Day 12 - Kalabaka to Kromidovo
Sunday 8th July 2018
Our first task is to take a look at those monasteries that dominate the landscape around here. We leave the hotel Alexou around 9:30am and head up into the hills, early enough to beat the main tourist coaches and cars that can make the country roads up to the monasteries a driving nightmare.
The monasteries are built on pinnacles of sandstone that form a serried rank of teeth sticking up out of the plain. Originally the only access was by rope and pulley and you have to wonder how they were constructed. I’m guessing slave labour.
At Thessaloniki we turn north and head towards the Bulgarian border. This motorway alternates between smooth black tarmacadam and appalling pot-holed nightmare. There are dark clouds gathering and we get a little wet but fortunately miss the heavy stuff.
We are feeling pretty tired by the time we cross the Bulgarian border. There is just a cursory passport check here. Unlike the UK we have never been asked to remove helmets at any of the borders so far. It’s not far into Bulgaria to Camping Kromidovo in the tiny village of Kromidovo. It is run by an English couple, John and Sara, and we are made to feel very welcome when we arrive.
They have been here for 5 years and the camp site has been open for half that time. It has all the requirements for comfortable camping but best of all is the international crew, some semi-permanent and others just visiting like us. We sit around an outdoor table late into the evening drinking John’s home brewed ale and a very fruity local red wine and talking bollocks in the best traditional style of a good rally.
There is Sven (sp?) a Bulgarian friend who has worked all over the world, Nils from Iceland who spent time in South America before landing up here, a Dutch couple and us Brits. To our shame they all speak perfect English except John who only speaks Mancunian.
Our first task is to take a look at those monasteries that dominate the landscape around here. We leave the hotel Alexou around 9:30am and head up into the hills, early enough to beat the main tourist coaches and cars that can make the country roads up to the monasteries a driving nightmare.
Here are a few shots from this remarkable landscape.
The monasteries are built on pinnacles of sandstone that form a serried rank of teeth sticking up out of the plain. Originally the only access was by rope and pulley and you have to wonder how they were constructed. I’m guessing slave labour.
Many can now be visited, up rock staircases added later, and the religious orders are turning a nice profit. Stalls selling all manner of icons and other religious tat line the car park edges. We’re not bothering with any of that and make do with external photographs as a souvenir of our visit.
By 11am it is getting seriously hot again so we get on the bikes after the last photo shoot and head north for the motorway.
It is a fast run. Along the A2 to Thessaloniki. It’s a lovely road, all sweeping bends and tunnels as it leaps and burrows through the mountains.
There are occasional toll booths along the motorway. Most cost 80 cents for a bike, but sometimes it is €1.70
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| Mick coming to terms with the 80 cents he has just shelled out at the toll booth |
At Thessaloniki we turn north and head towards the Bulgarian border. This motorway alternates between smooth black tarmacadam and appalling pot-holed nightmare. There are dark clouds gathering and we get a little wet but fortunately miss the heavy stuff.
 |
| Loves his Puffycino |
We are feeling pretty tired by the time we cross the Bulgarian border. There is just a cursory passport check here. Unlike the UK we have never been asked to remove helmets at any of the borders so far. It’s not far into Bulgaria to Camping Kromidovo in the tiny village of Kromidovo. It is run by an English couple, John and Sara, and we are made to feel very welcome when we arrive.
 |
| Tent up at Camping Kromidovo |
They have been here for 5 years and the camp site has been open for half that time. It has all the requirements for comfortable camping but best of all is the international crew, some semi-permanent and others just visiting like us. We sit around an outdoor table late into the evening drinking John’s home brewed ale and a very fruity local red wine and talking bollocks in the best traditional style of a good rally.
 |
| Talking bollocks for England into the night |
There is Sven (sp?) a Bulgarian friend who has worked all over the world, Nils from Iceland who spent time in South America before landing up here, a Dutch couple and us Brits. To our shame they all speak perfect English except John who only speaks Mancunian.
Another feature to recommend this place for a stay is the great local pool just 200 metres from the site. The water is from a local hot mineral spring and is very warm for a pool, just shy of blood temperature. There’s a cafe serving hot food too. I have a swim and we eat pork kebabs with hot peppers and French fries washed down with a few local beers. All excellent and, as they say, cheap as chips (kebab meal cost 8 lev / £3.62).
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