Saturday, July 18, 2009

Looping the Island: Argostoli - Sami (7-5-09)

Distance: 35 miles
Difficulty: Medium
Sites: Myrtos Beach, Melissani Cave, Drogarata Cave


Well, it was time to get out of the crappy campground at Argostoli Beach. Obviously, when you are on vacation you should not judge a campground too harshly. However, this one sucks. If you’re on Kefalonia – go to the one in Sami.

I rode up the long small graded road from Argostoli to Myrtos Beach – the prettiest beach in Greece. Looking from the road overhead, it seems perfect. (It isn’t sand however, its limestone pebbles, so on the beach isn’t that cool.

From Argostoli - Sami


Next, I rode down from Myrtos to Agia Irmina and then onto Sami.

In Sami, I stopped at the Caves. The first cave was Melissani. Melissani is an underground lake. It has fresh and seawater mixing in a cool calm concoction. On sunny days the opening above one of the chambers electrifies the water in a perfect blue.

From Argostoli - Sami


You walk down a long chamber to waiting boats. These boats sit 15 people and the boatman rows it standing up. He is also a multi-lingual tour guide. He told me and the English family what was happening and then turned to the Italians.

After cruising around there for 20 minutes or so, I got back on the bike and rode the arduous trip to Drogarata – which is out in the middle of nowhere. This cave is large and filled with stalactites and stalagmites that are over 20,000 years old. The largest chamber is 20 meters or so in diameter and is the top of place you daydreamed about finding as a boy.

From Argostoli - Sami


It was then back to the Sami campground – with its services and sites a far better option than Argostoli Beach.

Tino Pai!

Jesse…

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