Two ways to Nafpaktos

The breakfast at Captain's House was as expected, unique and delicious. Halfway through the journey, the democratic system within the group is developing, which is a counter-cyclical benefit considering the emerging dictatorial tendencies in Europe and the rest of the world. Good is good, and today's day will be dedicated to the individual needs of driving. After a shared start and passing through a tunnel towards Levkas, the only challenge on this route was a construction site with longitudinally milled grooves. We head to the gas station to do what you do at gas stations and say goodbye. For the Supersport team, the route leads through olive groves, beautiful fishing villages, and ports, passing through the inland sea through some tunnels onto a small piece of highway. After a brief fun for the Supersport, we returned to the more curvy mountain and coastal route. The traffic became denser and the industrial areas bigger, which prompted us to get back on the highway and accelerate the rest of the way, which was a huge fun as we had the highway to ourselves. After three and a half hours, the picturesque town of Nafpaktos with its long bay, pebble beach, and historic harbor lies ahead of us. Quickly exchanged the motorcycle gear for swimwear and off to the beach. Here, a cool down in the sea awaits us. At this point, the others are also somewhat nearby, but this odyssey initially began with long, sweeping curves along the coast, where you had a view of the sea after every other turn at the latest. It didn't change much with the direction towards the mountains - so-called shortcut - because the curves initially led on paved roads through the endlessly extensive vineyards of various winemakers, whose flagship are the monumental and rustic wineries that stretch for kilometers parallel to the road. These are followed almost seamlessly by olive groves that extend to the horizon along the mountain massifs. This change can be perceived, which is generally not advisable, even with closed eyes, because the scent reveals what lines the streets. And only the few cornfields in between do not give off an intense fragrance. Already more or less accustomed to these senses-impressive perceptions, Aphro leaves the paved main road that has parallelly followed a wide riverbed filled with water in the last kilometers. Shortly before that, Aphro and the XT rider had talked about how it is completely nonsensical to drive off-road in shorts and half-shoes - according to the XT rider's minority opinion, off-road driving should be done with boots, long pants, and protectors. This should be heeded by any readers. But for Aphro with her Greek heritage, these are just the challenges, true to the motto "Alexander the Great conquered the world, so we can come over a mountain". As I said, that was just before, but probably already too long ago. So it goes on one of these side roads, where every German can expect a tractor, a hay cart, or a runaway goat behind the bend. The fact that the asphalt is gone should be clear to the interested reader anyway. Instead, there is gravel and rubble and here and there a sign for mountain bikers with a reference to rubble and goats. The fact that there are no more traffic signs here is logical. There is basically no traffic here, except maybe for the goats. So it goes happily uphill, not above the tree line, but they are in the track with their branches as long as it doesn't go several hundred meters down on one side. In the shade of the forest, it goes downhill again. After almost 25 km of asphalt shreds and the short illusion that a village is nearby. No idea how the asphalt got here, as it is already gone again. At some point, gravel turns into gravel, solidified earth, then stony sand, and again a path that can be called a farm road. A place appears and the certainty awakens that it is actually a shortcut. Well, no mountain bikers were seen, no hikers, or anyone, not even trash from anyone. The owner of the first tavern in the next village looks confused, as if ET had raised his little glowing finger towards the sky. With this experience, we leave her standing alone by the roadside and arrive at the beach in front of the hotel 10 km later. In the evening, we go together again to the beautiful town of Nafpaktos. The historic place with the Venetian Castro, the mosque built by the Turks in 1499 in honor of Allah, and the historic harbor invite you to linger in one of the countless cafés and restaurants. We are fortunate to find an excellent fish restaurant on Thursday the 12th, which, with its unobstructed view from the city wall, provides an ambiance that can be described in words but cannot be captured in photos. Yia Mas!