On July 15, 2000... I visited the lovely city of Karpenissi, which is located about 280 km nortwest of Athens.
The reasons for me to try this trip were two, at least.
As you may know by now, by the end of July I'm going to ride with my net pals our BMW bikes to the Alpes!
(map courtesy of CwLease.com)
What best than try a one day trip to Karpenissi, located in Eurytania, and quite a high altitude as well?
high, in this case means, the city is built at 1200m (3600ft) and right above it is a ski resort, located at only 1900m (5700ft).
There was not snow, right now, but, I left Athens, at 38*C and found the place to be quite cool, at 14*C... I even encountered a light rain, on the way back. You will notice the clouds and the rainbow in some of the following pages :-)
The route from Athens to Karpenissi, you could be excused to think is bland and boring... Well... you are right, for the 2/3's of the trip!
That is, the first 220km from Athens to Lamia. Then, in Lamia you turn left, direction shows "Karpenissi"... and the climb up the mountains start. Hmmmm.... I've read someplace lately about the old Nurburgring... Well... This is a bit ... better :-)
Just a small show of what is the whole 60km up to the tunnel....
Tunnel? Oh yes!
It's about 1.4km long... and it was the first indication of how cool the weather was on the other side! hehe! My temp meter wrote 15*C inside the tunnel!
and... on the other side of the tunnel...
...yes ... that IS my laptop in the top case... Actually... i was trying to find Christos' phone number... hehe!
Karpenissi, is only 5-6 km from there, we are close!