Philoxenia; or The Greek Custom of OUTSTANDING hospitality to strangers! 😃💙

Day 96. 48km (54912kms)
Quite an unpleasant electrical storm last night; being pitched on bare rock there was nothing holding the tent down bar a pannier in each corner, and the so vestibules flapped wildly in the wind. I counted the seconds between the lighting and thunder as I’d been taught as a child, curling up foetally in my sleeping bag.

But an amazing day lay ahead of me! Between kindly men offering directions, to the church warden who, on seeing me hesitate over the entrance fee showed me around for free, the servo guy who offered me an extension cable to charge my phone, even the bakery ladies that kept bringing me more and more freshly baked biscuits… Nothing could prepare me for the hospitality I was given when I stopped in to a nice looking restaurant to use their wifi.

But before all that I spent the day wracking my brains - I just couldn’t decide where to go! Directly south to maximise time in Peloponnese? But what about Delphi and the Pelion peninsular.. did I have time to see both before needing to be in Athens? I’ve already written off any hope of visiting the west coast.. that will have to wait for another three month stint.. Maybe I didn’t need to visit Delphi if I was going to visit all the extensive ruins in Peloponnese… and what about my birthday?! Where should i spend that?! Garrrggggh!! I was paralysed by choice!! And I had just 20 kilometres in which to make my decision.

And so it was during a late afternoon stop on my search for wifi when I was greeted so warmly, so generously, I stopped caring about the slow upload speed and my inadequate number of kilometres for the day. I hadn’t even reached the town of Karditsa - the decision point - my mind was made up; I would go slower and see more. Maybe I won’t have time to see all of Peloponnese.. that might have to wait til next time too. Meanwhile I shall (try to) go with the flow and see where it takes me.

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