Back in Innsbruck

Quote of the week

"They never fail who die in a great cause"
Lord Byron

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Hello,

Sorry, about the late newsletter. We have been travelling back from Greece, and mostly been on the way. We left Delphi on Monday morning, travelling via Patras and the west coast of Greece up to Ioannina towards Gjirokaster in Albania, where we stayed for the night. The same camping we stayed at on the way south, a nice, family run place, with a small restaurant.

Continuing through Albania to Montenegro, where we finally could visit Kotor. If you remember there were so many tourists there on our way south that we could not stop. It is a beautiful, small, village by the sea. A typical place that the Venetians liked. There is a fortified old city, really beautiful, and we walked around the small alleys. Perfectly ok this time, with not too many people.

We continued north, towards Dubrovnik in Croatia, where we have stayed before at camping Kate. Not so many campers this time of the year. We went, as last time, to the restaurant nearby where I could enjoy my favourite Croatian food; cevapcici.

There had been a lot of driving so we only went about two hours north to stay at another favourite camping in Zaostrog. Situated in a small hamlet by the sea, you have everything close by. We even had a swim and it was still a very pleasant temperature. Another cevapcici at a restaurant, on the beach. Lovely evening.

From here we continued to the north western part of Croatia, Istria, in order to enjoy the truffle season. We found a lovely restaurant in the countryside and had such a good dinner; egg frittata with truffles, and pasta with truffles. You have to go all in when the occasion pops up. We were lucky that we could stay over night at the parking of the restaurant.

We made a small tour in the old city of Buzet, situated on top of a hill. Small alleys, old houses and a pleasant atmosphere. Down in the modern city we found a place where we could buy some white truffles to bring with us home.

Trouble ahead

We had only just left Buzet when the battery lamp of the car lighted up, and we got a message on the screen that said; battery failure, close vehicle. Which we did, and then we did not know what to do. We waited a while and started the car again. The message disappeared, but the lamp was still on. We were not that far from Trieste, where there is a Toyota shop, so hoped for the best and were on our way. When we arrived, a mechanic came and open the hood. He took out a broken belt of some kind. If we had gone much longer, the battery would have died out.

We had arrived at the lunch break so we headed out for some lunch ourselves, to return at 5 pm when they promised it would be temporarily fixed. We were really so lucky in many ways. Also that someone could fix it right away.

Weather trouble ahead

We decided to drive back to Innsbruck. The road goes over the mountains and the weather was unstable. Heavy rains were expected. It came in intervals, together with lightning, fog and darkness. The lightning lit up the valleys between the mountains and it was like driving in a horror movie; think The Rocky Horror Picture Show. We took it easy, not much traffic and it all went well. We stopped at around 8.30 for a dinner in a small village. It was excellent. I had ravioli with different herbs, on cream truffle with bacon and sun-dried tomatoes. For dessert a pannacotta with fruit that just melted in the mouth. That kept us going until midnight when we arrived in Innsbruck.

Messalonghi

Just north of Peloponnese is a place called Messalonghi. The name has always fascinated me. I remember having read, many years ago, The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough. Can’t remember at all what it was about, but it takes place in Australia. Today the city is mostly most known for the fact the Lord Byron died here. That was also the reason I wanted to visit.

Byron is, or was, seen as a Greek hero after involving himself in Greece struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the 19th century. Byron came here in January of 1824 and was made commander of the five-thousand-strong garrison. One wonders which qualifications he had for this post. It did not last long, since on February 15 he caught a fever, possibly malaria, and he died two months later. He death to on heroic proportions, and possibly changed the outcome of the fight. In favour of the Greeks.

Passing by, we had the opportunity to take the exit and have a look around. However, after having read our guide book, The Rough Guide, we changed our mind. Here it was it says:

“Mesolóngi (…) for most visitors, is irrevocably associated with Lord Byron, who died here to dramatic effect during the War of Indepence. Otherwise it’s a fairly shabby and unromantic place: rainy from autumn to spring, and comprised largely of drab, modern buildings between which locals enthusiastically cycle along a flat grid plan. To be fair, the town has been spruced up a bit, especially in the centre, but if you come here on pilgrimage, it’s still best to move on the same day, … “

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Well, that’s all for today. I still have a couple of visits from Greece to tell you about. Now we are in sunny Innsbruck, and tonight we will go to the theatre to listen to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which is performed with dancing. Should be interesting.