Two routes on day 2 from Delphi to Olympia offered us a wide variety of choices: Those who wanted to visit the famous oracle of Delphi could do some sightseeing in the morning and would continue to Olympia on a shorter route along the coast of the Golf of Corinth, with nice scenery and smooth riding. The bigger part of our group decided to join the tour guide on the longer ride through the mountains with challenging roads and lots of switchbacks. David, a nice Texan guy with whom I built my own group on most of the riding days, and I decided to do the easier ride and to stop and breathe in the Greek cosiness whenever possible.
A long-term tradition on Edelweiss tours and a matter of safety is to have a daily coffee stop in the morning and in the afternoon. Recommended by Markus, we found a beautiful place in the town hall of Eratini. A cup of café frapé metrio megalla (cold coffee with milk and sugar) was served to our table and was the perfect refresher after a great ride. After lunch in Nafpaktos, we had to ride across the 2.2 kilometre long bridge connecting the mainland to the Peloponnesus peninsula. Built in 2004, this huge formation made from tons of iron was definitely another highlight on our tour. Closer to Olympia we could still see some slight leftovers of the big fires in 2007 when the area around Olympia almost got completely destroyed. Olympia, where we spent our rest day, was the scene of the ancient Olympic Games.
Riding as a passenger on a BMW R 1200 GS on that day, I used the opportunity to get a new point of view on the joy of riding. Greece is actually a huge mountain range growing out of the sea and while Georg, my pilot and participant in the Tour of Greece for his fourth time already, guided us through the fairyland of never ending turns and twists. I thought that even in the Alps a similar ride is hard to find. A special highlight on our rest day was lunch. In a small mountain village far away from fever and stress we could enjoy our first Greek fast food. Giros Pita (bread filled with French fries, tomatoes, meat and sauce) was a nice alternation to the food we normally had: Tzaziki, Saganaki, Tyrokafteri, Choriatiki, Kalamari and Greek Salad are just a few delicious examples of Greek cuisine and our daily ritual to let the tour guide order a selection of different stuff for the group gave us the chance to taste a wide variety of food.
