Road Trippin'

After waking up late again, the four of us, Michalis, Nikos, Eleni and I, packed up the car to go on a small road trip across the island. Thia had made a bunch of food for us to take, and we brought a tent and sleeping bags to camp out somewhere that night. I really didn't know exactly what we were doing, since a lot of the plans get discussed in Greek, so I just go along for the ride, literally. I think Nikos would make a very good race car driver, given his ability to use the whole road and pick good lines through the turns while hardly slowing down, but as for driving on public roads with other cars, that's another story. We started out by taking a shortcut to the highway on a bumpy gravel road. I don't know what make that little white car was, but it could sure take a beating. Once we got to the main road it was a bit better, but when you get into the mountains, which is most of the island, the roads are very twisty with almost no straights. The island has a very rugged landscape, almost all volcanic rocks and very few areas with trees due to eruptions long ago and more recent fires. Despite that, the mountains and valleys are impressive, with great views of the sea around. After driving for about an hour we got on another gravel road, and after making our way slowly through a herd of sheep in the road, we arrived at a fairly secluded beach. This beach was gravel with decent water and scenery. We swam there for a bit then got back on the road until we ended up at our destination for the night, a place called Eresos. There was a small town and a large sandy beach with a nice place to camp, clearly marked "No Camping", but I don't think anybody was going to make the forty or so tents pack up and leave. We set up the tent then had some food before going down to the beach shortly before sunset. There were lots of people there, and on one end of the beach there were many people bathing in the nude. I can't understand why people do that on the beach, since I don't even like sand between my toes, but it's normal practice around here.

That evening we walked up the road to the little touristy town where they have restaurants and bars lined up along the water. It was nice and lively, full of people on vacation, including many lesbian couples. Apparently this place is a well known destination for them, something to do with a famous woman poet born here, not to mention the name of the island in English is Lesbos. I don't know the history, but there you go. So anyway, we had a couple drinks and just took it easy before heading back to get some sleep. After taking a look at the tent, I decided that it would be a bit crowded with four people inside, and since it was so beautiful outside, I decided to sleep out on the beach in my sleeping bag. Michalis and Eleni also liked that idea so they came with me, leaving Nikos to have the tent to himself.

It was really nice to lay there under the stars and listen to the water gently brush the shore just a few yards away. Unfortunately the tranquility was interrupted by a lesbian couple having a domestic dispute somewhere in the dark nearby. So I got to hear one woman screaming at the other, they were English, for at least a half hour before they tired out and I was able to fall asleep. The next morning I was woken up by the sunrise, which I guess was o.k. since that's one side of the sun I never get to see. I had my camera with me so I took some pictures from right where I was laying. It was very beautiful, and now that I have pictures I won't have any reason to wake up that early again.

I did manage to go back to sleep though, and we finally got going around 9:00. We packed everything up and then Michalis took me over to a place where there is a small pond full of turtles. There was a man tossing bread in the water and soon after there were about twenty turtles gathered around to eat. It was kind of funny to see that many turtles together and chomping on bread.

After playing around there we got back in the car and back on the road. Our next stop was at a petrified forest. The guys had seen it already, so Eleni and I took a quick tour of it. Remember there are no trees around anywhere, so you have to get the word "forest" out of your head to picture it. There were nothing but rocks and some colorful stone tree stumps, linked together by a trail.

It was interesting but a bit boring at the same time. So we headed off down the road, made another quick stop at an archeological museum (also boring), before finding another beach. This one was smaller than Eresos, with nice sand and fairly cold water (usually the water around the island is warm). We hung out there for a while and then got back in the car for the drive home. It was a nice little road trip and I got to see a lot. Nikos and Michalis were great tour guides and seemed to know everything about the island that they have lived on all their lives.

That evening there was a free concert down by the port to celebrate the start of a sailboat race that runs from Mytilini to a place called Molyvos on the other side of the island, so Michalis and I took the Vespa down to have a look. There were a lot of people there and it was pretty good music. I love how everything is done outside there. It was usually fairly hot during the day, in the 90s I'd say, but at night it was very comfortable and it felt great to be outside. We only stayed at the concert for a little while before walking over to a bar to meet Michalis's friend, where Eleni and Nikos met up with us for a drink. It was a good end to a fun "weekend". I'm not really sure what day it was since by this point I'd lost all track of time, but does it really matter?