Skip to main content

Greece Summer 2025 - Part 6 Mainland Road Trip Itinerary, Kamena Vourla-Thermopylae

 


Our bags were packed and we were ready to continue our journey. It was time to leave the beautiful islands of Greece and head over to the mainland. We took the bus from our AirBnb to the port, and then from there we took a ferry to Athens. Ferry tickets were bought in advance at Ferryhopper. The ferry I had chosen was a huge one, and it's not the fast ferry. I purposely chose a slower ferry because they are less bouncy so it's a more comfortable ride.

All packed and ready to go




On the ferry

On the ferry

Our ferry took us to Piraeus port in Athens, and from the port we took a taxi to the car rental office. I had booked from Sixt downtown. We had a little scare when we got there because they weren't able to find our booking. It turned out that I had actually booked the car for the wrong holiday dates! This is what happens when you plan multiple holidays at the same time! Fortunately for us, the booking was changeable and they had one cancellation for that day. We got a Nissan Qashqai and drove for about 3 hours to our stopover for the evening: Kamena Vourla. 

Before we continue, here's the itinerary for our mainland road trip:
  • Athens - Kamena Vourla, stayed 1 night
  • Kamena Vourla - Thermopylae - Meteora, stayed 1 night
  • Meteora - Galaxidi, stayed 2 nights
  • Day trip to Delphi
  • Galaxidi - Patras, stayed 1 night
  • Patras - Olympia - Sparta, stayed 1 night
  • Sparta - Nafplion, stayed 2 nights
  • Nafplion - Corinth - Athens, stayed 4 nights
It was a lot of driving for one person, but I enjoyed it very much. The Greek roads and public areas are very good quality and well maintained. Plus, we got better at packing and unpacking by now so the short stays are not a problem. It really helps to have a car that can take us to places rather than dragging our suitcases on trains, buses, and sidewalks.

Now back to the story...

Kamena Vourla is a small port town that seemed to be a holiday destination for locals.It has a main street where most of the businesses are, a beach, and a port. We had dinner in one of the few diner they had, and immediately we can see the huge difference in prices. It was the cheapest meal we had in Greece! Don't be fooled by the price tag, though, the food was delicious!









On the following morning, we left Kamena Vourla for Meteora, with a stop at Thermopylae. Why Thermopylae? Well, first and foremost, it was on the way to Meteora. This is the spot for the battle of Thermopylae, made famous by the Hollywood movie 300. The location is on the side of the highway, so we kind of just followed a tourist bus and stopped on the side of the highway. It felt really weird to cross the highway on foot but then again the road was very empty. Also in the same spot, you can find a hot spring used as thermal baths. I'm pretty sure it's not used as baths anymore but the hot spring is still there.










Thermopylae was a fairly quick stop, do stop by if you are in the area. From Thermopylae we drove again to Meteora, and that is for another post. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nintendo Switch Sleeve Tutorial

Hi! I'm Kirana from woofkiki.blogspot.co.id . I am going to write an introduction for this blog post. We bought a Nintendo Switch in Japan.  I really liked it and played with it almost everyday. If you're wondering what a Nintendo Switch is, it is a video game where you can basically  "switch" everything. The joy-cons and even the game! You can also connect it to your TV. It would be nice to bring it around with you, but when you put it in your bag... Oh no! The screen scratched! So, this is a sleeve that will fix that. Let's get started!😊 Kirana Now the tutorial (by Kirana's mom)... 1. Make your pattern according to the picture below. It is basically a 6"x24" rectangle with a semi circle at one end. Note: this is not a printable pattern 1. Cut your outer fabric, lining, and batting(optional). In this tutorial, I used minky for lining and a pre-quilted fabric for the cover, so I didn't need extra batting. For batting, I recomm...

Spring in Egypt Part 9 - Luxor Temple

At the time when we arrived at Luxor temple it was already after dusk and it became a little difficult to take photos. I compensated by setting my camera ISO to 4000 to make tripod-less picture-taking possible even though the grains became more visible. Just like the previous nights, the moon still looked round to me. I wasn't sure which one of those moons was the actual full moon. We walked around the temple first with Michael for explanations about the temple. In the distance we were able to hear the adzan calling the people for prayer. Situated in the east bank, the construction of the temple was started by Amenhotep III, continued and finished by the famous King Tut and Horemheb, and then added on to by Rameses II and finally by Alexander the Great. Unlike the other temples we had previously visited, this temple is not dedicated to a single cult/god. Instead, it is used as a place to rejuvenate kingship. May of the kings were said to have been coronated at this temple. ...

Japan Winter Holiday 2017 Part 7 - Otaru Sakaimachi

On our second day in Otaru after we had breakfast and ice cream , we continued walking to Sakaimachi. This shopping street is one of the busiest in the city and is where a lot of Otaru attraction is located. In front of one of the stores there, we saw this cute dog wearing a Minion outfit. Of course Miss Kiki jumped and squealed and asked if she could pet it. We asked permission from the owner to take a picture with it. Along the street they have rock statues in the shape of famous characters like Anpanman and Mickey Mouse. With Anpanman It was a very nice day, we were able to walk around and had fun without feeling cold even though there were a lot of ice and snow. Check out the platforms they set up on the hill. We think that it's to prevent snow slides... Most of the buildings there were old style,,,  Many shops sell fresh seafood and they would cook it for you by order. As we walked past a souvenir shop, we saw a poster for these snowball make...