Macedonia gateway to Greece

We understand there are many, even better ways, of getting to Greece from Bulgaria.

Not if we wish to visit our friends in Skopje.

Day one

Our trip kicks off by celebrating Rita's birthday, cycling in Sofia.

Day two

After a great day in the center we take to the road in the afternoon and make it to Kustendil

Day three

Spending what feels like a long time passing a "checking through" at the Macedonian border,

we arrive in Skopje the afternoon, we're only due to see our friends the next day so stay-over close to Skopje mall. Discovering the river bank a very pleasant place for cycling was a real bonus just before sundown..

Day four

Having had a good visit with our friends we stay over in their driveway for the night.

Day Five

Were back on the road again towards Greece this time. The thought of staying longer is attractive but it will have to be postponed, the weather is really not playing along. We will be back to do some cycling tourism of Skopje.

At first we decide to go check out lake Ohrid, its further south- east, hoping the weather will turn, unfortunately the opposite is true, it gets worse. now it southbound destination Greece. Once again the beauty of flexibility afforded by our unique accommodation makes this so pleasant, literally rolling as the weather dictates.

No more fooling around, now we're aiming to out ride the bad weather, only condition, no tolls. We have been caught with Greek tolls before, not pleasant when paying in Euros. It seems, in Greece our van just exceeds the height for "normal cars", this means we pay the amount for trucks. Our decision pays off the weather has increased considerably and temperatures are much better.

Its night time and we're well into Greece by now. So many options to consider. we could carry on driving in the night, which means we could be missing out on some scenic landscapes. Every town/village we come to- should we stay or carry on.

Eventually we hit a town which has an interesting feature, "a lit up cliff ", a have to stop occurs, lets check it out. Low and behold what an amazing place, not to mention the weird way of finding it.

This is our sleep spot for the night. Probably the most memorable night of all our trips so far. If you're interested PM us in contacts and I will share it with you. (if you do so due to me having a few of these points on our website the code for this "incident " is the "knock knock night".

Early morning we explore the area,unfortunately within an hour it's as if the weather has caught up with us. Going south is once again our way out. by midday we seem to have out run the rain. With not much to keep us in central Greece we make it all the way to Athens by afternoon.

The coastline is always attractive, looking on Google maps so as to asses possibilities is always a good way to go. I am looking for a scenic spot close enough to Athens that we can use as a base to explore the city and yet enjoy our "base".

By now we know the Greek coastline seldom disappoints us when looking for a pleasant stay to overnight. So its not a major surprise to find a scenic/ideal spot twenty minutes from the city center along the coast towards Corinth. We have Wifi 100 meters from the camper, we have the place just about to our selves, a place where we can cycle or walk far on either side of us.When it gets too warm we are sheltered by trees that cast just enough shade to keep us cool yet allow enough sun to keep the solar panels happy. To top it one can sit and watch the sea with fisherman's boats and yachts going by.

We have decided to go check out the Corinth canal as well as possibly spend a few day or two in Corinth.

The canal was no disappointment but great shakes in Corinth itself.

We now have a 5 day all transport/use as often as you like ticket for Afhens and intend to make the most of it.

A free Athens walking tour of Athens proves to be well worth our time.

By day three we have it really worked out, a safe parking spot for the van within walking, or even easier cycling, distance from a metro station. From here anywhere in Athens is accessible. On the forth day we are already brave enough to take our bicycles on the metro and actually manage a very pleasant cycle right around the Acropolis.

Heading back towards home, avoiding tolls with the intention to stop at one of our favorite places on the other side of Volos but we are pleasantly stalled before Volos in

so today we will make it to onr of our favorite spots where we stay for three nights.

Finding a new pleasant route across the mountains we make our way toll free (except 2.20 euro) all the way to Thesseloniki. Knowing theseloniki fairly well and weather starting to play up again we head east along the coast. One reason we want to see how much the tolls are and where they are all the way to Fanari.

After a night in Fanari we brace our selves foe the long road cross the border first going through Komotini and then all the way through to Home.

Slideshow of the trip