We decide to stay a bit longer on this campsite by the beach, if only such that we have time to clean the van. We also quickly find out the grey (dirty) water tanks has overflow, so cleaning takes a lot of extra time as we need to empty out most of the kitchen... Fortunately we're in the right climate for drying things. The next day we finish the loop of the island, which is once again a gorgeous drive. In Lefkada again I visit a bike shop to replace both outer tires and the inner tubes of both wheels, enough is enough. Next we drive off the island, into a national park on the Ambracian Gulf, a little more inland. During the drive we are already being teased by tall mountains in the distance. We drive into the park over a narrow embankment, with a lagoon on one side and the gulf on the other. We end up in a tiny town on an island with the one access road, where we stay the night on an empty parking lot. It was referred to as a bird paradise and for good reason. In the morning we go for a stroll along the muddy beach to watch the seagulls and storks.

Next we drive up to Arta, a city built on top of the remains of an ancient city called Ambracia. The city is speckled with old remains, which show up randomly between the modern buildings, sometimes separated by nothing more than a short fence. We walk along the endless main street. It's Sunday morning and every terrace is full of locals having coffee and pastries, it feels good to be in a place again that is not just dominated by tourists. We visit the Archeological Museum, have lunch in the van (parked in the shade just outside the city) and have a nap right there. Then it's time to move on, into the mountains. We head for Tzoumerka National Park, to one of the few campsites in the middle of the park. Our drive turns from an easy hour into an exhausting 2.5 hours, as right before our destination the toll road is suddenly closed and we need to double back most of the way, after which we need to follow endless mountain roads. You can probably guess by now what that was like: steep, narrow, bumpy but absolutely beautiful.

The next morning we do a rafting tour, which leaves directly from the campsite. It's great, just exciting enough which amazing views. And between rapids we grill our captain with questions about the life in his mountain town. Later that day we get a plan on what to do by our site host and we drive up some more, to the tiny scenic town of Matsouki. From the road there we get a great view of the Kipina Monastery: a small monastery build into the rock face from a natural cave, some 50 meters right above the road. We look around the town and enjoy the view, after we drive down a bit again to find a quiet place to sleep. We find a spot next to a pretty river, along a gravel road.
This proves a bit of a problem the next morning, as we almost cannot drive out again. Only on the third try we manage to scale the ramp. We drive up to the town of Kalarrytes, from where we do a hiking loop past the town Syrrako. The two towns are basically opposite each other across a gorge, barely 2km away. The hike one way through the canyon takes 1.5 hours though, and another 2.5 hours to go back again a little further.
On the way down again from Kalarrytes we stop at the Kipinas Monastery to actually visit it. The only entrance is through a tiny drawbridge, that could be raised to completely secure the monastery and it's riches from raids. Until a couple of years ago you could only enter the monastery by asking the key from a nearby resident. By now, fortunately, there is a normal entrance with a little gift shop and some organization to preserve the unique construction.

Then it's on to the next destination: a farm + taverna in the same mountain area, in Kalloni, where we expect to live and work for the coming three weeks!