Road Trip Evoia - Central Greece

​​Summer is here so we packed all our camping gear and got ready for the road! 
​​This is the first time that we are bringing anyone with us for such a long trip. This is also Ntak’s first time in a road trip and camping trip: Challenge accepted!

Our bags include: Clothes, tents, mattresses, sleeping bags, kitchen, food supply and we even brought chairs! 
After packing everything and being able to fit them in the car, we started our trip! We first headed to Athens, a small stop to G’s mom’s house, and as per Ntak’s mom’s suggestion, we went and placed a bet in the lottery!

Our road trip route

​​Day 1. Road trip start! We started driving to Central Greece, went over the top of Evia to finally find our first camping spot which is all the way to the other side of the mountain, Xiliadou Beach.

Morning view

Sunset view at our campsite

​This beach is a great camping spot because you can have your own private beach (like where we camped) and the parking was around 30 meters from the camp, so we didn’t need to carry all our things far to setup camp.
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We found our camping spot so easily that we also couldn’t believe how easy it was. This camping trip was off to a great start! We had plenty of time to setup camp, cook and eat and even have enough time to watch the sunset while gathering wood to make our first camp fire. We had really nice talks until the morning and it was time for us to sleep and rest!

Xiliadou Beach is perfect for free camping. A lot of people come here early (May) for them to select the best spots for their houses because they stay there until mid-September and they want the best spots!

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Day 2. Our day begins with us walking to the other shore (15 meters) from our camp. 
We went and decided to cook there because when we were looking for wood yesterday, we saw that it was a great spot to hangout and the waters here are so clear and so blue at the same time!
This is such a beautiful place and also feels very private because of it's size!

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The red line is a steep hiking path going to the more "private" beach since it is not that easy to get to and the cave that goes out to sea. 
​​​​After eating, we decided to make a hike to see the Cave on the other side of this hill.

​This is called Damianos Beach.

​ We decided to stay the night here again, so walking towards our camp, we saw some people already have their camp fire, so we joined them in their fire and we kinda took over it (haha!) it was fun for them because they didn’t need to take care of the fire but it still keeps them warm, and we were happy playing with the fire!

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​Day 3. Packed all our stuff, took quick showers, and we are on the road again and headed to Papades falls. After finding the path, we parked the car until where it can go and then walked the path. There were falls everywhere! It was an easy 1.5 hours hike. 

​We decided to cook and eat in this gazebo on top of the mountain and watch the sunset there while eating dinner. After eating, we cleaned up and packed up and it’s time for us to get on the road again before it gets really dark to set up camp. 

Dinner view!

​​After setting up our camp in Drymona, we sat on our chairs and had an amazing time talking watching the moon (full moon), then it was time for us to rest!

​Day 4. We decided to take a small hike to the falls since we are already in Drymona. The road was paved also with hand rails and safety ropes, it took us 7 minutes to get to the waterfall. You can continue to other paths to see other falls, but this hollywood 

falls (movie ​falls), was a good stop, we spent time there hanging out and talking until it’s time to get up and get on the road again!

Next stop, Aidipsos! Very popular for their natural hot springs. 

 The wind was still a bit cold but with the Greek sun we were able to bravely wear our swimsuits, but once we got inside the water, we felt renewed and we have more energy for the coming days!

George brought us to the hot springs literally in front of the sea!

​We continued to the boat that will bring us to Central Greece from Evia. The boat takes 17 minutes but you can also to drive there (which we did in the beginning because we are coming from Athens) which will take around 4-5 hours. 

After a phone call to our friend Vasilys, we decided to go to Pavliani. Aside from being a very beautiful place, there are small parks there for hiking. It’s filled with fun and cute street art that you are always looking around for them. The parks are kid friendly and there are lots of places to rest and they even have hammocks for sleeping!
How beautiful is this bridge? This is called the musical bridge, when you pass walk through it, you can hear music being played!

​​After the hike, we went up to the North Shelter to meet up with our friend and spend the night. 

​The North Shelter is made by Vasilys, most of the things inside are hand made by him, even the shelves and the doors! He just opened new Hobbit house (rooms), and they are amazing! We had a good time talking with him, the last time we visited him was way back summer of 2017, good thing he visits Athens a lot so we also see him in the city.

The next day, we started with a hearty talk then we left the shelter to make small hikes in some other parks here in Pavliani.

​Day 5. After the hike, we headed to Pyra. This village is 1158 meters above sea level. They have basketball courts, tennis courts, football field and a huge nature park! In the winter, this village’s population is 12 people (!) while in the summer, they have around 300. 

Camping spot with this AMAZING view!

​The nature park is called “Bath of Hercules” made by Kostas, the president of the village. 

​He was very happy to inform us that he made a 3 km hike path. He also told us that not even wild animals were passing on this part of the village before this park was made. He is very cute and proud of what he has accomplished! Of course we lighted another fire and had a really good talk and the moon is being a spotlight yet again!

​Day 6. G had a surprise for us! We packed and drove to a “secret” location. Alas! We arrived at Vagonetto mining park! 

​This is a company that is still mining Bauxite in different parts of this mountain and all over Greece, but they opened a part where people can look and see and “experience” how are the mining conditions there. Bauxite is mainly mined because of its relatively high aluminum content. They also show what they do to mines after they are finished with it (they replant and reforest!) and a lot more going on around from mining Bauxite to the processes until it becomes alumina and to make aluminum!

After the mining park we decided to hit the road again and this time visit the mobile canteen there called “O Giatros o Peinas” translating to “The doctor of hunger” where we were even able to take care of a dog and her 2 puppies (ultra long story haha!). 

​After almost 3 hours there, we got on the road again. This stop is in Thermopyles which is very popular for its hot Sulphur springs. Also, have you heard of the movie 300? The real battle happened here.

After talking to the people there, we were able to find 3 outdoor hot springs with the view of the sunset! (There were no other people so it was ours!).
​Since there are pools here, there will probably be a ton of mosquitoes attacking us before we can even setup camp. 

One of the outdoor warm baths

​We headed to our final campsite for this trip, this area is called Kamena Vourla, and our view is the city lights of Evia! This city lights that we see is actually in Aidipsos where we passed the previous days.

This is the grand finale for our road trip. Seeing the lights of Evia and the clear sky while there were no light pollution where we were. There's this feeling that it seems like we are looking back and watching to what has been. It's a retrospective of the past couple of days. We have accomplished, saw and experienced so much and that this is the perfect end to an awesome road trip!

Oh, and remember that lottery we played?
We had no rain, perfect conditions, good roads, good food,  really good trip,  and even better camp sites! I can say we got the nature jackpot!