It’s been an idyllic overnight stop at the beach just over the hill from Diros Caves – and this really is a Must See!
To get here took some time. Not the brightest move, travelling on Easter Monday. The traffic was certainly much heavier than its been, made up, partially, by the lack of heavy trucks. Just to put this in perspective, take a look at these 4 shots of the main road (yes, seriously, the main coastal road) between Kalogria (Stupa) and Diros:
As a pretty average driver I think I’m tested about every 4 minutes. On the upside, my sweat pores just close up due to over-exertion, and the latter part of the day passes in relative physical comfort.
To make up for this, the drive is beautiful. The slide show below is taken by Niki as we wind our way down the coast.
Campsite last night was on the beach, 10 minute walk from the cave entrance. Stunning sunset capped a great day.
Up at the (relative) crack of dawn saw us arrive too early at the ticket office, too early for the boat trip, too early for the staff at the (open) coffee shop, and too early to avail ourselves of the opportunity to avail ourselves of providing constructive feedback. Don’t you love the non-pc ‘Complaints’, supported by the absolute lack of a mechanism by which you can complain – no forms, papers nor pens. I like that…
The trip through the cave was just fantastic. Lighting was kept to a reasonable level, the tourist boats were remarkably quiet, the local penchant for smoking everywhere was curtailed … and the environment was simply superb. A massive arrangement of stalactites and other features mirrored in the still waters around the boat. Two negatives: Niki asked our guide if he could translate to English (he speaks English) to be told, ‘No’. No buggering around here! Second, is that we could have spent hours there, rather than the half hour tour. I understand time is money, but we’ll not be this way again, and the experience has been unique. Reflecting – the tickets were €13, and I’d guess a NZ experience of anything similar would set you back 10 x that (hello, Waitomo Caves!). The slide show below is just some of what you see.
The wind has come up a bit, so no swimming today. A pity as yesterday the water temp was up to 19° due to the bay and wind direction – glad I made use of the opportunity when I did. We’ll spend another night here before heading off to Gythio on hopefully quieter roads tomorrow.
Contented-Campers.com 