Have scooter, will travel
07 September 2011
It had been a while since we rented a scooter and did some inland travel but the sights around Argostoli put that right. First stop was the Botanical Gardens (free entrance) which provided both tranquility away from the hussle and bussle of the town, as well as some well-needed shade. Then on to the watermill and the deep ravines of Kavarothres, where it has been proven that water from this side of the island travels through the ravines and underground waterways over to the east of the island. Continuing around the coast, we came to the doric lighthouse from where we could see across the bay to Lixouri and out to sea. After a quick lunch-stop with spectacular views of the bay, we headed over to find St. Gerasimos cave around which a church had been built. Being the Patron Saint of the island, it was an important place but we had it all to ourselves and were able to go into the original cave, which is now a shrine. Our final stop of the day was to the Italian War Memorial. We didn't expect anyone to be there but we were wrong on a big scale. We arrived to find around 125 Italian bikers had decided to visit at the same time. They were on their annual bikers holiday and the memorial was high on their list of places to visit as Italy played such an important part here in the Second World War. Local dignitaries were there too to do a speech but we left them to it and headed for an early evening swim before handing the scooter back.
CRUISERS NOTES
The tourist office is located next to the Port Police.
Sunbird on the town quay does scooter hire from 15 euros a day.
Great swimming off a small beach on the north side of Maistratos harbour with fresh water outdoors showers there too.
If you rent a bike, check out a new port at Ak. Pelagia. No one there to talk to when we visited. Water on quay. Looked deep once in.