, the side we arrived at hoping to be only 20 miles from our destination.

It forced us to backtrack on some fabulous roads, but it added two hours and 60 miles to the long rode.

Well worth it as we had some great roads and views.

Bill

Greece is a wonderful country to ride and the greek are incredibly friendly. Hospitality will make you gain some weight

That trip looks amazing!

Great day of riding yesterday! Made it to Dimitsana, a small Greek hill town. Beautiful views everywhere!

Have you any pictures?

A few photos from the last few days.

After 37 hours door to door, we arrived home yesterday.

The airlines had issues with the plane flying from Athens to New York, getting off the ground 3 hours late. We arrived at JFK airport an hour after our flight to Jacksonville had left. The new schedule had us leaving at 8:30 AM, and no hotels were available, so we spent the night as homeless flyers in the airport. It was humbling.

But the trip was great.

I left the report here while we were in Pylos, visiting Messene, an ancient city.

The next stop was Kythira, an island south of the Peloponnese.

It is a small island of 115 square miles and only 4,100 residents.

We were there for three nights so we were able to see most of it in that time.

Our stay included one day of me riding solo while Sarah went hiking and one day of hanging out with friends while some went boating.

I would gladly visit again.

From there we took another ferry to Neapoli for a ride to Monemvasia, a giant rock island only 20 miles from the ferry stop.

We stayed in a hotel made up of buildings that were part of a banking operation where merchant ships would have to pay taxes and quarantine before sailing to Venice.

There is a small, old town on the island where we would walk to the gate and dine with views of the water and town. Lovely place.

One day there, Sarah, Penni and I rode 90 km west to Mystras to see some ancient Byzantine churches. It was hot there and we hit a big storm on the return. During the heavy rain we stopped at a gas station and ordered Cappuccinos and waited until it stopped. It did after thirty minutes and we had a cool ride back to the hotel.

We then rode to Nafplio for two more nights and got a day in the town. It was Sarah's birthday, so we did whatever she wanted, ending in a restaurant where we ran into Ken and Diane Taub, who celebrated with us over dinner.

The last two nights were in Kalamaki Beach and Athens, with the last dinner at a very good middle eastern restaurant only a short walk from the hotel.

We are looking forward to next year's trip, possibly to France.

Bill

The challenging part of the hike on Kythira was a fallen tree and very slippery, moss-covered rocks at the other end. But it was worth the effort or we wouldn't have seen the little waterfall.

Here's a pano shot.

Who would have thought that good extra-vergin olive oil has peppery notes? It really burns in your throat for a minute.

Breakfast on Kythira was in a jazz café

Thank you for posting these, Oliver.

Sarah and I enjoyed seeing you again.

It was a great trip.

Bill

Breakfast with a view in the Styga mountain resort.

I did not even want to go on this trip but Bill and others talked me into. I loved it so much that I am still here!

On the island of Kythira we had to travel 6km for breakfast that was included. We groused about it until we did it. Breakfast was served at the aforementioned cafe with live music at night. We all ended up loving it. The morning ride was refreshing and setting watching the morning routine in the small village was great and we got to meet many locals coming in for their morning coffee.

WLeuthold/Lostboater,

You fellows never fail to provide amazing trip/ride photos. It
truly is a good life - thanks for sharing.

Bob Copeland
Lake Wobegon Minnesota