Month 8 on the road. It took a while to count the number of the months, we are getting close to two hands full. At some point you get used to traveling and a couple of weeks feel like a few days. We are realizing more and more that time can really fly and that remembering the great stuff we have done becomes a little harder to remember. Last month flew by and we are already for more than two weeks of island hopping in Greece. But before taking the ferry we also spent two other weeks in Italy. Weeks full of highlights, but also rain. This made us abruptly change the beautiful pizzacountry for Greece. A country with one of Europe's longest coastlines, uncountable pretty beaches and a lot of gyros!
We finished last month in Rome, one of Italy's most perfect places in terms of little trash and well-cared buildings. A huge contrast to one of our first stops this month: Naples. This city offers a completely different scenery; you don't go to Naples for pretty architecture, but for cozy narrow streets and a lot of cheap street food. Some say that street food was born in Naples and you can see that. Snack wherever you want and try all culinary highlights of this part of the country. From fried 'pasta-balls', to cones filled with seafood, pasticcerias full with sweet beverages and a hundred different types of small pizzas, even fried ones! And we also have to admit, of all the pizzas we had in Italy so far, in Napels we got the best.
So after Napels we almost didn't fit in our small yellow car anymore, but the hike to the top of Mt. Vesuvius got us ready to get roadtrippin' again. A short drive brought us to the world famous site of Pompeï and a few kilometers further we arrived at the Amalfi coast. The beauty of this coastline was insane and also visible in the amount of tourists. If you want to experience Italy's chaos, hear claxons blast or see roadrages, go here! Italians can get a little frustrated from all the insecure foreign drivers and we understand why... Luckily we don't feel like tourists anymore after eight months :). We made a day trip to the island of Capri and enjoyed the beautiful rocky cliffs surrounded by the blue seas. The cozy towns were perfect for fresh Italian gelatos and cannolis and the tourist vibes made it even feel a bit like a trip within a trip. After a few days between the crowds, early 6am bike rides and too much coffee, we were stoked to continue south towards the less famous inlands. And these were green!
Until the most southern point we drove along the hills along the west coast, we were surprised by the thick green forests covering all the hillsides. The perfect place to find the best spots in the middle of nature without seeing more people than just the local Italian farmers. Clear mountain creeks from the higher, still with snow covered mountains, were perfect for refreshing swims after the pretty hikes we made here. However, we didn't enjoy very long from this part of Italy and we left Calabria for what it is due to incoming rainy days. You probably heard about the serious flooding in Northern Italy, but during these days Southern Italy was also a wet place... Luckily Jack didn't sail away, but we got a few days with extra long mornings inside our rooftop tent, afternoon espressos in Italian cafes and cooking sessions in our living room, the 140L DTBD rooftop tent extension. This made us decide to abruptly change Italy for Greece. Halfway through May we took the ferry from Brindisi to Igoumenitsa. On to a new chapter of our journey.
In Greece our summer was finally starting. We got our first warm nights and there didn't pass by any days without sea swims and showers on the beach. The initial plan was to take the ferry straight to Corfu, but Italy's stormy weather seemed to end up there. Therefore we drove south towards the island of Lefkada, the first place where we would taste the famous Greece island life. Days full of sun, beautiful bike rides, sea swims, frappé's and pita gyros, made us ultimately enjoy our gap year. Yes we are enjoying the Greek style from day one.
From Lefkada we started 'island-hopping' towards Kefalonia. The biggest Ionian island with the highest peak from all five. We enjoyed ourselves here a little longer than expected and after a week we still didn't check out every corner of the island. It took us nine days to find out about all that this pretty island has to offer before we could call ourselves Kefalonia experts. The campspots we found all around the island kept surpassing each other and we found several spots we didn't want to leave again. So if you are interested in getting a list of the very best places to build up your rooftop tent on Kefalonia, let us know on Insta... We will add our beach, snorkeling spot, coffee and pita gyros ranking as well :).
After two weeks of enjoying the island vibes in Greece, we can only say that we are absolutely loving it. The great food, the friendly people and the prettiest campspots between the ocean and mountains, it couldn't be better. But at the same time, the clock is ticking... We are heading towards the end of our trip and with only two months left and a list full of countries that we are still willing to visit, the feeling that we need to head back north starts to rise a little. Zakynthos, the most southern Ionian island, will therefore also be the most southern point of our trip.
We let Jack enjoy one more week of the easy island life, before he has to work again. On our way back North we will drive a lot of mountain roads. First through the mountainous less crowded and more remote inland of Greece and later through Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro. There is still a lot on the list, but we won't pick up the pace too much. We keep it easy, the way we love it! And we are still so excited to continue our journey. Because while two months may sound little in terms of our full one year trip, it is still a lot of time to explore and make unforgettable memories with our yellow Suzuki and Dare to be Different rooftop tent!