4 May - Pinios Gorge/The Vale of Tempe

The day promised to be another 'big day' for the military part of the tour.  The area we are in saw two significant actions: one by the Kiwis at Platamon; and the second was a combined Australian/Kiwi action at Pinios Gorge. The latter being one of the most significant in the whole campaign.

The Castle- Bonnydoon?

The first battle at Platamon was in the shadow of the walls of a crusader castle (one of the best preserved in Europe).  We received a brief and had some discussion about what a good job the Kiwis had done. Really... we Aussies were saying nice things about the Kiwis!!

Holy water

Next, we were off to Pinios Gorge... so I thought!  We stopped at a small church on the way.  It apparently has special healing powers associated with it, and people make pilgrammages to bottle the water.  Karen got her bottle!

The storm cometh *^#@!!!

Then, we were off to the Gorge.  By the time we got there a storm was looming.  I was anxious to get out and walk the ground BUT the storm broke just as we arrived at the point intended to view the battle.  No storm was going to stop me... so I donned my bright blue poncho and headed up the hill.  I looked around and realised that no one else had got off the bus!! Wusses!  With the interests of the group at heart (not really)... I continued on, I wasn't going to miss out!  I took some photos and returned physically dampened but not my spirit.

Guess who playing with puppy?

The folks on the bus had made their own entertainment... the driver had rescued a small fluffy puppy from the road!  People were fussing over the dog... just no commitment!

I reluctantly reboarded the bus. The weather continued to worsen! So we moved off to the next event.  I was disappointed to not be able to scour the battlefield area.

I was going to share, really!

Next stop... lunch.  A nice little restaurant tucked away from the highway.  The food was fantastic and the servings were GENEROUS! A little red wine washed it down.







 
Then we visited a small village nestled on the minor slopes of Mount Olympus.  There is no through traffic and only 12 people live permanently in the village.  It was a beautiful little alpine village.  Some photos...

Then it was back to the hotel.  Another walk around... still trying to walk off lunch!








A good day dampened by some poor weather!