#101 When we were locked in paradise

March 28-30, 2022: Lefkada: Paralia Kathisma, Egremni Beach, Porto Katsiki, Marantochori, Dimosari Waterfall

J. Our first stop in Greece turned out to be the probably most beautiful one. Although we haven't been to many places in Greece yet, I would say that Lefkada is the most beautiful island in Greece. (A pretty bold statement, since I haven't seen any other Greek island.)

However, Lefkada is not only a beautiful island, but here we also spent the most exciting day of our trip so far and met a lot of nice people.

But let's start at the beginning: Without any expectations or information about the island, we drove to Lefkada, an island connected to the mainland by a dam. When we arrived at the first beach (Kathisma Beach) in the evening, just before sunset and in quite gloomy weather, the water was surprisingly bright blue-turquoise. The next day, in the sun and daylight, the color of the sea looked even more impressive. Around the beach, the water looked like bathwater for toddlers, full of bath additives: milky light blue. The color looked so unreal, almost as if someone had poured milk or something else into the water.

We spent the whole day at the beach, admiring the color of the sea and walking to the next bay where we found an old shipwreck or the rusty remains of it on the beach. The ropes and fishing net, the engine, the anchor, and many other parts of the boat were still recognizable, although they have probably been lying here for decades. I find it astonishing that the wreck has not been salvaged or removed yet, as in the end, many things from it will end up in the sea, which can definitely not be good.

The next day, we set out to explore the island a bit. We drove through the wooded mountains of the island, from where we had breathtaking views of the beautiful colors of the sea. Behind the milky light blue water in front of the beaches, the deep blue of the Mediterranean shone in strong contrast, and the two colors painted beautiful patterns in the sea. It all looked so unreal but also beautiful, as if someone had made a work of art out of the sea. Simply indescribable.

The colors of the water were particularly beautiful at Egremni Beach, a little further south of the island. There was a steep but fairly new serpentine road from the mountain down to the beach. However, the new road ended before the last curve, where we continued on the old road surface. We only realized that this last curve was particularly tight when we got stuck in the curve and couldn't turn properly. We should have parked on the shoulder in front of the curve, but we were already halfway there, so let's go all the way down, because there were already two cars parked there. We bumpy rode down quite a step, but everything went well, and we arrived. The two cars that were already parked here looked familiar. They were Marieke and Janneke from the Netherlands and Denise and Philipp from Germany, whom we had already met briefly at the last beach. They were still having breakfast, so we chatted and admired the pictures Denise took with her drone of the breathtaking view of the sea, while the others did the dishes.

(With these colors and this view, it's really worth having a drone!)

Shortly after us, two French people arrived with their van (similar in size to ours) and walked down to the beach. However, they didn't stay very long, so we were still doing the dishes when they were already heading back. We watched them navigate the first extremely tight curve, as we would have to go back up later. But unfortunately, the French people couldn't make it around the curve. One drove, the other guided, but they got stuck in the curve and the wheels spun. I thought I could already see them tumbling backwards down the cliffs, so we decided to see if we could help.

We shoveled the pile of rubble that was in the curve aside, maneuvered back and forth a lot, and in the end, the seven of us pushed the van up the hill. In gratitude, the two French people gave us a bottle of the best Bordeaux wine. So we spent the rest of the day together, so that we could drink the wine together in the evening.

First, we went down to the beach. A long staircase led along the steep stairs to the beach. The view of the rocks, the long white beach, and especially the play of colors of the water got better with every turn, and I couldn't stop taking photos. Down below, we enjoyed the sun on the beach and swam in the rather cold turquoise sea.

In the afternoon, we started our journey back and faced the challenge of getting three cars up the narrow curve. Since we had seen the difficulties the French people (also with a Fiat Ducato) had in navigating the curve, we, as the largest vehicle, went first and in reverse up to the first curve. There was a small flat area there, so we could easily drive forward from there and "avoid" the hairpin curve. We parked just behind the curve to help the others. The second car was the smallest, a Fiat Doblo. Since this is actually just a regular car, Denise and Philipp wanted to drive up the hill. But even with this car, it was not easy to get around the tight curve. The curve was so steep that the weight of the car was on the rear right wheel and the front left wheel spun. With a little directing from Florian and a push from behind, the Doblo also made it around the curve.

Since it had worked so well for us, Marieke and Janneke wanted to reverse their VW T5 to the curve, but their engine was unfortunately not strong enough and couldn't handle the steep incline in reverse. So they had to drive forward after all. But now we already had some experience, and they made it almost instantly with just a little pushing. We were very happy that we all made it up and continued our journey to the next beach.

However, we didn't get far. After about a kilometer, at the end of the new serpentine road, there was a gate across the road. And it was locked. It was secured with a thick chain and several padlocks. We were locked in.

On the other side of the gate, two French people on a scooter arrived shortly afterward and were just as surprised by the gate as we were. They spoke hardly any English but wanted to help us and came with a saw and a hammer. But, of course, we didn't want to break anything. And although the hinges were quite rusty, nothing fell off when you hit them with a hammer. It was more promising to pick the lock. As a teenager, I had learned how to pick a lock with part of a beverage can, and indeed, there was an empty cola can, conveniently placed right next to the gate. Unfortunately, the metal was too thin, and the lock didn't open.

But Philipp had been watching a lot of YouTube videos about lock picking recently and wanted to see how well he could put his theoretical knowledge into practice. So he poked around in the lock with a hairpin, a safety pin, and a piece of wire. Florian helped by watching videos about lock picking as well.

In the meantime, two Greeks on a moped arrived on the other side. They were also surprised, assured us that they didn't know who had the key, and drove away again. Shortly afterward, a Polish woman arrived in her car, who had driven her children to the beach just two hours ago and now wanted to pick them up again. She knew a park ranger who might know someone who had the key to the gate. She made a phone call and reported our dilemma. Then she said that we would have to wait now and that she couldn't promise anything, and she climbed over the chain to walk to the beach. The French people also realized that they could no longer help and set off on foot to the beach. We made sandwiches and sat in the sun.

But Philipp didn't want to give up and see if he could pick the lock after all. Shortly afterwards, he triumphantly held the lock in his hand. We threaded the chain through the gate and were finally free. Just as we were about to drive off, the two Greeks on the moped came towards us with a huge bolt cutter. They were visibly surprised that we were already freed.

After all the excitement, we went to Porto Katsiki Beach to cook and drink red wine. Above the beach, there was a larger parking lot with a beautiful view of a cliff, the beach, and of course, the wonderfully blue water. Coincidentally, we parked right next to Vincent and Lauren, the two French people we had pushed up the hill this morning and who had given us the wine. Of course, we invited them to their own wine, a really good red Bordeaux wine. We cooked together, and it was a very beautiful evening.

We haven't met so many people in a long time.

The next day, we spent with Marieke and Janika. We hiked inland to a waterfall and visited two fishing villages on the east and south coasts. In the evening, we visited Denise and Philipp, who were working in an Airbnb, cooked together, and took advantage of the benefits of a free shower.

You can read the same story from a different perspective on Denise and Philipp's blog here: https://travel-with-dobby.com/language/de/lefkada-philipp-der-schlosser/

You can find photos of Lefkada and many other places here on Instagram:

Janneke and Marieke: @titsonwheels_

Denise and Philipp: @travel.with.dobbby

Lauren and Vincent: @idylle_sauvage

Day 166 - Total tour 12,436 km

---- Subscribe ----

If you want to subscribe to our blog, you can either sign up with Vakantio and click on subscribe or send us a message and we will add you to our own distribution list. We are, of course, also happy to receive feedback!

Email: querfeld2@gmail.com