Day 7 — Meteora to Aiani — 55 miles, 3,875 ft 🇬🇷

This morning seems like so long ago, left at 06:00 am and arrived 4 pm. I was surprised when I came downstairs at the Meteora hotel and found my bike already waiting for me in the breakfast room, along with a packed breakfast for the road. First-class service. The guy at the desk handed everything over, looked at me and my loaded bike, and I’m pretty sure he was wondering what this crazy American was doing.

I started climbing almost immediately. My legs were really sore from my “rest day” touring Meteora yesterday, and early on I honestly wondered if I was going to make it.

I stopped below an old hermitage, ate my breakfast and felt better. Then came gravel, rocks, heat and lots of climbing. Very rural. Very few cars. Tiny villages, hunters and dogs, and old guys sitting around watching me ride through.

The first climb was hard, but it got worse when it turned to gravel. The anticipated payoff was a very rough descent with gravel and rocks. Damn it. I needed a rest, and it was getting hot.

Lunch was another adventure. Nobody spoke English, so I pointed at what the old guys were eating and ended up with anchovies, potatoes, beets and tzatziki. Perfect, lots of salt.

The big climb was hot and slow. I rode what I could and walked some. Being that remote definitely made me nervous. More than once I thought, Why am I out here?

Near the top I stopped at a tiny Orthodox shrine and lit a candle. Soon afterward the clouds came in and cooled things down. ? Did the candle help? Then a great descent into Aiani, with rain starting as I arrived.

I asked two guys in the square for directions to my hotel. Instead they pulled up a chair, bought me a beer, then another, and we spent an hour trying to talk about Macedonia, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra and America.

Tonight I’m back in the square. I asked for a menu. The guy said, “Gyros.” Apparently that was the menu.

Bike touring is extremes. Parts of today were miserable. Right now, sitting here with a gyro and beer while the dogs and old guys hang around the square, it’s very good.Read more