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Well folks we made it - hooray we won't have to get on our bikes unless we choose to now. We made it to Paphos on 3rd October where it is a sunny 27 degrees. We are relaxing on our apartment balcony with distant views of the sea and glass of wine in hand.
Our last update seems such a long time ago when we were just starting our trek through Greece. Once again everything seemed to be closing down for the season and we didn't manage to camp although the hotels were much cheaper. The weather wasn't so good either with high winds (head wind - we haven't encountered anything other on this trip) or overcast skies and a little rain. It only took us 4 days to reach Athens. Patras was a bustling port with a big student population so was busy all day and all night. As we left we passed the world's largest suspension bridge over the rio Adirrio (think that's how you spell it). The Greeks again are very friendly and continuous calls of Yassas follow us from cafes, bars and verandas.
I spent my birthday cycling for a change but as a treat I finally managed to see a boat going through Korinth Canal. The canal is a massive feat of engineering and is an awsome sight. Jude I don't know if you can remember seeing it as we stopped on our way to Poros - it was just the canal, a bar and a dusty carpark. These days it has numerous bars, souvenir shops, and a first class hotel you can even bungee off the bridge and go for trips through the cut. Further along on our journey we came across an endurance race. International runners running the Sparta challenge a 246 km from Athens to Sparta. It was hot this particular day and we thought we had a long way to go - they made our challenge look particularly relaxing.
Next we made our way into Athens. Just a word here on cycling in Athens -
The Greeks DON'T do bikes/cycling. As a cyclist you have to concentrate on the road for potholes big enough to swallow your wheel, and signposts to make sure you're on the right road. At the same time as watching out for mad drivers and even crazier scooter riders, cutting you up, not giving you enough room, opening car doors without a by your leave and pulling out straight in front of you. It gets quite tiring.
Athens appears to be the most densly built up city we have come acroos yet. A sea of building blocks without a green space to break it up. We visited the Acropolis and Parthenon which gave us tremendous views of the city. One of the most interesting bits was walking up the back of the acropolis through tiny, tiny lanes through old white-washed houses covered in bouganvillea with pots of plants and cats lining the doorways. It was so typically mediterranean it could have been on picture postcards. The Parthenon is being preserved and the way in which they are doing it seems as if there will eventually be little or none of the original buiding left in years to come as they splice new sparkling white marble on to old worn areas. The statues are also replicas the originals in the museum.
After a couple of days in Athens we were ready to move on and complete our journey. BUT 'All ferries to Cyprus suspended' is what we read on the net and were told at travel agents and the tourist office. So a re-think was called for and we had to fly from Athens to Larnaca. This meant ditching some of our stuff and an extra 87 miles in Cyprus to cycle.
The trip to the airport came to an abrupt halt 5km from the airport as we encountered motorway once more which as you well know we can't cycle on. So near yet so far. Choice was 20 miles around the airport to a road that we didn't know if it actually got you into the airport or a 5km metro trip - no choice really the metro it was. Fortunately the metro was easily accessible and the one we caught was virtually empty the easiest train journey we've made. Once in the airport the airport staff didn't know what we needed to do with our bikes to get them on the plane and tried telling us to take them down to cargo- which was (guess where?) - down the motorway 2km. Well you can take a taxi or a bus they said - We explained ONCE AGAIN that we are on bikes and we can't go down the motorway and we can't take a bus or a taxi with our bikes. Eventually we found somebody with some knowledge of checking our bikes on to the plane.
In Cyprus the weather picked up and we were back onto fairly empty roads and familiar territory. Past familiar landmarks such as Episkopi, Aphrodite's rock and sanctuary before we pedalled finally into Paphos and into our courtyard.
So we've hung our bikes up for a while and are beginning to settle in and ready to welcome any visitors.
Further updates to be posted on the blog just to keep you all updated.
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