Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Bike Tour Days 9 and 10 - Plan B Strikes Again, and Rest Day on Zakinthos

It rained - hard - all night Monday, and the early morning dawned ominously gray and windy. Our intrepid guides Patricia and Manolis once again had to invoke "Plan B" to avoid unsafe biking conditions - and NONE of us were in the least bit sorry.  Patricia and Manolis worked hard to pack the van and get another vehicle lined up to drive us the 68k to the port of Killini, where our 1:30 PM ferry awaited us.

Our cosy hotel by the ocean, before our
Plan B departure

We drove the bike route with intermittent rain showers spitting, and did a quick visit to a nature preserve that was the route's highlight:

Glorious colors in the marshlands


Peter and I loved these "umbrella trees"

The ferry departed from Killini at 1:30 PM as planned, and not one of us was sorry to have missed riding there:

June - warm, dry and fed vs. wet and tired -
 in front of the Ionian Star ferry

The ferry ride took a bit over 1 hour and the boat was very comfy:

Super guide Patricia taking good care of us!


The island destination looms up in the haze


The weather on Zakinthos was good enough to allow a "makeup" ride of 31k to stretch our legs and whet our appetites for dinner:


Manolis readies our bikes for riding-
cool view from our 4th floor hotel balcony!


Ready to roll at 3:45 pm!


View of the waterfront from across the harbor,
returning from our ride

We had another superb taverna dinner with a tsunami of food - just when you think "I've had TOO much", the main course arrives!  This time is was moussaka in servings as big as your head!  The Greeks pride themselves in hosting, and that means lots and lots of food.

With dinner heavy in our bellies we slept in and looked forward to a "rest day" on Zakinthos.

*****

Wednesday has been very leisurely.  Peter and I opted for a 41k (short) bike ride to burn some moussaka - we loved these old olive trees we saw on the route:


June poses for scale


Olive grove - wonderfully sculptural

We were rained on a bit, but as it was close to 80 deg. F we didn't mind a bit.
It cleared in time for our return to the hotel - we cleaned ourselves up and took a stroll around town:


Loved this street landscape


Our hotel - 4th floor!


Caught gawking on the balcony...

Next up - Greek cooking demonstration at 6 PM, dinner to follow - life is good!



No comments:

Post a Comment