Syros (Cyclades, Greece)

Ermoupolis waterfront

Our final days on Samos were impacted by David's worsening cold. He took it easy, staying mostly in our small apartment. This seemed to help, as he rallied on the day were to take the Blue Star ferry to Syros. It was an increasingly rough passage, with winds and seas worst between Iraklia and Mykonos. At least for us, it was fine (we're used to rough seas...). The ferry became unbelievably crowded by Mykonos, with folks sitting/lying everywhere on the floor, in stairwells, etc. We had never seen it like this. We learned why upon arrival at our rooms in Ermoupoli, Syros: winds were expected to pick up to 35-40 kn and ferries were to be cancelled for the next 1.5-2 days.  We were on one the last ferries back to Piraeus (Athens). (Just shows you have to consider this when returning to Athens for an international flight.) 

It was good to stay again at Ostria rooms in Ermoupoli,  where we had previously stayed in 2019 and 2022. The ferry arrived over an hour late, but Jessica waited for us. After getting into the room, we went out into bustling Ermoupoli for a late night pizza. 

 Ermoupoli is a beautiful small city. Most tourists are Greek tourists. There are no large resorts on Syros and thus no throngs of foreign tourists. But compared to our two previous visits,  we have noticed more English-speaking tourists scattered around. Syros is slowly being discovered by foreign tourists. 

 

Ermoupoli (winds picking up) 

Ermoupoli: Main square and old town hall

Marble streets of Ermoupoli

 David's cold was much better, but the first morning in Syros he was woken up early by what seemed to be something in his eye. Very unpleasant. It turned out to be a bad case of conjunctivitis. After a day,  it improved slightly, and David learned to live with it. We added a couple days to our stay on Syros so we go do some walking. 

One day, we took the bus over to Kini,  and walked over to Delfini Beach, where we had a swim. The next day,  we took the bus to Azolimnos, and walked the coast to Vari. (This latter walk we did in 2019, but it is now in worse shape as some sections were ruined by erosion or private development... but we ended it with an enjoyable scenic bus ride around the island back to Ermoupoli.)

On the (easy) trail to Delfini Beach (Syros) 

Swim time at Delfini Beach

After 6 days on Syros,  we moved over to the island of Tinos (only 35 minutes away by ferry). 

 

 

One week in Samos (Northern Aegean, Greece)

Ormos (with harbour) and Kampos (Mt. Kerkis behind) 

We have just spent a week on Samos. We had up to 2 weeks and thought we might split it between different places on the island.

First up was Ormos  Marathokampou (usually just referred to as "Ormos"). A small village, with good harbour for sailboats and fishboats. We initially booked 4 nights in this quiet village. Quiet in the day, it became busy at dinner with tourists from nearby (5 min drive) Kampos. 

We did a short hike one day (from Potami to some waterfalls) and another day, we drove around most of the island. We checked out Pythagoreio and Samos Town as possible places to stay in. Pythagoreio was cute but packed with tourists. Samos Town is a real working town/city with it's waterfront undergoing upgrades. But is was not yet there (for us) and the area with cafés and restaurants had a bad sewage smell, so that was out. We also looked a Kokkari, another touristy town with lots of cafés and restaurants. In the end, we decided to stay longer in Ormos, as none of these grabbed our interest.

 

On the Potami waterfalls hike

Potami beach

View from Ormos town beach

Sailboat anchored off Ormos (many more at the docks)

 

Ormos

Lots (!) of cats to join us at dinner

We've had several good meals (and some so-so ones) and many wonderful Greek salads. The cats and Michelle have bonded (for as long as cats are interested...). But we've decided 7 nights is more than enough for our visit to Samos.  David catching a bad cold hasn't helped (likely on the 2 flights from Milan to Athens to Samos).

Today we catch a ferry to a favourite island of ours: Syros.

Via Claudia Augusta: Last days (Trento, Rivalta, Verona)

to Verona...

Day 8: Bike from Auer to Trento. Mostly flat, along the Adige River. All on separated bike paths.

 

Adige River and Dolomites

 

Flat bike path along the Adige

Trento is a rather large city... too busy for us. As we felt with Merano, we prefer the smaller towns/villages.  Also, we felt Trento to be a little to self absorbed. (To be fair, we were not in Trento long enough to get to know ut.) It didn't help our hotel was the "Grand Hotel Trento", which was rather fancy yet dated and lacking character or comfort (the rooms were not as good as out country inns). We were surprised to hear a lot of American accents.*

* Sorry if we sound "anti American"... it's hard these days with the USA actively attacking Canada both verbally and certainly economically. Most Canadians are quite disgusted (and dismayed)... all, hopefully, will resolve in the coming years.  

 

Trento

Day 9: Bike from Trento to Rivalta. As with other cities, a bit convoluted getting out of Trento by bike route, but once out, it was an easy, flat (or slight downhill) to the very small village of Rivalta. Cloudy in the morning but soon sunny and very warm. Our hotel there was a small family-run inn (Albergo Olivo), where we had a comfortable room (with AC), very good dinner, and zero other tourists. Not much English spoken, but everyone made it work. We very much appreciated being out of the city!

 

a

Castel Beseno

Our ritual: Morning tea time along the route

Albergo Olivo (Rivalta)

Enjoying a post-ride beer (alcohol-free) at the Olivo

Day 10: Our final day of biking, from Rivalta to Verona.  Another sunny day (low 20s C). Had a short "crisp" uphill (as described by our bike company app) to Rivoli Veronese, site of a major battle in January 1797 (Napolean's first major victory). 

Half-way up to Rivoli Veronese, Michelle takes a rest (looking North, up the Adige river)

Fort Rivoli (formerly known as Fort Wohlgemuth)

The rest of the way was gently downhill to Verona. Arriving Verona, still on bike paths, was a little hectic, made easier by our hotel being just off the bike path and outside of the centre. 

All-in-all, a lovely day of riding making a successful end to our 510+ km, 10-day bike ride through the Alps. No rain (in the daytime), and Michelle did it all on a regular bike (in contrast to David on an e-bike)!

 

Celebratory drinks in Verona's Piazza Bra

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Via Claudia Augusta biking: Tirol (Austria) and Südtirol (Italy)

Michelle biking towards Italy and the Reschen Pass

Day 4: A short bike ride (15 km) from Füssen to reach Reutte (Tirol, Austria), where we put our bikes on a trailer and were shuttled over the Fern Pass to Fernstein Castle, where we started our ride (mostly downhil) to Imst.

 

Our hotel in Imst (Hotel Neuner)

It rained heavily at night in Imst, but again, we were lucky... the sun came out the next day.

Day 5: A 1.5 hour bike ride to Landeck where we again shuttled over the steep uphill section of the Austrian side of the Reschen Pass to Nauders. We still had 150m of gentle biking into Italy over the pass (which is wide and relatively flat at its actual high point) to out inn in St. Valentin auf der Haide.

Again, a night of heavy rain that cleared up by the next morning.

Day 6:  Another beautiful sunny day and a LOT of downhill riding. And a long ride... about 75 km to Merano. Many villages, many castles... and many bike riders.

Looking back towards St Valentin and the Haidersee

Glurns

Day 7: Leaving the relatively big city of Merano, we had an easy ride gently downhill to near Bolzano. From there, the bike route surprised us with a twisty 150m climb. Through narrow tunnels with too many other bikers. (Especially the racing types, none which you hear coming up from behind you... noone uses their voice or bell to warn you. We found them to be obnoxious, and had our private terms for them... sometimes said out loud as they passed by too close and too fast.). Ended up in the nice little village of Auer, as it turns out, our last night in German-speaking Südtirol.

 

Michelle exiting tunnel on bike rout up to St. Michael (a very busy route!)

 

the racing types...

Via Claudia Augusta Biking: Augsburg to Füssen

First day to Landsberg am Lech: mostly flat, countryside biking. No traffic. Tired by the end (we weren't used to being on bikes for 4 hours).

 

 

Alcohol-free Dunkel-Weisen: Excellent!

Augsburg Cathrdral (Dom): Oldest stained glass windows...

Augsburg 

Entry to alt stadt (old town) of Landsberg am Lach

Landsberg festival

We got lucky with the rain. Heavy rain overnight in Landsberg, sunny by morning. Day 2: A very nice bike ride to Schöngau.

St. Michael's Basilica: 1220 AD. (Altenstadt)

Day 3: An even better day of biking, from Schöngau to Füssen.

Beautiful biking between Schöngau and Füssen. Alps in the distance

One of many (!) Via Claudia Augusta information boards along the way

Just before Füssen, the bike trail became very busy. Füssen itself was very (!) busy, including North American tourists (lots of Americans... not seenelsewhere on this bike tour).

 

We arrived Füssen early enough, so David insisted Michelle see Neuschwanstein Castle. BIG mistake. An overcrowded zoo. (He visited last in 1979... it wasn't crowed back then.) We squeezed into an overcrowded overheated bus like sardines (not helped by the USA tour group who jumped the long line, urged by their leader to do so), ran to take a photo from the overcrowded Marienbrucke and then ran back through the approaching new crowds to the bus. Michelle was clear: Never do that to me again!

 

Neuschwanstein Castle (NOT worth dealing with the crowds!)

 

Cow symphony...

 

Along the bike route...