Athens to Gjirokaster | Day 1

After 18 days in Athens it was time to head north to Albania.

In a straight line, Athens (Greece) to Gjirokaster (Albania) is a 6hr drive. That’s a half day ride, by American standards. As usual with us getting there is hardly the point. We made sure to complicate the journey enough to last 3 days. Each day part ride, part exploration.

Athens to Delphi

Our destination for the first day way Delphi, once home to the most famous oracle of the ancient world. This is where Pythia, the high priestess of Apollo, dispensed cryptic advice to both kings and peasants for over a thousand years. An astounding feat of institutional longevity by modern standards.

Leaving Athens early on a Saturday morning is a pretty painless affair. The streets are still empty and the rate of progress quite fast. The local roads on the west side of the city quickly turn into a pleasant ride as one begins climbing into the hills.

An hour and twenty minutes later we stopped for gas, coffee and croissants — which we keep on calling cornettos — in Vilia. The town isn’t particularly worthy of a visit, but it did have a couple of perfect travel cafes. Good coffee with outdoor sitting where bikes can be parked in full view. This is something we do anywhere we travel while crossing regardless of the location. The soft luggage is just too easy a prey.

Heading west-northwest of Vilia the hills continue then turn into farming plains before rising up again.

There’s close to zero traffic and what little there is is local. The tourist route to Delphi is well north of the area.

Eventually, around Thea, the road starts a steep climb up Mount Kithairon.

The twisties keep it fun and…

the views of the road and the Ionian sea off in the distance are quite beautiful.

Once over the mountain pass, there’s a drastic change of scenery. The photos we took here could easily pass for Colorado.

A sentiment that’s quickly confirmed by views of high, snow capped mountains to the north.

Google Maps can fail pretty horribly as one goes through some of the mountain villages. The crossing of the town of Kyriaki required some good old fashioned common sense. Without it, the app is prone to going in circles. In one instance it even tried to take us down a steep narrow pedestrian alleys wide enough for a bicycle.

The riding temperature was good all along but turned more than balmy in the afternoon. One random water stop along an olive grove had us scratching our heads.

We opted for one more pit stop before our destination and chose Distomo for a quick snack. The town was pleasant enough and the grilled sandwiches hit the spot, but, in retrospect, we should have held off until Arachova (above).

Only some two hours away from Athens, Arachova is what Vail or Aspen is to Denver — a ski town with a healthy après ski scene. The last thing I thought we’d find in Greece, but there it was. Thanks to this snowy getaway, the capital offers not only access to the sea and islands, but is within a short driving distance of winter sports. Apples to apples, this is closer than Mammoth and LA.