By now I should have become panicked at the thought of how to get out of this unfavourable situation but things seem to be different in Greece. I stopped to take a break, completely exhausted from the enormous number of curves I just had to deal with, turned around my head, and absorbed one of the most beautiful landscapes I had ever seen. From here I could see the sea miles away and the sinking sun shone a romantic light over the countryside when I suddenly heard the motor of a BMW motorcycle roaring…
On time at 9 am in the morning I pushed the starter button on my brand new fire orange BMW F 800 R. While I listened to the incredibly powerful sound of its 800 cc engine I tried to remember all the good advice and safety tips our tour guides gave us at the welcome briefing the evening before. Riding out of Athens in the morning rush hour was like riding on a race track. Even with my F 800 R, which is easy to move and easier to accelerate, I had my troubles keeping up with most Greek car drivers, going far over the speed limit. After about half an hour of practical motorcycle survival training in the chaos of Greek city traffic we reached the new bypass highway built for the Olympic Games in 2004. We shortly left the highway and the traffic began to lighten up, it was time to dive into the Greek outback. Mostly used as farming land for cotton, corn and grapes the area around Athens showed us nice scenery for our introduction to Greek riding.
Athens showed us nice scenery for our introduction to Greek riding. Some very nice, windy roads accompanied us to Aliki, where people of Athens own a holiday home and where we had our first lunch stop. Markus, leading Edelweiss customers all around the world for 16 years now, volunteered to order a selection of Greek food for our group. We could lean back and wait for the local delicacies we would get instead of figuring out what the odd Greek letters on the menu might stand for. After lunch we continued on our way to Delphi. Situated up in the Greek mountains and not far from Arachova, the biggest skiing area in Greece, we spent the night in a typical hotel with a fantastic view of the coastline. Sitting on the balcony of my room and watching a goat flock walking by, I thought that this would be the perfect day to shake off the daily grind and to put on the holiday cheer.
