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6th July and a well deserved week to the beautiful Village of Sivota in Mainland Greece. Kat myself and Kats mum ( mother in law to be ) took a flight to the island of corfu where we then took a ferry to Igoumenitsa and then a short taxi drive to Sivota.

Sivota was mainly a small fishing village but over the years has increased in popularity with the sailing community and bears host to a large array of yachts and motorboats. We stayed in the Blue Coast apartments which looked directly over the harbour and is run by Angie and Mert. The food there is great so even if you didnt stay there its well worth a visit.

After our 2 days of doing nothing but relaxing and laying on the beach we hired a car for 2 days. Vaso who runs the tourist information organised it for us and we picked it up from outside there the next morning. On the first day we headed east and took a drive to the ancient Neckromanteion ( oracle of the dead ) This is found in the nomos region of Preveza which lies on the North Bank of the river acheron. It originally belonged to the Thesprotians who were one of the early Greek tribes who settled there in approx 2000BC.

It wasnt discovered until 1958 but was found under the runis of the monestry of St. John the Baptist on the crest of a rocky hill. There is not much left of the main buildings however there is an impressive underground chamber beneath the main hall which is formed by fifteen arches. It is thought that it is where people came to communicate with the dead through the Oracle.

From the Neckromanteion we headed toward the village of Glyki where we intended to find the river Styx. The river styx is thought in ancient greek times to be the boundary between Earth and the Underworld ( Or Hades ) It is also thought that if you were to submerge yourself in the river Styx it would give you immortality. Yes.. we did submerge ourselves so supposedly we will now live forever!

Where we parked the car there is camping and also a rafting center which is reasonably priced at around 8 euros, we decided to walk up river and see how far we could get to the source. The
scenery was spectacular, the river was never more than about 20ft wide and varied in depth along the way from ankle deep to well over head height so it meant a lot of swimming against the current in places. Each side of the river has sheer rock faces that are hundreds of feet high and it really gave you the feeling of being in some extreme adventure movie..

The second day of hiring a car we decided to visit a place called Vikos Gorge. Vikos Gorge is in the Pindos Mountains and about 90Km from Sivota. There is a new Motorway that has recently been opened to make the journey quicker and runs from Igoumenitsa as far as Athens. we only went as far as Ioannina and then headed west in to the mountains. as you head in to the Mountains there are lots of very traditional Greek Zagorian Villages Such as Monodendri.

The Gorge is about 12Km Long and is listed as one of the deepest Gorges in the world. I couldn't believe that something as spectacular as this was virtually all ours as there were hardly any one there at all! oh, there are also signs there warning you of Bears.. all in all though, I have always thought of Greece as a coastal Holiday and Im amazed at what mainland Greece has to offer in the way of things to see and places to visit Aside from the Main attractions. Every other road seems to lead to some form of ancient monument or Catherdral. Definately going to go back and maybe drive from Sivota to Athens..

Towards the end of the holiday we took a day trip on a boat to Paxos and Anti Paxos, Anti Paxos has a stunning little bay where we stopped off for a while to swim and snorkel. There isn't much to see in the way of marine life but it was just as nice to float around in crystal clear waters enjoying the sun. From there we went to Paxos and spent a few hours milling around and taking in some lunch at one of the small tavernas dotted around in the village.

Definately recommend taking a trip to this place, Great food, Great location and great sunsets to be had every day..

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