RV Roadtrip – Ancient Corinth, Athens, Delphi and Meteora

Our route.

After a sad farewell to our new best friends we were headed off to see some of the most famous tourist sites in Greece. So long to the carefree wild camping and life in the Peloponnese, off to the ancient ruins of Greece!

First stop, Ancient Corinth. We parked up at a small and rustic campsite just outside of Ancient Corinth. It was a family run place and the old guy had started the site years ago after being a bit of a RV traveler himself. They had olive trees and vines and; therefore, made their own olive oil and wine. At 3 Euros a liter it was a little better than most of the family wine in plastic bottles we had been drinking.

By ancient I mean really ancient! According to Wikipedia the site that is now Ancient Corinth has pottery remains that date back to 6500 BC. The area has a very long history of ebbs and flows in its local importance. However, Ancient Corinth was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece, with a population of 90,000 in 400 BC. The Romans demolished Corinth in 146 BC, built a new city in its place in 44 BC, and later made it the provincial capital of Greece.

The actual ruins of Ancient Corinth that we saw are pretty small and can actually be seen by just looking through the fence rather than paying the entrance and going in (dogs are not allowed in). As it is a pretty popular stop on the tourist trail, there are quite a few restaurants and bars in the little village, as well as, a few markets to re-supply if need be. The modern Corinth is about 5 kms from here. 

Above Ancient Corinth are the ruins of a fortress and we were pretty keen to go and check that out. The fortress structure is called the Acrocorinth or “Upper Corinth” and has been an important fortress for the defense of Corinth and was continuously occupied from archaic times to the early 19th century.

According to Google Maps the distance wasn’t so far from our camp site to walk, but it was a pretty steep climb. Fortunately, all on the paved roads so no bushwhacking was needed. By the time we got to the top we only had an hour to explore the ruins before they closed for the day…not quite enough time! We had to race around to see most of the stuff but we were very glad we did. Sebastian was allowed in this monument so that was good as well.

Next up was the big one, Athens and the Acropolis. To be honest I was dreading driving even just a bit into Athens but that was where the camping was located. And really, it wasn’t too bad, all in all. The main artery we were on was busy to be sure and we also missed our left turn to the campground which required a few kilometer detour and u-turn.

Once pitched up who did you think we would find but Daniel and his family and one of their friends. Life on the road is full of funny twists and turns!

Sebastian was not allowed in the Acropolis and so we left him to guard the van for the day at Camping Athens. Getting to the Acropolis district was a pretty straight forward affair once we purchased the bus tickets at the tobacco kiosk. After about a half an hour we were in the neighborhood which as you might guess was full of tourist shops and restaurants. I can only imagine the chaos during peak season!

We decided to head directly in and try to avoid any crowds or tourist groups and we were mostly successful, or as successful as one could get. Obviously there were still groups and tours but we managed a Parthenon picture without anyone else in it, so we’ve got that going for us! I mean, it is the Acropolis after all.  For those not in the know or in need of a history refresher, The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon (Wikipedia). The whole thing is a giant UNESCO World Heritage Site and they’re currently, all be it slowly, working on restorations.

Here are some shots from our visit to Athens –

After our visit to the Acropolis we stopped in for a late lunch at one of the tourist restaurants and were pleasantly surprised. The prices were a little high but not outrageous and the food was pretty good.  We wandered around the neighborhood and took pictures of some of the other interesting things in the area.  We also happened on the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time to see the changing of the guards ceremony which was pretty cool to see. 

Anxious to get out of the hustle and bustle of Athens we left the next day and headed off to Delphi. Famous for  the oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world, Greeks also considered Delphi to be the center of the world.

In myths dating to the classical period of Ancient Greece (510-323 BC), Zeus determined the site of Delphi when he sought to find the center of his “Grandmother Earth”. He sent two eagles flying from the eastern and western extremities, and the path of the eagles crossed over Delphi where the omphalos, or navel of Gaia was found.

Earlier myths include traditions that the Delphic oracle already was the site of an important oracle in the pre-classical Greek world (as early as 1400 BC) and, rededicated from about 800 BC, when it served as the major site during classical times for the worship of the god Apollo. (Wikipedia)

The camping was a bit of a walk to Delphi but not too bad.  Again we needed to leave Sebastian to guard the fort as he wasn’t allowed in the site.  We picked up some schwarma at a local joint in town but because of the rain we had no where to eat. We opted for a covered bit of steps where the museum employees were having their smoke break. Soon enough, one of them was berating us for not respecting the museum by eating there.  WTF? You guys can smoke all you want but heaven forbid we grab a quick bite out of the rain! Not wanting to cause an International incident, we packed up and moved on.

We were quite impressed with Delphi. Here are a few more shots from our rainy day visit to Delphi –

Back at the camping we were surprised to find our new friend Daniel and family parked up. The camping was very near some paragliding takeoff sites that steeply dropped to the valley floor and Daniel was a paragliding enthusiast who was quite excited to get some flying time in. On the day we left Daniel had good winds and got his wish. We drove down the steep roads to the valley below and tried to get some photos of him but failed. 

Our last major tourist destination in Greece was Meteora. The Meteora is a rock formation in central Greece hosting one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, The six (of an original twenty four) monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. (Wikipedia)

Caves around Meteora had been inhabited for tens of thousands of years but the first monks came to establish monasteries around the 9th century AD. Originally these guys were mostly hermits and chose locations that were extremely difficult to access as they didn’t want any visitors, friendly or foe.  

From a purely aesthetic perspective, Meteora is a stunning place to visit. The camping is in a valley below most of the rock pillars and offers amazing views of the monasteries perched on their tops. Adjacent to the camping is a small village that we wandered around, a few shops and some restaurants, mostly still closed for the season. The proper town of Kalabaka is a few kilometers away and has all the amenities you might need.

To get to the monasteries one needs to drive which turned out to be o.k. in the camping car. Tour buses take this route daily ferrying their load up and down from the sites, so while some bits were pretty narrow it was all manageable and there were quite large parking lots for our rig. Several of the monasteries are in close proximity so we were able to leave the rig and Sebastian and hoof it back and forth.

Our new travel pal Daniel parked up next to us for some visits to the monasteries.

The most amazing thing about the monasteries is the location. The views are breathtaking. Most of the monasteries that remain are in good shape and have been refurbished but only have a very few actual monks living there. There are admission fees which in some cases are worth it, others not so much. For a bit of pop culture trivia, you might be interested to know that the monastery of Holy Trinity was a filming location in the 1981 James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only. 

Here are some pictures from our visit to Meteora –

In a funny twist of fate, our new friend Daniel and family arrived at this camping as well. This was our last meetup as their holiday was over and they needed to get back to Germany. Our path was out of Greece after a quick stop in Thessaloniki and then on the coast in Alexandroupoli. Stay tuned as we make our way north into Bulgaria and some more adventures in Southeastern Europe.