Monday 17 September - Volos to Nafpaktos

Sunrise: Volos                     7:11am

Sunset:  Nafpaktas              7:37pm

Steps:                                  11,347

I was awake and up just before 6am and had finished packing the main luggage and put it outside the door just before going down to breakfast at 7am.

It’s a long travel day today and we were all onboard and on our way by 8am. A cooler start to the day than on other mornings, around 16c according to the onboard temperature. I regret not packing a light weight long sleeve cardigan. A little bit of cloud around also but the forecast is for 31c both in Volos & Nafpaktos

We drove along the coast road, heading south. Some beautiful coastal scenery but because of the angle of the sun on the windows, it was no good taking photos from the bus.

Lots of olives trees under cultivation, not like the wild ones that we have been seeing elsewhere and on the mountain the other day.  Greece is the 3rd largest producer of olive oil in Europe. Spain is number 1 and Italy number 2.   Christina spent some time filing us in on the processes to make olive oil and also the processes to remove the bitterness from olives for eating.

Hilly countryside today, compared to the flat land of the past few days.

9am and we were at the closest mainland point to Evia island, then the road took us in a westerly direction.

We had a 20 minute stop at Lamia and were back on the road again by 9:45. I bought myself some nougat snacks. One topped with hazelnuts and the other a Turkish delight type of sweet. Lunch isn’t until 3ish today, so a snack might come  in handy.

We exited the tollway near Thermopiles and were soon climbing up through the mountains on a windy wide road. At 10am, the coach temperature gauge was showing the outside temp as 22c.  There have been many red trucks going in the other direction on the road and some on the same side as us. Christina was saying that there is bauxite mining in this area and also aluminium. 

 Bauxite grace in the distance

We had to really slow down at one point because of a herd of goats crossing the road.

Just before the town of Amfissa, we passed a massive olive grove plantation. It went part way up the mountain and all through the valley, to the outskirts of Amfissa, which is known for it’s black olives. Christina was saying that the olive plantation had thousands of trees on it and it certainly looked like that or more.

Truck with a load on board.

We arrived at Delphi by 11am and met our local guide.  

Delphi used to be the seat of The Oracle.  The Pythia was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi who also served as the oracle, commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi. The name Pythia is derived from Pytho, which in myth was the original name of Delphi.
First up was a visit to the museum.  I'm just posting some of the photos that I took.

and after that we then walked through the ancient site. 
Cloud cover had come over while we were in the museum, so that is nice for walking around outdoors. 

We finished our visit there and were back down and on the bus by 1:35 heading to our lunch stop on the island of Trizonia.
We followed along the coast again. Just past Itea there is a bauxite mine and there was a ship sitting in the bay, perhaps waiting to come in and dock and be loaded!!!

Around the corner in the next bay, there were a few fish farms and slightly further out in the bay, what appeared to be a cruise ship, be it a smallish one. Or perhaps a private ship!!! That was off the town of Galaxidi.

Fish farming is mainly sea bass and sea bream and is the 2nd highest agricultural product  exported after olives and associated products. The main buyers of the farmed fish is Italy.

We arrived at the little village of Chania and took the ferry over to Trizonia for lunch. A delicious lunch again.  

After lunch there was about 20 minutes to have a wander around and then we took the ferry back to the mainland at 4:30. Back onboard the bus by 4:45 and on our way to Nafpaktos.  Once again beautiful views of the ocean as we travelled along the coast.

I think we arrived in Nafpaktos around 5:30. We all met in the lobby at 5:45 and went for an orientation walk to the little harbour.

After that, Lois, Elizabeth & I  sat and had a glass of wine at one of the bars and then on the way back to the hotel, called into a supermarket to buy some water.
Back at the hotel, I updated this blog and because of our late lunch, opted not to have any dinner tonight.

Another early start tomorrow and as it's just after 10:30pm, I'll say goodnight.