Bucket Lists and Biking Greece

I retired 5 years ago and since then I've done some adventure bike riding in Greece for 2-3 weeks each year. May and September are the months I look forward to and begin watching the Air Canada fares to Athens with anticipation as my departure date approaches. I've found that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the key days to find the best rates for flights. However, each year is different for deals and I've paid from $770 this past May to $1840 three years ago.

 I've rented bikes in Athens each year at MotoRent on Kavalotti Street. They're the best and I found their insurance coverage is much better than others. Motorcycles are expensive to rent in Greece (as in any country) and you need to be theft conscious. Luckily, Greece is a very safe country with low crime and I'm outside the major cities on my treks anyway. I love Greek history/mythology and that's a major consideration, but the weather, the beaches, the people and the roads are why I go. In my opinion there is no better place to ride an adventure bike.

BMW 650GS in Poros, Kefalonia

On my first trip I considered a big BMW GS1200 as my ride but the bike was pricey. I settled on a smaller bike back then and haven't changed my mind since. They're way easier to maneuver, great on gas (which is very expensive) and have plenty of power for the roads I ride. The BMW 650GS got the best gas mileage at 70mpg. The Suzuki V-Strom was the most comfortable to ride and the Honda TransAlp was the most nimble. From the Athens airport to the city is a 45 minute trip on the Metro and it's a 20 minute walk to MotoRent which is located very close to the Acropolis. Also close to the Acropolis is the Athens Backpackers Hostel which is an excellent place to stay for a night if you're traveling solo like me. It's very clean and modern and actually nicer than a lot of hotels I've stayed in. It is located on a quiet side street right off the Plaka (the main tourist/shopping area). There's a roof bar with an excellent view of the Acropolis and always a great group of fellow travelers to share a beer and a story with every evening until 11pm. 

 I've learned to travel light. I take a backpack with a few clothes, camera stuff and a Bell Pit Boss shorty helmet that fits in my pack. I take my own helmet because I have my GoPro mounts attached to it, it's small enough to fit in the backpack and I really don't trust using a rental helmet. I pity people who travel with large check-in luggage. I never need to wait in lines at airport carousels or worry about lost luggage because it is always with me. The backpack fits under the seat in front of me on a plane too so I never have to fight for space in the overhead bins for storage space. It actually bugs me when I see people waiting to board the plane with several shoulder bags, a laptop and wheeled luggage who will obviously take up more space in the overhead bins than they should be allowed.

Traveling Light

 I've traveled over much of Greece but love the islands. I especially love the western (Ionian) islands and Kefalonia in particular. It's an island of white sand beaches and although it's prone to earthquakes, the coastal vistas are spectacular, as are the mountain roads.

Myrtos Beach

 Myrtos Beach is usually ranked in the top 10 wild beaches in the world. I avoid commercial touristy places when I can and this is why I go in May or September. Tourists are few, beaches are pretty well all naturist friendly, rates are lower and the weather is beautiful. So, this year I went for three weeks in May and I'd reserved a BMW 650GS again. I was heading up the west coast and Kefalonia Island was once more in my plans. I had a special reason for returning there this time that involved a project I'm very interested in. It's called The Odysseus Unbound Project (www.odysseus-unbound.org).

 In 2005 Robert Bittlestone (now deceased) published his book Odysseus Unbound which I'd read and was quite captivated by it. I find the stories of the Greeks' bloody history very interesting and the story of the ten year Trojan War was my favorite. It's probably the most famous war in history. If you know nothing about Greek history, you're familiar with the names of those who fought and died in this war or the gods and goddesses who interfered: Apollo, Achilles, Ajax, Hector, Paris and many others are names we all recognize. But the hero of that war, and the inventor of the Trojan Horse, was Odysseus, or Ulysses (the Roman name). The story reads like Lord of the Rings with fantastic creatures, sorcerers and omniscient beings, and of course J R R Tolkien used it as his inspiration. But unlike Tolkien's tales, the story of the Trojan War has proven to be a true incident. And the legendary cities mentioned in the epic have since been unearthed by archaeologists. These places really existed and in my travels around Greece, I've walked where these mythological heroes actually walked. That's one reason I go to Greece, to see places I'd dreamed of seeing since my youth and to go before I no longer can. I have visited most of the named cities in mainland Greece and Crete, even the location of the Death Oracle, the supposed gates to Hades, but the most famous place in the whole story is an island.

Death Oracle Sanctuary, Tenaron, Greece

It is the island kingdom of Odysseus. It exists today but is not where it was described according to the legend. The Odysseus Unbound Project has found it. So, Robert Bittlestone's book interested me to such a degree that I tried contacting him to learn more about his project. This was three years ago and sadly I received a reply informing me of his demise. However, I later made contact with his successor, John Crawshaw who was coordinating the project. John was kind enough to invite me for a tour of the fabled island to which I quickly agreed. That was last May, 2016. In May, 2017 I returned to visit a special place on the island that we were unable to access last year. This would be the highlight of my many trips around Greece, the virtual crown upon my bucket list: the site of the actual palace of Odysseus. John lives in England and arranged to meet me on the island of Kefalonia where he has built a home.

Kefalonia Island, Greece

He is a kindred spirit and a follower of the mystery of Homer's story as am I, so I liked him immediately. He is also an adventurous type who has wandered the island on foot, usually alone, to seek out the physical places described in the story. I biked up the coast and crossed the causeway to an island called Lefkada. From there I took a ferry to Kefalonia. Because it was May, the ferry was almost empty and the weather warm. While it was raining and still cold in Canada I was enjoying the 30C afternoons here. Ferries are frequent and cheap, 26 euros for the bike and me. Once on Kefalonia I rode south from Fiscardo to Lixouri where I would meet John. The TerraMare Hotel is where I stay when I'm here, which was the third visit. Nicos, the owner is great and knowing I like beer he would occasionally surprise me with a “Ken, it's beer o'clock!” and deliver a Mythos to me at the pool. My kind of guy! Great beer too. Lixouri is on a peninsula which is called Paliki. The Odysseus Unbound Project has theorized that this peninsula was once an island that had a marine channel which has since been filled in due to earthquake activity. An earthquake here in 1953 raised the whole island by 60 cm and killed hundreds. Drilling in the area has provided strong evidence that they are correct. The ancient description of Ithaca is that it is last of the Ionian islands to see the sunset, so it has to be farthest west. However, the current island of Ithaca is farthest east, so cannot be the real island of Odysseus of 3,200 years ago. Paliki is in fact the real ancient island of Ithaca! This discovery will literally change Greek history and is very exciting. It will also change the map of the Ionian Islands. The morning finally arrived like a dream for me. I was at the center of my world here. This day would be the culmination of my trips to Greece. John greeted me and we set out for the palace of Odysseus.

View From Odysseus' Palace

The drive was quite difficult and I commented more than once that John could give courses in 4-wheeling. Some of the roads through private farming areas were not more than goat paths and the final foray was up a rocky ravine made of mostly limestone, strewn with boulders. We then hiked through a forest and traversed several fields (one of which he'd once encountered a bull) before ascending a mountain covered in thickets. These thorny bushes were very thick and covered the entire area so were quite menacing. We were lucky to find however, that the goats that roamed here had made neat little paths through the bushes. Although we had to be careful of the thorns, we eventually wound our way to the top of the mountain virtually unscathed. It was an arduous climb but the reward for me was the satisfaction of being finally at the epicenter of The Odyssey. The view from up there atop fabled Mount Neriton was magnificent. I savored that moment for the time I was there. I'm keeping in touch with the project and if you're interested you can as well. www.odysseus-unbound.org is their website. I have made a little video series on my website if you'd care to visit some of the places from The Odyssey in real life. It's called Odysseus Unbound Tour and the website is www.motorcyclegreece.ca. There are no ads on my videos.