Greece 28 - Prevetza /we are at the seaside /it's seaside all the way back to Italy /Cleopatra and Nikopolis

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We felt a little sad leaving Yiannis and his small campsite. As we headed over the causeway we said our goodbyes to Lefkada and its little island. The fort looked impressive on our way out and it would have been good to stop and take a photo opportunity but there seemed nowhere to park Suzy up.

We were heading down Tortoise Alley. The little creatures ambled their way slowly from one side of the road to the other. Endearing little things that we hoped managed to get across in one piece. They risk life and limb dodging the Greeks in their cars and scooters. The flowers along the coastroad are changing . Pink and white oleanders replace the spring flowers. Broom instead of Gorse. Tamarisk pink and billowy showing our close proximity to the seaside. It is Monday and we have nearly four days to kill before our date with the Cruise Olympia which will take us home.

We are heading for the mouth of the Amvrakikos Gorge and Prevetza. A town that sounds more Italian than Greek in name. Modern Prevetza is nothing special . Devestated yet again by earthquakes little of the old remains. A 1950s and 60’s urban sprawl with busy streets. Folks shopping, cars stopping in the middle of the road . Watch out when you drive in Greece , the hazard lights go on and the driver just stops. He has warned you what he is going to do hasn’t he?

We were heading for the waterfront where there was parking for Suzy and it was close enough for a walk into town. Parking was free and there would have been plenty of it . Today the whole town was parked up but we did find a spot for Suzy in the end. Next door to us was a funfair. Typical Skegness or Rhyl, it catered for the kids as well as the adults.

After a quick toilet visit – one of the advantages of a motorhome – if you get caught short you can just pop in the loo as folks mill outside you without any idea what you are doing – we headed for town. Cafes spilled onto the street , so many we wondered how they paid their way. Tat shops by the score and more of the little huts crammed with souvenirs, cigarettes , and ice creams. You walk up to them , start to pick what you want and a little head appears in a tiny window as if by magic. They are everywhere. From Athens to Prevetza they are in every town and city.

There is not a lot to say about the town. It has a beach. It is the seaside. The weekenders come here. The Greeks spend their holidays here. The young sit in cafes talking and laughing . Don’t they ever go to school or university ? Don’t they work for a living? Old men sit, smoke and play cards. They are retired and enjoy life perhaps on the good pensions they say the Greeks have . Better by some way than ours back home. Younger men sit and drink beer? Why are they not working? Surely they cannot all be on holiday? Women dressed up the nines blinged up. They look like a meeting of the Womens Institute or the Mothers Union. They don’t appear to work either . Old men fishing at the harbourside . There is a huge contradiction between the stories we hear about austerity and what we are seeing in reality. There seems little sign of poverty. However that thought was going to come back to bite us rather quickly.


Just outside the town are signs for Cleopatras Canal. So what has Cleopatra got to do with Prevetza?. We see the Cleopatra Hotel, the Cleopatra nightclub and the Nikopolis music club. Well the reason is because of the Battle of Actium which took place in 31 BC in this area. Octavian the future Emperor Augustus routed the fleet of Cleopatra. Outside the town are two noteworthy things . The first the underwater tunnel the only one in Greece that links the town of Prevetza to nearby Actium. It is not the Mersey Tunnel or the Channel Tunnel just a short length of road that goes under the river. It cost a few euros to go through. The locals go round what’s called the rabbit run to avoid the toll. The other thing is Nikopolis a huge complex built by the emperor as his Victory City. It is on the site his army camped before the battle . It is seriously impressive with walls that stretch for miles and are clearly visible from the road. The population moved out after a few years and returned to their own homes elsewhere and the city became abandoned. Inside amongst the rubble are two basilicas an Odeion, a theatre and a stadium. It is overgrown and unloved. The ticket office is there but empty and has seen no-one manning it for years. It is possible to walk round for free. Sadly though the site is neglected and it is shameful to see the state it is in. These type of ancient features are all over Greece and many are in the same state as Nikopolis.

We had not found a campsite near to Prevetza and had chosen to drive down the road to the next village Parga where we would stay the night and possibly go in to the town to waste more time. As I write this I wish I had hindsight . We only went to Parga because there was nothing else to do and we needed to kill time. We even talked about contacting Aferry who got our tickets to see if we could change the date of the return boat. We rang them but got an answering service which directed us back to the internet and our own booking account. We tried that and failed to find any way of contacting them. I did think of calling in to the Minoan line office at the port and trying to change the booking but in the end we decided against it and thought only another few days and we will be away. Tonight is Monday so Thursday is not so far away. With hindsight we should have done more but hindsight is a wonderful thing and we didn’t have it at the time.

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