 Friday, August 26, 2005
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 304.1 KM
Average Speed: 41.4 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 7 Hours 21 Minutes
It is amazing how much distance you can cover in a day when you start at 6:30 AM. We got off the ferry in Igoumenitsa, Greece, found gasoline prices to be less than one Euro per liter (the first time we have seen this since leaving Spain last April.
We stopped and had our breakfast that we purchased the day before and set off for Metsovo where we stopped for lunch. The prices for restaurant food are also much better than those in Italy. About €10.00 less for the two of us to have lunch. The price of gasoline is 30 cents per liter cheaper than that in Italy.
We are headed to north west Greece and then we will point ourselves east for Turkey. Originally we were going to travel through southern Greece, move north and then into Turkey. We decided that we would alter our plans and take a more direct route to Turkey and the mountains there to avoid the August heat in southern Greece. We will visit southern Greece on our return from Turkey.
 While Verna visited Greece in 1980 this is Jim’s first time. Immediate impressions of the mountainous north? Lovely! At left is just one example of the beautiful scenery we experienced today (the lake at Ioannina). There are many more large lakes than we expected and the mountains are great. The mountainous roads are a bit slow with the truck traffic, but they are working on a new highway that should help relieve that (then we can enjoy the twisty roads even more!).
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 248.5 KM
Average Speed: 42.7 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 5 Hours 50 Minutes
A beautiful ride today to the north west corner of Greece where Greece, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania all meet with their borders in Lake Prespa. A very beautiful area where we stopped for lunch.
We then headed east and a bit south and stopped for the day in Veria.
Sunday - Friday, August 28 - September 2, 2005
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 99.9 KM
Average Speed: 38.5 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 2 Hours 35 Minutes
Our day started with a brief ride to Vergina where we visited some Byzantine ruins. We then continued our journey east to the city of Thessaloniki where we will spend a few days to make more permanent repairs to the sidecar brake. On our way we passed through the peach-growing region of northern Greece so stopped at a roadside stand to buy a few. They were fantastic!
We have discovered that the rod we installed to make the repair in Bari, Italy is not strong enough for the force that the brake applies when the bike is rolling backwards. The rod bends when the machine is rolling backwards and the brakes are applied.
Thessaloniki is a port and we hope to find a machine shop that can make a replacement rod from stainless steel that will be a bit more robust than the original.
And we did. We now have a new rod that is 16mm in diameter compared to the 10mm of the original. And, we had them make two spares for us just in case we have problems in Turkey.
We were also able to purchase several sets of brake pads for the machine. The rear brake is using one set of brake pad every 5, 000 miles (8,000 kilometers). This is a bit excessive but it is all the weight that is causing the rapid wear. We think we will use two sets of brake pads on the rear wheel for every one set on the front and sidecar wheel. Any rate, we now have sufficient supplies to last us for many miles.
As we were in Thessaloniki for many days, we took advantage of our time there to visit many sites, including the White Tower, several Byzantine churches and the museum of the Macedonian Struggle where we learned a bit more about the tumultuous history of the Macedonian Greeks as they fought for their freedom from the Turks and Bulgarians. We also enjoyed the varied cuisine the city has to offer and learned about the many cafes where the chosen drink appears to be iced coffee (especially around noon). The new cafes with sofa-type seating, big shade umbrellas and pop music are alive with the young adults, while the older style table-and-chairs under the shady trees seem to be the choice for the older set (our age). We have also been taking advantage of all the fresh peaches now in the market and gorging ourselves on them every day.
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 181.3 KM
Average Speed: 44.7 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 03 Minutes
It was good to be on the road again. We had a very nice ride going south east from Thessaloniki to the Sithonia Peninsula where we found a nice campground right on the beach at the southern tip of the peninsula. At one point on the ride we thought we were going to get completely soaked by a lonely black cloud. It started to rain and the drops were huge. Lucky for us we were out of it as quickly as it started and we did not get too wet. On the west side we found the old road which followed the coastline for a ways and was sparsely traveled. By the time we got to the southernmost tip of the peninsula, it was fairly quiet, with few settlements and even fewer travelers. Nice!
Sunday, September 4, 2005
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 223.4 KM
Average Speed: 57.8 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 51 Minutes
 Today was the first day since we left the Alps that we rode in cool weather. It was a tad warm when we stopped but the entire day was wonderful - great views along the east coast, a good lunch at an excellent price in a small town on the route and a very good price for a bungalow in a small cove with nothing else about for miles just west of Kavala. Verna went for a swim in the warm water for a perfect end-of-the-day activity. Then a light dinner on our balcony gazing at the sea and listening to to lapping of the waves upon the beach. The photo above right is the view from our room. Can it get better than this?
Monday, September 5, 2005
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 163.1 KM
Average Speed: 60.1 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 2 Hours 42 Minutes
A short ride to Alexandroupoli where we will spend the night so we can ride the 50 kilometers to the border first thing in the morning. We will start a new Travelogue for our adventures in Turkey but will add to this page when we return from Turkey to northern Greece.
We have no idea how often we will be able to update the web site while we are in Turkey. If you don’t see any updates for a while you will know why.
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