Friday, 6 April

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="044d4c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <A HREF="id105.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thursday, 5 April"><U><IMG SRC="0450b0b0.gif" border=0 width="11" height="11" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>   <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Saturday, 7 April"><U><IMG SRC="0460b0b0.gif" border=0 width="11" height="11" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>       <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="11" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="11">   <A HREF="id98.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="April"><U><IMG SRC="0480b0b0.gif" border=0 width="11" height="11" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="17aaf800.jpg" border=0 width="175" height="128" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Nico in the snow at the Katara Pass, 1700 m</div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003333" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Gastropod's Trail</B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Gastropods Trail"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> Friday, 6 April</div> <div> Dodoni, Greece to Kalambaka, Greece</div> <bR> <div> We had spent one of the most peaceful nights of our trip so far, here in Dodoni and woke up to the distant tinkling of the sheep's bells and could hear a priest intoning early mass in the village church. We drove back into the village to get our provisions for the day and the true meaning of 'it's all Greek to me' finally hit home. The owner of the only store in Dodoni spoke neither English, French, nor German and we used a lot of sign language. This place is off the tourist trail and here the road signs which are bilingual elsewhere, were only in Greek. </div> <bR> <div> We found our way back to Ioannina and headed for the Pindus Mountains. The excellent road between Ioannina and Kalambaka is often steep and winding with it's highest point on top of the Katara Pass where we still found snow. The few skiing areas on the pass were closed. My GPS reported that we had covered a distance of about 200 km with a total ascent of 2500 m and total descent of 3000 m! A lot of driving in second gear.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="17ef4a40.jpg" border=0 width="500" height="164" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The Pindus Mountains in Greece viewed from the Katara Pass</div> <bR> <div> We were happy to reach the fertile plain of Thessaly which is surrounded by Mounts Pindus, Olympus, Pelion, Othrys, Ossa and Agrapha. Destination Kalambaka. When we stopped at a gas station to top up our water tank I felt so sorry for the poor Gastropod that I gladly parted with some Drachmas to have it washed and shined. (There was also quite a bit of salt spray from the sea-journey to be removed)</div> <bR> <div> This evening we set up camp on a knoll not far form the highway with a great view of the illuminated rocks of Meteora.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>