The ancient city of Dodoni

The skies finally cleared enough to go and do some exploring. We made sure to bring our umbrellas and raincoats with us though! 

Only a 15 minute walk from where we were parked is the ancient city of Dodoni. We didn't come here specifically for that, it was just a coincidence really. Which is a good thing because I read some reviews that said it wasn't really the best ruins site. 

I think the worst is over

Pouring rain again yesterday. In fact it was so much rain that the Greek authorities in this area put out a blanket cell phone alert warning telling people to stay home if it wasn't absolutely necessary. 

We had originally planned on doing some driving south, but decided that wasn't a good idea. We felt the need to find somewhere better than a parking lot to ride out the rain though. I found a listing on the park-4-night app that looked suitable, and it turned out to be a really great choice!

It doesn't matter if it's raining out if you are inside a cave!

Pouring rain again all day yesterday, just as they forecast. So we drove the short distance from Ioannina up to the Cave of Perama.

We've been in a lot of caves in our travels. It's actually one of the things that we try to seek out. But we've kind of become "cave snobs" over the years, and try to do a lot of research before spending the money to visit some caves, because quite frankly, some caves are not worth visiting!

Welcome to Greece. Country #50 for us!

Max's fuel tank was down to about 1/4 so the first thing we did was to top it up. We hadn't put any fuel in since November 2nd. Max gets really good fuel mileage, but it's even better when he's not being driven!

And then it was off to Greece. In the pouring rain.

Well, that turned into a pretty good day!

It was 10:30am by the time we pulled out of the campground at Berat. A little later start than I would have liked, but not bad. Our goal is always to get parked up by 2:00pm, so we should have still been okay.

Our destination was Permet. Only 60 kms away as the crow flies, but the easiest drive is 170 kms! There are shorter routes, but they are recommended 4x4 only. We know that some motorhomes and campervans have done it, but it's really slow going. It turns out that we had some bad sections to deal with anyhow!

Getting ready to get back on the road. Headed for Greece!

Yesterday morning we were still parked in the lot near downtown Berat, so we took advantage of the location to stock up on a few things. No idea what's in store for the next few days, so it's good to be prepared. 

We went back to our favorite butcher guy. He sold us the most delicious juicy pork chops last time, and so we bought four more, as well as one chunk that can be oven roasted. And a half kilo of ground beef as well.

Well, we've had enough

And, we've learned a lesson. Never order an international package in Europe without being prepared to wait forever until it arrives.

Before we ordered the water filter, I had asked how long it would take to arrive. The supplier told me "DHL says it's 6-8 days. But I think its going faster." His exact words. So based on that, we made the order and were prepared to wait 8 days.

Six month review of Max... our European motorhome

Max is a 2021 Adria Matrix 520ST. He is 5.9 meters (19.5') long and has a Citroen chassis. We first met him in June, so it's been almost six months that we've had to get to know each other.

We did spend much of August and September in Canada, so really it's only been about four months of use. And in that four months, we have put 4,200 kms (2,600 miles) on the odometer. 

I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night!

Quite a  few things to talk about today. 

We made the decision to move Max down to the parking lot in the city itself. More for a change of scenery than anything else, but it's also slightly cheaper and of course it's closer to the shops and we were due to stock up on a few things. Our LPG was getting low, so we also needed to fill the tanks.

Out for a hike, and shipping update

At 12:30pm I got an notification update regarding our package. It has only now left Germany! So it took a full week to get from the supplier to the airport. Well at least it's not lost. The last update actually says NOTE: As soon as the shipment arrives in the destination country/destination area, you will receive updated information in the detailed tracking history.

So you would think that we should receive another update today. But who knows. It is what it is and we'll just have to wait it out.