Incredible cycling on the Pelion Peninsula. We were not too sure when we started out in Makrinitsa, in the rain, but we decided to take it one village at a time and we are SO glad we did. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First we had to get from Crete to the Pelion Peninsula...
Saturday, 11 May 2019
Biked from Chania to the ferry at Souda
4.5 miles, 100 feet of climb
Chania Old Town to Souda Ferry Port Bike Route
Accommodations: Elyros Ferry cabin
Had a lovely last day in Chania. Our host let us keep the apartment until 17:00, so we were able to wander around parts of Chania that we had missed. Visited the archaeological museum, explored the east wall of the old town, and snacked our way through the Saturday market. Then we packed up the bikes and rode to the ferry in Souda, boarded, settled into our cabin, and went to dinner on the boat. We felt like old hands; it was the same ferry we had taken to Chania, so we knew where everything was and how everything worked.
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| Looking up the street from out apartment in Chania. |
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| The doorway of our apartment. A quiet spot to read and chat with the neighbors--a couple about our age from England. |
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| The Saturday market went for blocks and was crammed with people, farm produce, and slouvaki vendors. |
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| The harbor on the east edge of the old town was quiet on Saturday morning. |
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| The courtyard of the archaeological museum was the backyard of neighboring houses. |
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| The museum had well-curated collections of artifacts from the area. |
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| The museum was housed in an old church. |
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| We arrived early for the ferry and enjoyed cappuccino in a park near the pier. That's our ferry in the background. |
Sunday, 12 May 2019
No biking
We arrived in Piraeus on the ferry at 6:30 am and were met by our driver, Elias, from GR Cycling. Elias loaded our bikes in the van and we were on the road to Makrinitsa in no time. (Elias and his partner, Alex, provided bikes and transportation for us 2 years ago when we cycled on the Peloponnese Peninsula. It was great to see Elias again, and to hear that their business is doing well. Check it out at
https://www.grcycling.com/)
The drive took about 4 hours--beautiful scenery, lots of tolls, a stop for coffee and pastries on the ocean. The road up to Makrinitsa from Volos is only 10k but is VERY steep. When we finally got to the village and were looking for our guesthouse, at one point, Elias said, "This is not a bike road; definitely not a car road!" We did finally locate the guesthouse on a pedestrian-only trail at the other side of the village, said good-bye to Elias, and settled in for the evening. Our guesthouse was an 1856 mansion run by Kaliope, Yannis, and their two young daughters--a very nice family. Makrinitsa is incredible.
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| Elias is also a bike mechanic. He filled our tires and checked everything out. He was surprised to see that everything was working perfectly. Thank you to Dan and the mechanics at Grand Performance--you got us off to a great start! |
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| Church about halfway to our guesthouse. |
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| Ken was impressed by the huge old trees in the village. |
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| Makrinitsa is a walking-only village. For good reason. |
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| We didn't do any biking today, but we did hike up several hundred meters to a monastery above Makrinitsa. A very steep hike. We agreed with Elias: "This is not a biking road." Luckily, it turned out that is was NOT the road to the next village. |
Monday, 13 May 2019
Biked from Makrinitsa to Hania to Kissos
18 miles, 2461 feet climb
Makrinitsa to Hania to Kissos Bike Route
So, we woke up to pouring rain. We told our host we were on our way to Kissos, and he said, "Oh, you can't go there. The roads are too steep and winding, the fog, it would be much too hard and dangerous for bikes." Hm. We were unsure what to do. We sat down with our computer and iPad and phones, with all the routes we had planned ahead of time. Our route looked doable. Eventually the rain tapered off and the fog lightened, and we decided that we would head out and take it one village at a time.
It worked! We put on our raincoats and blinky lights, and by mid-afternoon we were in the greatest little guesthouse in Kissos, with the nicest host. She couldn't speak English, we couldn't speak Greek, but we managed to communicate beautifully. She ran the water in the shower until it was hot and then told us to take showers, offered us tea and coffee, told us we had to be back from dinner no later than 11 pm (as though we would ever manage to stay up that late!). Fun.
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| There is a ski resort at the top of Pileon Mountain--and snow. We were told that from the top of the run, you can see the sea on both sides of the peninsula. |
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| The sign outside the guesthouse says it's a hostel. |
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| We were pleasantly surprised to discover this was a beautifully restored mansion with a fireplace in our room and every convenience--including beverages and snacks at all hours of the day, whether we wanted them or not. |
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| The church in Kissos is well known for its beautiful frescoes. Unfortunately, it was closed while we were there--but we did find these examples outside the main door. |
