The 4WD setup was a caravan of small Suzuki 4WD vehicles, with 4 guests per vehicle. Without Helen we had a spare seat available. The couple I shared with here from New Zealand also and their son was an officer on our ship.
There were 14 vehicles and we played "follow the leader", easy on this island where traffic is not busy. Once away from the port we were lead over the northern part of the island, which is very high. I drove the first section which was up a set of winding roads, and a large number of tight switchbacks which required first gear to get around. We were passed by a lot of motorbikes just to tease me a little.
We stopped for a view near the top from which we could see our ship in the distance.
Not further up, we stopped in a small village where we were treated to some local Greek Salad (and tomatoes were so sweet!) and also local wine and Ouzo. Just what we need for driving. This town was the real deal, the only tourists here was us, although they were all very friendly and waved to us all we we passed through, I guess they see these vehicles pass through often.
From here I rode shotgun so I could take photos. We were taken over the hills, passing through some small villages with incredibly narrow roads that didn't even look like roads, just narrow walkways. Sometimes even our small cars barely fit through and passing other oncoming vehicles was rather interesting with mm to spare either side.
The temperature was around 25 Celsius, and the cars had all windows down and roof open, which was nice and refreshing. We stopped at a clifftop resort where we were given an hour to eat, drink, sunbath, swim, whatever. They had an amazing pool right on the cliff edge, which within minutes I was jumping into to cool off. I swam in for about 30 minutes, then enjoyed the view from a shady spot. What a life!
Finally it was back to the cars for the final leg, down the other side of the mountain via another set of switchbacks and even more narrow roads. See the photo below where we all had to pass an oncoming car, an interesting exercise.
We returned to the ship about 4 hours after set had set off. Not too bad. This tour was a lot of fun and it was nice to get off the tourist track (even if it was a tourist track it didn't feel like it to us).
When I returned to the ship, I found Helen relaxing on the balcony of our cabin enjoying the final day at port. And with this view who can blame her for that?
Tomorrow is a sea day, heading towards Rome, and once in Rome we are leaving the cruise ship. We have a few days in Rome before heading home and back to work and reality.
I've really enjoyed our various stops in Greece, a beautiful and interesting country with much to offer, and the people are so friendly too.
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