Originally Posted by Chris L

Well, that was interesting.

First of all I had a sprained ankle and couldn't train the way I wanted to. Then the bike I was going to take over there developed a rust hole in the frame that I only discovered a week before flying out. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I got in touch with the guys at 48x17 Cycles in Athens. Honestly, go and see them if you're planning a tour in Greece. Agi, the owner has so much information and good advice about cycling in Greece, and you can sample some local craft beers while you're there too.

After sampling some local advise, I ended up doing a circuit of the Peloponnese, abandoning the route I had originally planned. I got a train from Athens to Kiato, then headed to the mountains for a few days, coming out at Ancient Olympia. From there I headed south, around the three peninsulas, but also taking some time to cycle over the mountains from Kalamata to Sparta and back (Mystras in the hills above Sparta is definitely worth a visit), eventually finishing the ride in Korinthos before training back to Athens and flying home. Some of my favourite places along the way included Dimitsana, Koroni, Mystas, Porto Kagio (oh heck, the whole area around Mani), Monemvasia, Kyparissi and Nafplion.

All in all, I don't understand how Greece isn't a more popular cycling country. It has everything the likes of France and Italy have, with the benefit of being relatively cheap, relatively unpopulated (once you get outside of Athens), a warm climate (which is apparently important to some people) meaning you don't have to cycle in the peak tourist season to get good cycling weather. I found the Greek drivers on the whole were pretty good once I got outside Athens, and even Athens itself only had marginally worse traffic than Surfers Paradise or Broadbeach.

When I lost the use of my touring bike for this trip, I opted not to camp, instead looking for inexpensive hotels. This didn't present any real problems as I didn't find Greece particularly expensive (take that with a grain of salt. Coming from Australia, I didn't find Switzerland particularly expensive either). I was warned about dogs on country roads over there, but they didn't really bother me all that much. I never felt threatened enough to have to attack an animal, although I did yell at a few of them. I suspect the heat that I had to deal with (probably the biggest problem I had) caused a few of them to give up the chase earlier than they otherwise might have.

All in all I had an amazing time in Greece and highly recommend it for a cycling holiday. I would happily go back and explore some other parts of the country.