Our journey continued — next stop Kalamata! The first few miles on this day led us along the coastline of the Peloponnesus peninsula with some long, drawn out curves. Accompanied by Markus, who was driving the support van, we paved our way to Agia Nicolei. Riding through an olive grove after coffee we finally reached Pilos, located in the so-called Omega Bay we felt more than pampered when we enjoyed our private lunch with the tour guide. Then, our ways separated, Markus went the direct way to Kalamata and David and I continued on the recommended route. After four days of riding in Greece we thought that it would be time for a little adventure. By pointing on the map with closed eyes we chose a short side trip. Not having a clue if we would get lost somewhere we turned away from the main route and did the famous leap in the dark. A secret path with incredible riding we would never have expected turned this side trip into one of the best experiences on tour and even if I was left behind for a little while, this was something we had to tell the group at night. Back in the hotel we got a short lesson in Greek history. Otto, prince of Bavaria became the first King of Greece in modern times. Beside the whole historical story he is the one who established beer in Greece and the blue/white colours of the Greek flag. So thanks to Otto we could celebrate our survival and the half time of our trip with a nice glass of Mythos (Greek beer brand).
After breakfast the next morning we saddled our motorcycles and took off for the mountain village Thalamai. Morea, a famous olive oil producer once chose this tiny little village to be its location for traditional olive oil production in Greece. A short guided tour later, where we could take a glimpse on an old stone olive mill, which is still in operation, and prepared with a years reserve of different oils we went on to see the caves of Pirgos Dirou and Mani.
