Metsovo

Without doubt there must be a myriad of places in Greece that never saw a tourist before the invention of satnavs and goggle maps; travellers yes, but not tourists.

Tourists go to see stuff, travellers are there for the experience. We are tourists. We want the experience, but that takes more time than we have got while F is working, and needs  better preparation than we put into starting the trip we are on.

Today however was an experience. Experience might be what happens when you fail (or deliberately refuse) to plan stuff....

.....Or rely on Mr Goggle to get you to something you want to see.

Just because a goat track shows up in satellite view doesn't mean it is a navigable road or suitable route to a chosen destination. We don't use satelite view but wonder if Mr Goggle did to compile some of his maps. 

These navigation things we rely on have all sorts of settings - like fastest route, economical route, shortest route, no tolls - but they never seem to come with a MOST SENSIBLE ROUTE option. Ideally it would ask what you are driving, and if what you are driving is a Peugeot Partner Escapade, it wouldn't direct you down a track designed for a high clearance 4WD, with a river to ford at the bottom! The damned navigating device does a double check that you know what you are doing if you elect to travel on a toll road, then directs you into the wilderness without the least of warnings.

To be fair, even having driven 20km on winding, but sealed, mountain roads to reach this point, F did look at the track, reminiscent of country troads of her youth, and suggest to Mr B that given the type of vehicle we were encased in, we could forgo that 'sight'.

The objective was Portitsa Bridge. There are two ways to get there. They form a loop, linked, it turns out, by a ford.  The access to the bridge is on the side of the ford with the longest piece of that loop - so Mr Goggle in his infinite wisdom sent us in from the shortest side. And my humans were the idiots that took his advice. 

Good bit ...........                             .............  not so good bit...... 

5 km of white-knuckled (yes my knuckles go white) bouncing around and we reached the bottom to be confronted by a ford across a fast flowing river about 80m wide.  F took off her shoes and waded across the ford (water over half-way to her knees in places, but her knees are quite close to the ground) then came back and told Mr B it was not for little 2WD escapade vans. Reluctantly Mr B retraced our madness back over 5km of that rocky, in places washed out, track - mostly uphill this time.

Fortunately despite being uphill it didn't feel so far on the way back. I was a bit nervous about all the rumbling and shaking and decided to park on F's lap where I get a comforting smoothing out.

Only today after a good night in a charming hotel in Metsovo, did it occur to F that having waded across the river, she should had plodded the extra kilometre to the objective bridge.

Carrying me.

And then there is the plodding back... 

We did get views of this fabulous canyon - from both sides. We just didn't get the bridge. We had an experience though.  

That slit goes right through a mountain!

Judging by occasional buildings, small (for personal use only) vineyards, beehives, dogs, and branch tracks, a few intrepid humans have homes or eke out some sort of subsistence, and call this track their 'hood'.  We met one on their way in (in high clearance 4WD) just metres from the end of our 'experience' and they didn't half look surprised.

Side note here - the little vineyards were surrounded by what we assumed were bear exclusion measures a bit like home made armco on top of steel reinforced chain mesh fence with an extra serving of barbed wire and electrified out-riggers just for belt and braces effect.

From there to Metsovo. Metsovo is tomorrow's tale; for now just a photo or two of the hotel.

Checking out the attractions in the bar and reception area

In the bar. I was VERY interested in the small glasses of Tsiporou, until I was allowed to sniff one.

The main attraction....