Walking and… well nothing!

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Not really still in Dimitsana, although the first few photos are. We are currently in Elati, a village of only about 15 people (few more on the weekend) so it’s no surprise it doesn’t feature on maps and location entries. It’s cute but after 8 hours walk the last thing we wanted was another 600 metre climb to our homestay.

Sampled a boar sausage last night. To absolutely no surprise it came with chips. Julie had the kebabs and pita bread and both were OK but nothing special. The tzatziki was good though, very creamy and plenty of garlic. The beer was really cold and even served in a cold glass so 2 out of 4 ain’t bad. Later went looking for baklava and coffee but couldn’t find any. Greece is in crisis!

Breakfast in Dimitsana was a bit eclectic, bit like our accomodation. Refurbished really well and very comfortable but eclectic. The shower had no shower curtain but unfortunately that’s not uncommon here. The basin thought was shaped so that it looked great but inevitably splashed when you turned the tap to anything stronger than a dribble. The place was a triumph to form over function and the same went for breakfast. Menu items were cooked for us. Small omelette/pancakes with cheese and spinach and sweet pancakes with banana, jam and Nutella were good but hopeless as take always for lunch. Juice was cold and good and the coffee was again made in front of us and fine but in their efforts to be ‘different and individual’ they missed yogurt and fruit and honey and nuts so you can imagine how I felt.

Leaving Dimitsana you get some idea of how attractive the village is.

Then it’s the trail. Eight hours walking and really nothing to report. The scenery was not inspiring, often easy to walk through as it was not as rocky as we have become accustomed to, some tough gradients, plenty of small creek crossings but not picturesque crossings and really just a long walk. Good but…And we saw not a single person when on the trail. In the village that we passed through yes but on the trail, no one. We stopped for a coffee as we had been walking for about an hour and a half but were greeted with cakes and raki. It’s not my favourite at any time let alone at mid morning but when she found out we were walking the Menalon Trail there were no questions about it, good for our stamina.

At Elati had a very good expresso, cold lemonade and Callipo.

Managed the extra 600 m uphill to our accomodation then nothing! The 2 km round trip to the taverna (which may or may not be open) was ruled out (too easily) so we raided our supplies, found enough and are about to call it quits. So really we walked and then did nothing!

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