Mountains and Fog: Biking In The Peloponnese

I wasn’t expecting the coldness of the Greek Peloponnese, with its mountains and foggy farmland.

It rained hard the night before and the morning was slate gray, with the clouds hanging low over Vytina. Our agenda called for a bicycle ride, but my companions on the trip were understandably unenthusiastic, with the clammy cold and spitting sky deterring our crowd of already burnt-out bloggers. It was a day for hot tea and mugs of coffee and red brick fireplaces.

I felt differently. I was looking forward to the bike ride most of all. I used to bike everywhere in Boston, and except for rare occasions and special excursions in Turkey, I miss it madly– and the idea that I’d spend the time inside instead was disappointing.

Luckily, our guide Christos was willing to lead the ride if enough of us still wanted to go; luckily, I wasn’t the only one mad enough to brave the chill to bike through mountains. Four of us peeled off from the group and mounted our rain-spattered bicycles, and off we went.

The countryside in this part of the Peloponnese is composed of flat fields running into jutting blue mountains. The rain had stopped but the clouds were so low they nearly rested on top of the yellow trees scattered about the fields, and the dirt path was spotted with mud puddles. My fingers were going numb and my jeans were quickly splattered in muddy kickback.

And yet the ride was pure joy. The air was so crisp and the scenery was so exquisite and the act of biking through large puddles of mud so absurd that we were all laughing wildly as we rode through the countryside. Every few minutes, I jumped off my bike to take more pictures, captivated by the wonder unspooling in front of me.

It was like floating through a painting. The emptiness of the autumn farm fields pressed against the clouds were such delicate shades of blue and green and gray and yellow; around a corner, a flock of judgmental sheep glared as we rode past their enclosure.

At the end, I was sore and my fingers were numb and my clothes were covered in mud, but I couldn’t stop grinning. This was by far the most fun thing I did in Greece, and I would do it again—rain or shine.

I went to the Peloponnese with Discover Peloponnese, in conjunction with the TBEX Athens conference. All opinions are my own, naturally.